Oh, Frosty the snow... erm, slush puppy maker, was a jolly, happy soul. And when you'd tried whatever came out of him, you were pretty happy too. Something to do with all the E numbers, I suspect.
Mr Frosty was indeed a delicious invention. And one that put him at the top of many a Christmas list in the 80s. Mr Frosty was a snowman-shaped piece of white plastic (think The Marshmallow man from Ghostbusters) with a sweet, smiley face and the word 'FROSTY' emblazoned across his front in red. We all wanted this little fella, because it meant we could make slush puppy drinks to our heart's content, or until we got severe brain freeze!
The premise was simple: place a few ice cubes into Mr Frosty's head (his hat acted like a plunger to help crush the ice), then turn the handle on the back of Mr Frosty and out comes your slush puppy through the opening in his stomach. Just make sure you've got one of the official Mr Frosty paper cups to hand, and finish off your masterpiece with your favourite flavoured colouring. The colouring was added with a little help from Percy the Penguin, as the TV ad had dubbed him. Percy was a plastic little bottle you could put the juice into and then squeeze into your slush puppy. It was the perfect cooling drink during all those scorching summers we used to have (remember those?). The Mr Frosty toy also came with a set of ice lolly moulds in case you got bored of slurping through a straw - you just placed them in the freezer for a few hours and, hey presto! And when the flavourings ran out, there was always a bottle of Vimto in the kitchen cupboard to substitute. Nowadays of course, if you've still got a Mr Frosty lying around the house, you could try making some rather less innocent iced drinks or boozy lollies.
The only real flaw with Mr Frosty was getting the ice to crush - you needed a bit of muscle power and a lot more ice than you'd expect in order to fill a couple of cups. Despite this, the toy is still popular with budding mixologists, and seems to have undergone a few facelifts courtesy of Hasbro along the way. Mr Frosty was, and always will be, one cool dude.
Do You Remember Mr Frosty!?
Do You Remember Mr Frosty!?