Growing up in a small town in Southern Arizona meant there were few opportunities to cool off in the summer: the first was the pool, and the second was our local TCBY – both were summer staples and equally vital in the eyes of a child. Ice cream was just not cool enough, if you wanted to be on the cutting edge, you had to have a massive cup of FroYo. The novelty of Frozen Yogurt never made it to London, and on our first summer in Arizona, I re-lived my first taste with the children on a day when 110F in the shade seemed cool, and the FroYo cup in our hands even cooler. As we approach our 2nd summer in Arizona, the idea of a FroYo tasting party seems like a novelty that must be experienced, especially now that #TCBYGrocery just arrived at our local Walmart.
Hosting a tasting party while the product is still new adds a novelty feel to your party that everyone will be thrilled to experience, while also getting your guests excited about the warmer spring weather. Like an ice cream social, hosting a frozen yogurt tasting party is a breeze and takes little set up once you have the 10 key elements needed to pull off a fabulous tasting party. And if you don’t have them to hand, don’t worry, I pulled this party together in an afternoon because I found everything I needed when stocking up on my TCBY Grocery items.
Top 10 Essentials for hosting a Frozen Yogurt Tasting Party:
- Toppings & Frozen Yogurt: The sky is the limit with toppings and flavors, but if space does not allow you to have every topping and flavor under the sun, keep it simple with traditional favorites. I could not decide, so I went for every new TCBY Grocery flavor and kept my toppings simple with cookies, sprinkles, sauces, cherries, nuts and fruit.
- Color Theme: Think bright, bold colors. Orange, Aqua, Red and White are very popular this year, and by stocking up on a few key pieces you will have your spring/summer entertaining accessories sorted for the season.
- Scoops & Spoons: Keep serving simple by offering a variety of scoops for each flavor. It not only keeps your tabletop mess free, it makes self-service simple and easy for your guests. Just as a number of scoops are important, so are spoons. Opt for inexpensive tea spoons, they can be used again for another party and are always preferable over the plastic ones that frequently break while in use.
- Bowls & Cones: Everyone has a preference for a cone, cup or both, so have plenty of cones, and cups on hand. Recycle your egg tree from Easter to draw attention to the cones, this keeps them from getting damaged and makes a nice focal point for the table.
- House Recipe: Assign an FroYo master and ask them to mix up the ‘house’ recipe using kitchen pan scrapers. Our after
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school guests were hanging on to our FroYo Master (or maybe it was just my charming nature?) with this TCBY Frozen Yogurt recipe we created using their fabulous Chocolate Chocolate tub and my new snazzy scrapers. - Serving Dishes: A variety of white serving bowls and clear plastic squeezers keep the tabletop looking clean and relaxed.
- Trays & Tubs: Use bright trays to showcase your popsicle treats and large colorful buckets to hold your tubs of frozen yogurt.
- Ice: Keep your frozen delights cold by keeping plenty of ice on hand for your frozen yogurt to rest in.
- Tasting Journal: Have fun with a tasting journal, list each flavor and encourage your guests to write down what they loved; it keeps the children engaged and the parent’s will love knowing what to buy next time they visit the shops.
- Napkins: Bright colorful napkins work as both a table top accent (especially if you wrap your spoons in them) and keep the taste testers from sporting that “I just had a big bowl of chocolate” look.
Recommended Reading
Spring Entertaining Essentials | Housewife Bliss
More Tasting Party Tabletop ideas | Coryanne on Google+
Like TCBY Grocery onFacebook & connect with them on Twitter
I have been compensated by Collective Bias #CBias for featuring my Google+ story and this blog post. All the photos, party ideas and content are my own. For a peak at my shopping adventure clicking on the image opposite.