Eating ice cream for breakfast is basically every little kid’s dream. Well, that and being able to have pizza for dinner every single day. But even if you aren’t 8 years old, you have to admit there’s something fun about the idea of having a big ol’ bowl of ice cream first thing in the morning. So why not celebrate Ice Cream for Breakfast Day this year?

History of Ice Cream for Breakfast Day

Ice Cream for Breakfast Day was created in the 1960s by housewife Florence Rappaport from New York—the exact year is unknown, but it is suspected that it could have been 1966, as an enormous blizzard had hit that area that year.

The idea behind the day was simply that Florence’s 6 children were exceptionally bored one cold and snowy February morning, and she had to come up with something to entertain them so they wouldn’t get restless and cranky. As she herself explained years later, “It was cold and snowy and the kids were complaining that it was too cold to do anything. So I just said, ‘Let’s have ice cream for breakfast.'”

The following year, Florence’s children, who had obviously enjoyed the new little holiday their mother had created, reminded her of it and so they celebrated again, and the day became a tradition from then onward.

The holiday really caught on, too, thanks to Florence’s grandchildren, who have traveled extensively—Ice Cream for Breakfast Day has been celebrated in countries all over the world, from Germany to Nepal, to as far as Namibia.

These worldwide celebrations range from small family-style gatherings to large parties and have been featured in the Chinese edition of Cosmopolitan magazine and local magazines and newspapers as well. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz has done 2 pieces on Ice Cream for Breakfast day twice, once in Hebrew, and once in English.

Facts about Ice Cream

The waffle cone was invented by accident.

There is an ice cream fruit in Hawaii! It’s called Pacay, Ice Cream Bean.

It takes a whole 50 licks to get through one scoop of ice cream!

It takes 11 litres of whole milk to make one gallon of ice cream. No wonder it’s so creamy.

The world record for the largest ice cream cone ever made was achieved in 2015 in Norway with a cone over three meters high!

According to NASA, ice cream is one of the three foods astronauts miss the most when they go on space missions. The other two? Pizza and soda.

The chocolate ice cream was invented before vanilla! I know right!?

Ice cream headaches or “brain freeze” are the result of the nerve endings in the roof of your mouth sending a message to your brain of the loss of heat!

Did you know that some more unusual flavours that are out there are Avocado, garlic, azuki bean, jalapeno, and pumpkin?

In the UK, an individual on an average consumes 7 liters of ice cream in one year! However, Finland is ahead of the UK where a person consumes 14 liters of ice cream every year!

How to celebrate Ice Cream for Breakfast Day

Seeing as how Ice Cream for Breakfast Day is the perfect day to not only enjoy a breakfast of cold sweetness but also to spend time with your family. What could possibly create a better atmosphere than the whole family sitting around the table together, talking, joking around and having ice cream together? And make the morning even more fun, why not make some special ice cream sundaes?

Buy some Neapolitan ice cream, some real whipped cream, maraschino cherries and chocolate sauce, and arrange everything decoratively in some nice bowls. You could even buy some decorative wafers to make the sundaes even prettier. However, if you feel ice cream is a bit too high in fat or sugar for your family, don’t worry!

There are plenty of alternatives, such as frozen yogurt, that you can even make yourself and garnish with fresh fruit. This option will provide your family with the protein little bodies need to grow, as well as the kind of “good bacteria” the human bodies need in order for the digestive system to function properly.

These bacteria are so good for the body, in fact, that they are often called “probiotics”, a word that literally means “for life”. Whatever way you decide to celebrate Ice Cream for Breakfast Day, don’t forget to spend this morning enjoying the little things in life.

But isn’t this the wrong date!?

There are actually two holidays that are very similar in name but founding for very different reasons. Today is not to be confused with Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day which takes place on the 18th of February in honor of the bright soul that was Malia Grace who passed away fighting cancer. That day was set up to honor all the children who have or are battling childhood cancer.