Wednesday, June 18, 2014

At Home Ice Cream Truck!

I love the idea of the Ice Cream Truck. Its fun to get those extra special ice cream treats like the baseball glove with the gum (remember those?). However, the ice cream truck always comes to our neighborhood right at bed time. Seriously- Why not the middle of the day? Then there is the cost- its not cheap to buy from the ice cream truck anymore. You can buy a whole summer's worth of ice cream for the same price you would spend on 7 treats at the ice cream truck.
So I went out and bought a ton of popsicles and ice cream and cut out all the fronts of the boxes. I taped each box front together so it would make one big sign. Then I attached the sign to a rolled down window in our car, turned some music on, and yelled, "Ice Cream Truck" to my kids. They LOVED it! We do Ice Cream Truck once a week now.  Its a blast. 

Why the prices? That's the best part- my kids have to earn their ice cream. Throughout the week I award them with money for the truck based on how they do their chores: Did they complain a lot? Did they go above and beyond? Did they have to go back and do it over and over? Did they simply go and do their job as asked? If they do an amazing job- they get 3 pieces of money. An okay job equals 2, and a not great but still passable job is 1 piece of money. By the end of the week they can have up to 18 pieces of money (I priced some worth more than that though so they also have to learn the art of saving). We made the lowest 6 pieces of money though so they at least got some kind of award if they did their chores everyday. I find boys tend to be motivated by food. Just seems to be a fact of life (Ever heard the saying, "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach"?) My boys do their jobs really well- better than their older sisters. 



Sometimes I slip in some homemade popsicles and ice cream too- its even better actually. Here is an easy recipe to make together- I called it Boy Ice Cream since it was a project that just the boys and I were doing but really it is similar to Mud Pie.

Mud Pie Frozen Yogurt


  • 2 cups of Vanilla Greek Yogurt
  • 1/3 cup of honey (if you want it sweeter)
  • Pinch of salt
  • Chocolate graham crackers or cookies 
  • Gummy frogs, rattlesnakes, worms, spiders, etc. to taste


          1. Put some of the chocolate graham crackers or cookies into a ziploc bag. Place on top of a cutting board or other good surface then let the boys hammer away (safely). 
           2. Pull apart the gummies into smaller pieces with your super human strength (or you can use scissors but its not as cool). 

           3. Mix together the yogurt, honey, and salt. Pour into Ice Cream maker (if you don't have one skip to the Optional notes).
          4. Once it starts to thicken up a little, start pouring in the chocolate crumbs then the gummies. 
           5. When it gets to a nice thick consistency, its done! Eat right away or if you want it thicker, freeze it for a bit. 
  Optional- Mix everything together all at once then pour into popsicle molds or paper cups with sticks. You could also just mix it in a bowl and put in the freezer. It won"t be as creamy but it'll still be good. I thought about mixing in some chocolate pudding to make it more Mud Pie like but I thought that would be too much.

I love homemade versions of ice cream treats because you can make it healthier and its just more fun. My all time favorite is Mixed Berry Sorbet. All you need is pureed berries, a little lemon juice, and sugar water (or honey water). Its so good and the color is beautiful.
Looking for more great recipes? Check out my Ice Cream Truck Pinterest board! 
Follow Camille's board Ice Cream Truck Recipes on Pinterest.

Summer Survival for Moms of Boys
If you liked this then you will love the rest of the Summer Survival for Moms of Boys series. Every day this Summer there is a new fun activity for Moms of Boys. A lot are great for everyone but they are done with boys in mind. Be sure to check out the fun painted cookies or the funny faces pizzas and more! 


32 comments :

  1. This is such a clever idea! I just love that you created your own ice cream truck and I might do the same thing - I don't think that I've ever seen an ice cream truck in my neighborhood and I hate that my kids are missing out on that experience. And I'm pretty sure that my girls would love that Mud Pie recipe...I'm going to pin that for later!

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    1. Yeah my girls like the ice cream too- Since it was just a Mommy and Boys project though we told my girls that the boys had a special knack to make it just right. Next week we are making a "Girl" ice cream.

