You scream! I scream! We all scream for Ice Cream! In 1984 President Ronald Reagan declared July - National Ice Cream Month and the third Sunday of the month - National Ice Cream Day. Grab a bowl, a cone, a scoop or two of your favorite ice cream and celebrate! Not that you need another reason - but July has even more fun ice cream related holidays to enjoy. Looking for ways to keep your kids entertain and engage? We've got you covered.
How did this cool celebration start? In 1984, President Ronald Reagan designated July as National Ice Cream Month and the third Sunday of the month as National Ice Cream Day.
Find Yummy Frozen Treats near Conejo Valley-Malibu-Calabasas
📅 National Ice Cream Days in July:
- July 1 🍨 Creative Ice Cream Flavors Day
- July 7 🍓 Strawberry Sundae Day
- July 17 🍑 Peach Ice Cream Day
- July 19 🍨 Ice Cream Day - 3rd Sunday in July
- July 23 🍦 Vanilla Ice Cream Day | ✨ Sprinkle Day | 🥜 Peanut Butter and Chocolate Day 🍫
- July 25 🍫 Hot Fudge Sundae Day - Invented at C.C. Brown's DTLA
- July 26 ☕ Coffee Milkshake Day
🎉 Fun "ice cream" things to do with your kids:
- 5 Super Yummy Ways for your Family To Enjoy Ice Cream
- Ice Cream Craft: Ice Cream Painting
- STEM Fun: Make Ice Cream in a Bag in Just 15 Minutes
- DIY Frozen Hot Cocoa Ice Cream
- DIY Ice Cream Cake
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🍦 Fun Ice Cream Facts to Share
🍨 Ice Cream by the Scoop
- Around 90% of American households eat ice cream each year - I'm guessing the remaining 10% just don't have freezers?
- The average American eats around 4 gallons of ice cream a year. That’s more than anywhere else in the world!
- Most U.S. ice cream and frozen dessert businesses are family-owned and have been around for over 50 years.
- It takes 12 pounds of whole milk to make one gallon of ice cream.
- Waffle cones beat out sugar cones, but more people prefer a bowl.
- The major ingredient in ice cream is . . . AIR! But why so many calories?!
🧑🍳 Ice Cream’s Sweet Beginnings
- The first ice cream parlor in America opened in 1776 in New York City.
- The White House has served ice cream since Thomas Jefferson’s time. He even had his own hand-written recipe.
- Immigrants at Ellis Island were served vanilla ice cream as part of their "Welcome to America!" meal.
- The first ice cream cone was invented in New York in 1903—then in 1904, another creative inventor stepped in at the St. Louis World’s Fair when an ice cream stand ran out of cups . . . and the rest is history.
- The first ice cream truck hit the streets in 1920.
😋 Flavors, Toppings & Sweet Extras
- Top 10 U.S. ice cream flavors: Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry, Butter Pecan, Cookie Dough, Cookies and Cream, Mint chocolate Chip, Chocolate Chip, Rocky Road and Peanut Butter Cup - according to the International Dairy Foods Assoc. - My boys top flavors are Cookies and Cream and Salted Caramel, hubby loves Vanilla Bean and I love Peanut Butter and Chocolate.
- Hot Fudge is the top topping followed by whipped cream then caramel sauce and chocolate sauce.
- Brain freeze has a scientific name: sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia - But we’ll stick with brain freeze!
- Ben & Jerry’s has a real Flavor Graveyard in Vermont. Retired flavors like Peanut Butter & Jelly and Miz Jelena’s Sweet Potato Pie are honored with headstones.
- The world's biggest ice cream sundae was made on July 24, 1988 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It took four hours to create and weighed 54,917 pounds 13 oz!
🌟 Golden State Originals:
- California is the nation's largest ice cream producer and also produces more milk than any other state. Over 60 ice cream and frozen dessert manufacturers call it home.
- After the stock market crash in 1929 Rocky Road ice cream was created in Oakland, CA to make people smile during "rocky" times, it remains one of the more popular flavors.
- Ice Cream Brands from California: Baskin-Robbins | McConnell's Fine Ice Cream | Straus Family Creamery | Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream | Foster's Freeze
- The Hot Fudge Sundae was invented at C.C. Brown's in Downtown Los Angeles
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Ice Cream - or the sweet frozen desserts that inspired it - originated centuries ago. From mixing snow with flavors in ancient China and Rome, to adding milk and cream in Italy and France, frozen treats evolved into what we now call ice cream. Learn how America’s founding fathers enjoyed it too! The exact dates and details are a bit fuzzy, but here are some great links to start exploring the history of ice cream—a rare treat once reserved for the privileged, now enjoyed by all.
Want to learn more?
- Ice Cream History
- Almanac - The History of Ice Cream
- PBS - Explore The Delicious History of Ice Cream
- The Evolution of Ice Cream and Ice Cream for America
- The Complete History of Ice Cream Cones
- The first ice cream scoop patented by Alfred L. Cralle
- Guinness World Records: Ice Cream
- C.C. Brown's in Downtown Los Angeles - inventor of the hot fudge sundae
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This previously published article has been updated by Macaroni KID Conejo Valley - Malibu - Calabasas.
