July is a month of high celebration for ice cream lovers everywhere - it’s National Ice Cream Month! That should say it all but there’s a lot of special days that honor special ice cream flavors scattered throughout, too, kinda like the sprinkles and stir-ins that delight us at our favorite ice cream parlors. Here’s the scoop on some of those special flavor days and some ice cream drink recipes sure to go down with a long, smooth, satisfying finish.

July 1 - Creative Ice Cream Flavors Day (covers ALL the bases, doesn’t it?)
July 7 - Chocolate Day (surely this means ice cream, right?) AND National Strawberry Sundae Day
July 17 - National Ice Cream Day (always the third Sunday in July) AND Peach Ice Cream Day (always July 17)
July 23 - Vanilla Ice Cream Day
July 28 - National Milk Chocolate Day (ditto my comment on July 7’s flavor du jour)

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Hummer

Have a large, chilled cocktail glass ready, along with chocolate shavings to sprinkle on top of this one. Then, into a blender, add:

1.5 ounces coffee liqueur
1 ounce rum
8 ounces (1 cup) vanilla ice cream

Blend till smooth and creamy.

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Banana Tree

Chill a large cocktail glass. Garnish with pineapple wedges and banana slices.

Into a blender, pour:

1 ounces creme de banana liqueur
1/2 ounce white creme de cacao
1/2 ounce Galliano
1/2 banana, peeled and sliced for easy blending
6 ounces vanilla ice cream
4 drops vanilla extract
2 ounces pineapple juice

Blend till smooth and creamy.

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Peaches ‘n Cream

1 ounce peach brandy
1/2 cup peach slices plus one slice reserved for garnish
3 ounces vanilla ice cream

Put it all in a blender, blend till smooth, and pour into small, chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with peach slice.

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Vanilla ice cream's OK but you'd rather have chocolate? Follow the link below to some chocolate cocktails recipes. The Gingerman combines chocolate ice cream with spicy ginger-flavored brandy and yummy rum. Enjoy!