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  2. Haha! What a brilliant and fun idea! Our ice cream truck comes after bedtime too, but my son was lucky enough to have woken up crying last week so he had his first ice cream truck experience. I enjoyed my first Rocket Pop, since my youth, and my son enjoyed his first ice cream truck confection (daddy got a treat too) -- good times!

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    1. Rocket pops are great! Glad you got to have the real experience. We did it once too.

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  3. What a cute idea! I'm always looking for different ways to get my kids excited about earning stuff. My problem is consistency and follow through. :) And seriously, when did the ice cream truck get so expensive?!

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    1. Right?! Since this is only something I do during the summer is not as hard for me to continue. They have more chores in the summer so I do the extra reward.

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  4. That's cute! I loved the ice cream truck as a kid. It's sad that now I'm a bit skeptical about the safety of it all. Must stop watching the news!!!

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    1. Another reason to one at home instead. Sad.

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  5. Love this idea, so much fun! The ice cream truck doesn't come to my neighborhood, which is CRAZY because it's a neighborhood made up of several dead-end streets full of children.

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    1. I think that pretty soon Ice Cream Trucks are going to be extinct.

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  6. This is a great idea! I love that you use a currency throughout the week for chore completion! My daughter has a sticker chart and we do chores 5 days a week. If she has 15 stickers at the end of the week we go shopping. She loves ice cream, but I prefer to use it to bribe her to eat dinner. She's so picky and her tastes change so often I can't keep up!

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    1. Oooo shopping is a good incentive. I'd be broke though!

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  7. This idea is ADORABLE. I think my kids would like the DIY ice cream truck since we ALWAYS tell them no when it barrels down our street. This would be an awesome idea for a summer birthday party - ON THE CHEAP!! Thanks for the recipe, too. That looks fun for the kids to make, and to eat.

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    1. Love the idea for doing this as birthday party! I might have to break out the cardboard version for that!

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  8. What a fun idea to get the kids excited about earning things/starting their own ice cream truck "business". That is so awesome. Also, who doesn't love ice cream!

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    1. Thanks Lindsay! I'm with you on the ice cream but I always go for the fudgiscle.

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  9. I love this! What a cute idea to make your own ice cream truck and I love that it's also part of their reward for doing chores.

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    1. Thanks Suzanne. I figure if I'm going to give them extra chores why not have some fun with it too! Tonight my kids were adding up how much they had so they could figure out how well they needed to do their jobs tomorrow to get what they need. At least they are planning ahead. I think I'm going to get a lot of excellent work tomorrow!

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  10. I love this! Our ice cream truck comes late too, usually when we're eating dinner. When I was a kid it always came during the day or very early evening on weekdays.

    BTW I love the idea of your blog and I love CO Springs. We don't get down there a lot but I will have to check out your blog for ideas for a day trip :)

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    1. Thanks Regan. I'm glad you like the blog. If you ever need any other tips about CO Springs, let me know. Hope you make it down soon!

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  11. Ok, we totally need to do this! How fun to have your own ice cream truck pull up to your house!

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  12. This is a great idea and sounds like so much fun. We don't get an ice cream truck in our area or I haven't noticed anyhow. Plus buying ice cream in bulk is much cheaper.

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    1. Its the couponer in me that cringes at paying $7 for an ice cream cone. Plus this is just way more fun.

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  13. Can you be any more clever? That is a wonderful idea and I'm sure your kids are totally about earning their ice cream money! Here's to wonderful summer memories!

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    1. Thanks! The hard part is keeping my husband from eating all the expensive ones before my kids get to them!

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  14. This post was fun! Thanks for sharing it with us! I love, love, love the idea of playing ice-cream truck at home! The money earning is fantastic and when it comes time to buy they get the experience of paying, change, etc!! Going to be sharing this post!! LOVED it!!

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    1. Definitely a bonus Susen. Thanks for your kind words.

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  15. Camilla! This is genius! I am so pinning this and I love that they have to earn it. Also great recipe!

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    1. LOL- I don't know about genius but it is fun! Thanks Laura!

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  16. An at home ice cream truck! I love that! I thought at first you were going to say you decided to see ice cream to the neighbors during the day and beat the ice cream man too it and have your kids make some money!! HAHAH. Not sure that would be legal though. lol

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