National Ice Cream Month with Edy’s & Giveaway #ReasontoSmile, #sp

July is a great month! We have birthdays galore in my family, the weather is beautiful, flowers are blooming and it’s National Ice Cream Month! I’m not sure if your family is the same as mine, but Edy’s is a staple in my home! My parents even buy the single serving size ones and give the dogs a few spoonfuls on occasion. Yes, the little ones are for the puppies!

My parents, brother and I had a taste testing the other day with Edy’s new Limited Edition Flavors:

• Take the Cake
• NEW German Chocolate Cake Spectacular
• NEW Sunny Salted Caramel Pretzel
• 3 Stripes You’re Out

The first three flavors are available in Edy’s Slow Churned while the last is only available in Edy’s Grand Ice Cream. And with the Slow Churned you get all the taste and 1/2 the fat (with 1/2 the fat and 1/3 fewer calories than regular ice cream).

So here’s the funny part of living with my parents and them see what some of my blogging is all about. They are experiencing a lot of the products I get to review. When I told them about the ice cream I had bought, it was too late the first night to eat it, but I tell you what, the next day when they got home from running around, the first thing I hear from my dad is, “Where’s the ice cream? When do we get to eat it?” lol It’s so funny!

They already had their house freezer filled, which included two tubs of Edy’s ice cream we had had from dad’s birthday and the two individual puppy ones. So, I had to put my four flavors out in the garage. Thank goodness, because that freezer stays much colder than their filled one in the house.

It would’ve been fun to do a blind taste test (next time), but this time we sampled all four at once. Four different people sampling four different ice creams and you know there will be varying opinions. In the end we all ended up having our own favorites.

We were each supposed to rate all 4 flavors in order of our favorite. I definitely wanted to try the 3 Stripes You’re Out because it’s vanilla ice cream with mixed blueberry and strawberry swirls. I’m a fan of all things berry! I definitely liked it and how summery it tasted! I think mom was the only other one looking forward to trying that one. The guys…not berry people.

My brother headed straight for the German Chocolate Cake Spectacular and it quickly started off as his favorite. I was looking forward to it as well. I love german chocolate cake so it stands to reason I’d love it in an ice cream. =) It actually turned out to have a much darker chocolate taste than I care for, so it fell behind the berry swirl for me.

Dad was funny. When he tried the same ice cream he said, “what’s that chewy thing in it?” lol I told him it was bits of cake. He said, “no, that’s not it.” Um, hello dad, did you happen to notice that it’s called German Chocolate –> Cake <—Spectacular? Oy

Mom, like me, loaded her bowl up with several flavors for immediate sampling! We’re not playing games here people, ice cream is serious business! She and I decided after trying the Sunny Salted Caramel Pretzel that it was moving to the top of the list. Dad upon hearing that had to dig in.

He kept grabbing it saying how much he loved it and reading the carton. lol Still trying to figure this man out.
Now, over a week later, we get home from Peru and I realize I had gotten all Grand Ice Creams instead of all Slow Churned. lol The week before we left was crazy, needless to say. So, Fred and I grabbed the 2 available in slow churned that I hadn’t gotten before, and dug in!

Having just gotten back from Peru and seeing the lives of children changed because of simple wheelchairs we built, it make me realize even more how important organizations like Operation Smile are! They literally change lives! Operation Smile is an international children’s medical charity, that makes it possible to do 500 reconstructive surgeries for children around the globe suffering from cleft lip, cleft palate and other facial deformities.

Since May 15, Edy’s ice cream has been posting content on its Facebook page every two weeks encouraging fans to help the brand donate to Operation Smile. Each uniquely stamped “A Reason to Smile” post features different methods of participation – from liking and sharing to commenting – creating personalized opportunities for fans to engage with the cause and help Edy’s reach its goal.

Edy’s will donate up to $125,000 to Operation Smile this year. The campaign will run through September 31, 2013. For more information about “A Reason to Smile” or Edy’s Ice Cream, please visit http://www.facebook.com/edysicecream.  Are you ready to smile?  Join the conversation on Twitter and Instagram at #ReasontoSmile.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


*I’m so thankful to have had the opportunity to work with TheMotherhood and Edy’s on this post, which, yes, was compensated, but the opinions are definitely mine!