I am one of those people who much prefers hot weather over cold. Pretty much the only time I appreciate being cold is when I have booked a trip to Utah or Tahoe to snowboard, and I am ashamed to say that I have not done that since before our first kid was born 9 years ago. This summer, while visiting my sister in Alexandria, VA, on a hot summer day, they broke out their snow cone maker to create cold, refreshing treats. My kids were so excited to make their own snow cones that when we got home, we decided to buy a snow cone maker, too. But, beware: not all snow cone makers are created equal!
The first snow cone machine we bought was a “Jelly Belly” brand maker we got at Bed Bath & Beyond for about $25. It sucked. Granted the snowy/chunky ice that came out of the machine was fine, the snow cone maker itself had a terrible design and was frustrating to use (you basically have to take the whole top off of the machine to add new ice cubes, and not very many will fit into the machine.) Luckily, Bed Bath & Beyond has great customer service and they happily refunded my money when I returned it the next day. I then proceeded to look at Walmart and Target with no luck. (Target sold a similar design to the Jelly Belly machine but under a different name… which I of course did not buy. However, I did notice that Target currently stocks a great selection of snow cone accessories like snow cone cups, syrups, and straws that are worth checking out).
Next, my search for a good snow cone maker brought me searching online, and after reading several reviews we chose the Victorio VKP1100 Electric Snow Cone Maker/Ice Shaver from Amazon.com for $35 with free shipping. It has been a great addition to our summertime fun!! The best things about the Victorio Snow Cone Machine are: it doesn’t take up a lot of space, you can easily flip the lid open to add more ice, it takes regular sized ice cubes, and it makes snow cones fast! On top of that you can use it as a reward for good behavior, as in: “If you get out of the pool now to go home we will have time to have snow cones before we make dinner.” BTW, after the kids head to bed you can use it to make yummy grownup cocktails. It really has been a great summertime hit (and no, I am not making a commission from Victorio or Amazon off of this post… I just really like the snow cone maker!).
Where we are in East Tennessee our summer break is already halfway over! I know others of you may have just started your summer breaks. I have really loved getting time with my kids on more of a relaxed summer schedule, and making snow cones has been our new, fun thing to do this summer. Soon enough it will be back to packing the school lunchbox and hopefully I will have more kids lunch box products to review and pass along to you. If you have a product you would like to send me to review before the coming school year, let me know!
