I know the title sounds a little crazy…..but hear me out! I think most people definitely don’t think of ice cubes as anything other than simple drink cooling tools but they can be so much more! Exhibit A below – how pretty do these look !? Essentially you can dress up your party with a little water and flowers! Ice cube trays in general are so versatile for life (freezing herbs with oil or leftover coffee etc.) but they really step it up when it comes to your next special event!
Down below I have created 5 different ways you can use ice cubes for entertaining or just for fun! If you don’t have an ice cube tray – say hello to the dollar store and put your lovely 100 pennies to work. You can also step up your game and purchase ones that have different shapes to them.
Before you begin, one important item in preparing ice cubes:
JMS TIP: To achieve the clear ice look you MUST use water you have boiled through at least once (two times is even better) and then cooled thoroughly. If you use water straight from the sink it will be cloudy but if you boil it, it becomes clear. The clear look does change slightly if you have a substance inside which I have noted below.
1. FRUITS & HERBS
I started off with the most typical one that comes to mind – fruits and herbs! This is great way to provide customized flavoured water for your guests. I went with the combination of mint and grapefruit – soooo refreshing! There are so many different options you can go with (strawberries, pomegranates, lemon, lime, rosemary etc.) which allows you to have different drink flavour options without having to create individual large water pitchers for each of them. Set the ice cubes up in different bowls and people can make their own customized flavoured water!
2. FLOWERS
Did you know that most grocery stores carry edible flowers or can order them in for you! I love adding them to salads, as decoration on plates or in this case – to ice! They look gorgeous floating in cups and really make your drinks stand out! Now unfortunately theses specific ones are not edible – the day I was shooting, Canada decided to have a massive ice storm (mid April may I add) and the grocery stores I had a chance to escape to were all out of stock. You can use edible flowers to decorate your drink or you can use regular flowers like these as a decoration at your party. If drinking champagne or wine – place them in a bowl and place the bottle on top of them. They become a wonderful statement piece on the food table.
3. JUICE
This is my new favourite way of making cocktails! Having different flavours of frozen juice allows people to make their own customized cocktail beverages and the cubes help to not water drinks down! For example – my Lime Berry Refresher calls for 2 tablespoons of Oasis Health Break Antioxia (or any dark flavoured juice ie. pomegranate juice, blueberry compote etc.) which I froze into ice cubes. As gingerale or sparkling water is a base of many drinks – you can set them both out and provide a few different frozen juice flavours plus your favourite alcohol. For my Lime Berry Refresher drink you would have the gingerale and sparkling water, add in 1-2 ice cubes of the Oasis juice and top it off with a shot of vodka. Voila – self serve cocktail station!
4. GUMMY BEARS
This one is more for the fun and games part of the evening! You can provide each guest with a gummy bear filled ice cube which in turn can be turned into a fun game. For example – first one to have their gummy bear break free from ice jail gets a prize, last one to have their bear run free has to clean up or as your gummy bear breaks free you have to answer a question or do a task. There are so many ways to run with this game and it provides some fun interaction between the group. For some reason the ice does not stay clear with these (it may be that the bears absorb and expand in the water) but the game works well either way!
5. GLITTER AND CONFETTI AND SPARKLES!
Now a good party has to include some sort of the above! These were absolutely pure fun to make and left me wanting to add sparkles to everything (something I’m not sure my husband would approve of!). Clearly used only for decoration (not for consuming in drinks!) they can be placed in a bowl to hold your favourite drinks for the evening or that special wine bottle. If you do want to create a sparkly drink there is edible glitter available but that’s a tad too much for me to consume. It would make a beautiful sparkly glass of champagne tho!
What is your favourite item to put in an ice cube tray (and water does not count!) ?
Comment below!
