This September, I will be sending off not one but two kids to school. My four-year-old son is starting kindergarten and I am still having a hard time believing that the day will soon be near. I know it's not much different than dropping him off at daycare and I am confident that he will be ready for this new adventure. But it will still be a huge adjustment. For all of us. I am excited for him to be able to take the school bus with his older sister, since he only has eyes for things with wheels these days. And I can't wait for him to make new friends and further develop his love of learning. I am, however, dreading the very idea of having to prepare an additional lunch bag this year. It is true that I need only prepare a snack and a water bottle for his half-day of kindergarten. And luckily, he will be among the first to use the brand new Brita® Kids’ Bottle.

The Brita Kids’ Bottle is a reusable bottle that comes with a built-in filter. I will no longer have to wait for our water jug to filter water since the Brita Bottle filters tap water as you drink it. Just fill it, screw on the lid, squeeze and enjoy. How convenient is that! And once it's empty, my son can refill it at the fountain and enjoy fresh-tasting water again and again. The filter reduces chlorine taste and odour from tap water and the bottle is BPA free. It's also recyclable and dishwasher safe (top shelf only). The bottle was designed for kids ages 4-8 so I appreciate that it is small in size and that the side walls are soft enough for little hands to squeeze. The 384 mL bottle is available in three bright, fun colours: Pink Butterflies, Navy Blue Sports and Green Squares. Each bottle comes with a filter and costs about $8.99. You can purchase additional filters in a two-pack for $7.99 but seeing as a single filter needs to be replaced roughly every two months (or every 393 servings), that comes to about $2 per month, the equivalent of buying a bottle of water from a vending machine. And right now, if you visit FilterForGood.ca, you can print off a $2 coupon towards any one Brita Bottle which won't expire until October 31, 2012. The new Brita Kids’ Bottle will be hitting the shelves of mass merchandise stores across Canada this month, so keep your eyes peeled during your back to school shopping.

Brita has also come out with a larger version for adults, too. The 591 mL squeezable regular sized bottle is already available in blue and green, but two new colours, navy and purple, will become available this month as well. It comes with an easy-to-carry finger loop and costs about $2 more than the Brita Kids’ Bottle. The best part is that just one Brita Bottle filter can replace up to 300 plastic water bottles, based on standard 500 mL bottles.

For the past few weeks, we have taken our Brita Bottles with us when heading out on day trips and outings. I even brought it with me to New York City to enjoy fresh filtered water while at BlogHer. The Brita Bottles have proven to be extremely convenient, cost-effective and eco-friendly since we don't need to waste money on bottled water. It's also great knowing that you can send your used Brita filter cartridges back to Brita who will arrange to have them recycled by Preserve. And Brita will even pay for the shipping costs!

Disclosure: I was sent samples to help facilitate this review. Any opinions expressed in this post are my own.