In 1967, Hasbro introduced its little icy treat factories to sweaty summer cities and suburbs everywhere. The Frosty Sno-Man Sno-Cone machine was the first.
Just fill Frosty’s snowman body up with some ice cubes, jam the frozen stuff down using Frosty’s plastic hat, and pulverize appropriately.
When pulverization’s complete, scoop out the “snow” with the red shovel, and deposit into the funnel-shaped paper cups that came as a part of Frosty’s accessory package.
Pick one of the ten flavour packets (lemon, lime, strawberry, etc.), or swirl them around together if you had an above-average flair for syrup-handling, and enjoy the creation.
The 1970s saw the arrival of the Snoopy Sno-Cone machine, made to look like a white doghouse (pictured below right). The intrepid Sno-Coner dropped a couple of ice cubes into the top, packed it down with the Snoopy pusher, and started cranking the handle in the back.
No batteries or electricity needed, baby – just a little tenacity and some good old arm’s strength.
Snowy white magic appeared, all ready to be shovelled into the cups, and now it was time for the syrup packets.
If the mood struck, you could pour a bit of fruit juice over the ice or even concoct a batch of homemade syrup brew – from Kool-Aid or Tang mix, or just about any sugary powder your pantry felt like contributing to your Sno-Cone endeavour.
