Winding down the school year, the last couple of days are upon us.  We have a kindergarten graduate among our littles and yesterday was the graduation. Today is the last day of school and then a busy summer ahead.  This week is so busy but special days like today need to be celebrated.

I like shortcuts whenever possible, especially in the summer.  The little hacks or tricks that  make life easier and let you get to the fun faster are welcomed by this mom of many.  After all, who does not want to get to the fun part faster, right?

Last weekend I was in Walmart and attended a demo where Blue Bunny premium vanilla bean ice cream was featured. It was absolutely delicious and we are already big Blue Bunny lovers! The vanilla ice cream gave me the inspiration for how to celebrate our little graduate’s big day! I thought, I would put together a make your own brownie sundae ice cream social at our house! What a great idea everyone will love and I could  thank the Blue Bunny vanilla bean ice cream in my cart for the inspiration.

So the time to celebrate arrived and I want to share just how easy you can recreate the same Make Your Own Brownie Sundae Ice Cream Social with your family. You can bake a box of 13 by 9 pan size brownies of your choice or if you want to skip that, you can pick up some that are already made at your store or bakery. Then shop for some Blue Bunny vanilla bean ice cream or another of your Blue Bunny favorite flavors.  I  think the vanilla complements the brownie sundae so well! Next, you will want to have lots of yummy toppings on hand so that everyone can customize their sundae. I used mini candies, nuts, caramel sauce, hot fudge, marshmallow fluff, rainbow sprinkles, whipped cream, nuts, and of course what sundae is complete without the cherry on top.

I picked up a large vinyl graduation table cloth for our outdoor picnic table. The tablecloth makes cleanup a snap. Then I added some graduation inspired party plates and decorations to make our little guy feel special! I baked a pan of brownies the night before and cut them into squares to use for the sundae foundation.  When everyone has their brownie, the fun begins! You can’t go wrong here, just let everyone add the toppings they like and enjoy!

If you are lucky enough to have left over ice cream the great Blue Bunny ice cream containers will keep it fresh to the last scoop.  I love the Blue Bunny containers because the lid fits great and is easy to open and store. Everyone loved making their brownie sundae just the way they wanted. It was a lot of fun and so simple. The best part was the first bite, the creamy, cold vanilla ice cream with the rich chocolate brownie and toppings was delicious.

If you think the store demo that I attended sounds like something you might want to attend, check out this list of stores for the upcoming 4th of July demo where Blue Bunny will be teaming up with Chips Ahoy! If you would like to have an Ice Cream Social to celebrate any life event, it’s so easy. I hope that you try it and let me know how it goes, my family is already asking when we can do it again.

Vanilla MasterCard Gift Cards are the perfect solution for all  your gift giving dilemmas.  They are even a life-saver when you have to pick a gift for someone last-minute.  The Vanilla MasterCard Gift Card will allow the recipient to shop and get what THEY want.

It will save you the hassle and stress of trying to find something for the person that has everything and will always be the one size fits all option for even the pickiest people on your gift list.

A great choice for Father’s Day because it can be used at the Home Depot, Best Buy and wherever else MasterCard debit cards are accepted.  Now Dad can shop for something he really wants.  Whether birthday, graduation, anniversaries or just because, you won’t ever have to worry about returns or getting someone something they already have.  For more information go to www.vanillamastercard.com.

The ingredients are very simple: 1 80z pack of cream cheese (softened), 1 stick of butter (softened), 1/4 tsp of vanilla though I use far more, 1 egg, the cake mix and confectioners, sugar (1/4 cup).

When you have everything except the confectioners’ sugar mixed together, you then roll the dough into balls and roll the balls in the sugar and place on a cookie sheet.  Then bake them in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes.

Cookies will be soft so let them cool on the tray before moving them to cooling racks.

The aroma before baking which was heightened when adding the vanilla, was phenomenal, but cherry-vanilla has always been a good combination.  After baking the flavorful soft and gooey cookies were irresistible.  Hope you give them a try.  Please do not forget the give-away for the cutting board and bar boards ends tomorrow night.  We will hopefully have three winners but we need to get people to enter.