Sam Lendzyk tired of wrapping napkin after napkin around the cold exteriors of her kids’ freeze pops. So rather than complain, she decided to do something about it.

Together with her husband David, the Carver duo came up with the FreezeeSleeve – a neoprene wrap that keeps little hands from getting cold and frozen confections like Fla-Vor-Ice, Pop Ice, and Mr. Freeze from melting as fast. Today, the first-time inventors are working to the get the word out about their new product.

It’s been a year and a half since the Lendzyks first began brainstorming solutions for cold hands and melted treats, but the idea to invent something had been brewing long before that.

“We were always those people saying ‘Why didn’t we think of that?’ when we saw a new product,” confessed Sam.

The FreezeeSleeve was the first of the Lendzyks’ ideas to take. Seeing it through to fruition has been a long process.

Dave and Sam still have their first prototype – a can coolie cut up and manipulated to fit around a freeze pop. That one they’re keeping as a memento, and a reminder of how far they’ve come. But the prototype was just the beginning of their foray into the world of innovation.

Once the Lendzyks were happy with their prototype, Dave got to work looking for a Twin Cities’ neoprene manufacture to produce the sleeves.

“We wanted to do things local,” said Dave. “But we found out it would be cheaper to go through China.”

That meant Dave had to find an importer/exporter to help them out. For that, he credits Google. “I love Google,” he said, admitting that much of their research had been aided by the popular Internet search engine.

Once they found an importer/exporter, they got to work sending dimensions and viewing samples. “We went through three rounds of samples before we were happy,” said Sam.

With a good sample in hand, the Lendzyks then had to get their product colors tested by the Food and Drug Administration (due to their proximity to food).

Finally, they were ready to bite the bullet and make the minimum order of 10,000. Soon, 35 boxes were sitting in their basement, full of FreezeeSleeves in four different colors.

“It wasn’t a big risk,” said Dave. “It was a small chance to take for a pretty cool product.”

Since then, they’ve been doing some unscientific market testing with friends, family and neighbors. “Our confidence built as we went along,” said Sam. “We had people saying to us, ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’”

The Lendzyks are now waiting for trademark and patent approval. They have now built a Web site to sell their FreezeeSleeves and have put the product on the shelves at the Chaska Walgreen’s. They’re also working to get their invention into more hands via daycares, grocery stores, corporate events.

 Meanwhile, the Lendzyks are allowing a few new ideas to float around in their heads. They won’t say what those ideas are just yet. Instead, they are content to watch their children enjoy the current fruits of their labor – blue and pink freeze pops covered by pink and red FreezeeSleeves.

-Mollee Francisco, staff writer