By Brenda Hyde

Buy small paper cups to place your snow cones in. Look for markdowns on party goods to keep around this summer for snow cones and other treats. You can crush the ice in your blender. Mine has a setting for this, or you can crush by hand in a clean tea towel with a rolling pin. Here are two easy syrup recipes:

Snow Cone Syrup

Place the sugar and water in a medium pan and bring to a full boil. Remove from heat and stir in the Kool-Aid. Cool to room temperature, then place in the refrigerator until chilled. Pour over crushed iced.

Another easy syrup:

1 4 ounces of sweetened flavored drink mix powder

3/4 cup hot water

Mix the water and the drink mix. Cool and drizzle over crushed ice.

By the way, there are all kinds of tidbits out there on the first "snow cones". It appears Chinese Emperors may have flavored snow with fruit and honey. Also Native Americans may have sweetened snow with maple syrup. Though the rich and famous create sophisticated fruited ices such as sorbet, I have a feeling our kids wouldn't be interested. Hand them a snow cone and they are happy!

About the Author:

Brenda Hyde is Mom to three little ones, a freelance writer and editor here at OldFashionedLiving.