The Original Mr Frosty – Crunchy Ice Maker

There are things in every person’s childhood that, when reintroduced sometime in your future, they get really excited about. Well, Mr Frosty isn’t actually one of mine, having not grown up in the UK, but when I told a friend that I had received a Mr Frosty in the mail, she squealed down the phone so loudly I had a fright! Apparently Mr Frosty of her childhood filled many a summer and she was really excited to hear that they were being relaunched in the UK. And yes – her childhood was in the 90’s. Mine, not quite!

Mr Frosty is an at-home slushy maker that comes with a snowman with handle and removable drawer, with an internal grater for crushing the ice. 

It comes with two bowls and two spoons – the bowls are tiny, but perfectly child sized. They don’t honestly need more, and seconds aren’t a problem. There is also an ice mold with summery ice shapes – fire hydrant and summer fruits – and a lolly maker for three icy popsicles and snowman handles. Finally there’s a squeezy penguin with a removable hat so that you can fill it with cordial and a hole in the hat so you can squeeze it out over the plain ice. I’m told that the Mr Frosty of the 90’s came with sugary syrups, but in this 2016 version, those aren’t included.  You can, however, buy concentrates from your local supermarket, or choose to use something else or nothing else! The kids won’t know the difference, really!

There are three ways to use the ice molds – obviously you can use the normal ice popsicles for normal ice lollies, or you can use the shapes for shaped drinks for your drink, or you can use shaped ices to decorate your slush. 

The slushy itself can be used to make plain ice (water) which is then topped by the squeezy cordial, or you can let the shaped ices melt over it for different flavours, or you can put flavoured ice through Mr Frosty – so as you can see there are lots of options.

After much experimenting, our favourite option is to freeze fruit juice in normal ice cube trays, and put that through Mr Frosty. It’s the ‘softest’ ice, and is the easiest to crush. If you’re using water based ice, then it’s good to leave it out of the freezer for a little while before trying to crush it.

To make the crushed ice, you simply lift the hat, pop in the ice, and turn the handle. My six year old found it a little tough to both press down, and turn at the same time, but I’m guessing there’s time for that coordination to come together, because I didn’t have problems, but I have more weight behind me than she does!

Find out more about Flair’s range of creative products for children here and is available from Smyths and The Entertainer