Celebrate Summer during National Yogurt Month – with TCBY Frozen Yogurt! #TCBYGrocery – As soon as the weather gets warm around here, we start entertaining a few nights a week. I love putting together a good party – creative decorations, fun games, and good food. Since this month is National Yogurt Month, I wanted to celebrate it with a little Frozen Yogurt and Cupcakes party, and what better frozen treat to use then then everyone’s favorite, TCBY!
“Summer afternoon – Summer afternoon… the two most beautiful words in the English language.” – Henry James
We’ve had mostly beautiful weather lately, and are so anxious to get our pool opened up for the season. I had planned a few parties already, and have had people over several times over the past two weeks – but unfortunately, the summer grand opening of the pool keeps hitting big ol’ road blocks. Ugh. First, we were told that we needed a new pool pump, which is a big expense. We ordered one in, waited to have it installed… Only to find out that wasn’t even really the problem. Double ugh. The next week we had several repair companies here, lots of work done, and still no luck. Hopefully by this weekend we’ll finally be able to enjoy the pool at our next party! Definitely looking forward to it – it’s getting darn hot, super quickly around here. A dip in the pool sounds glorious…
Celebrate Summer with TCBY Frozen Yogurt!
I wanted to put together a fun little shindig for the kiddos, so we headed out to Walmart to pick up the new TCBY Frozen Yogurt – and as you can see, it must have been on everyone else’s list too. The selection was almost sold out – crazy, right? But, there were enough choices for me to pick out a good selection of flavors to please everyone. {Because of course, every kiddo in my house has a different favorite that the MUST have, lol.} I’m a sucker for great packaging, and I just adore the bright, clean, cheerfully designed cartons for TCBY. I also picked up a few extra goodies – candy, cupcake mix, sprinkles, and cones. I wanted to bump things up a notch, make it more fun than a typical after-dinner bowl of ice cream. So I grabbed up a bunch of good stuff, and planned out some super fun ideas.
“A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows.” – St. Francis of Assisi
Seriously – can’t you almost taste how good this stuff is, just by looking at the picture? I love ice cream, but to be honest, I’m not too picky about the type. One thing that I do appreciate is a frozen dessert that has big pieces of chocolate or fruit in it – big enough to really taste it. And that’s hard to find. Well – take a look at those deliciously juicy fruit chunks in the Tropical Mango Peach, and the giant bites of toffee and chocolate in the other blends – Chocolate Chunk Cookie Dough and English Toffee Crunch. We took a quick bite to sample each one, then I got to work on setting up a fun set of treats for the kids to enjoy after a fun day in the sun, and a simple dinner on the patio – {Salad, baked chicken, and pasta salad.} Lovely.
“Celebrate summer: sun-drenched days and starlit nights.” – Gooseberry Patch
I started by making dipped sugar cones – I melted down some Wilton Candy Melts in the microwave, and tinted them pink. I rolled the edges of the sugar cones in the melted white chocolate, then rolled ’em in sprinkles. Super simple, but super fun! Then I set them up in dessert glasses to cool, so the candy could harden.
“Be like the flower, turn your face to the sun.” – Kahlil Gibran
Next, I created these fun little cupcakes… I just used some small plastic party cups, filled them halfway with jelly beans {one of our favorite family candies} and set my vanilla bean cupcakes inside each one. Then I topped the cupcakes with the Wilton Pearl Sprinkles, and a few more jelly beans to match the holders. It was a random idea, but I think it came out really fun!! I’ll definitely be using variations on this for other summer parties – I’m thinking some ribbon around the cups next time would be a great touch…
“A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken.” – James Dent
The kids and I enjoyed our treats out in the yard next to the patio, where we’d been playing in the kiddie pool and slip n’ slide all day. {It’s a good time, but tough to enjoy quite as much when you have a big in-ground pool in view, that you’re just dying to get to use!} See little mister’s messy frozen yogurt face? Yep, he LOVED the TCBY Frozen Yogurts!!! I wanted the total deliciousness of the ice cream to come through, so I kept them simple – a couple big scoops of TCBY in the dipped sugar cones, topped only with a few fun sprinkles. Partnered with the jelly beans and cupcakes – and of course, a big glass of ice cold milk for each of us – I have to say it was pretty much the perfect end to a summer day.
“Be intent upon the perfection of the present day.” – William Law
Aren’t these so fun? I can tell ya, it’s honestly not that often that we all agree on something around here… Due to a series of crazy life changes, we ended up with a big household – Me, Mike, and Abby. My brother and my two little nephews. And Grandma too… Plus SIX little dogs! So no matter how great I think an idea is for dinner, dessert, snacks, anything – there’s SOMEONE who’s not happy. But these TCBY Frozen Yogurts were a hit with every.single.one of us. Epic, right? {And yes, when I say EVERYONE, I mean it. The dogs were all dying for a bite, and most of ’em got at least a lick or two that dropped to the ground…. And I saw a lot of little wagging tails :)
For more updates on cool products and promotions – follow TCBY on Twitter – @TCBYGrocery. You can also find them on Facebook too. And for more summer fun ideas like these, check out the TCBY Grocery Pinterest page – {and of course, feel free to pin any of my pics to your own Pinterest idea boards too!}
How do YOU celebrate on family night during summertime with your family? Leave me some comments!
{Disclaimer: I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and TCBY. #CBias #SocialFabric #TCBYGrocery.}
, {have it, love it, use it all the time!} or choose compostable: sugar cane, fallen palm leaves, and corn are some of the most popular materials. For the past couple of parties I used these great compostable party plates, cups, and utensils – and I was blown away by how sturdy they are. Super cool green geniuses to come up with this stuff.
lined with Glad Bags {they now have less plastic, and more stretch – meaning you can stuff more into them and have less waste} to make it super simple for guests to toss their cans, glass bottles, and regular trash.
cooking type of gal, I’m a big fan of recipes that involve shortcuts – like pre-made, store-bought products that make the process a little simpler. That is why I’m excited to share this great Cake Pops recipe… It’s not a ton of work, but it’s jazzed up enough that no one will EVER know that it started as out with a simple pound cake you bought at the grocery… Enjoy!
on Amazon. Very sleek, and works for a ton of other kitchen creations too.
has some super fun summer ideas in it, and 
, perfect for parties.
that grandpa sent us… They had a BLAST. Great way to burn off some of that afternoon energy that kids seem to have an abundance of. The kid that us tired moms can’t even remember….
