There are holidays you observe, and there are holidays you celebrate. National Ice Cream Day, this year on Sunday, July 19, is firmly in the second camp, and going halfway on a holiday like that is not really our style. At Bowlero, we do dessert the way we do everything else, which is loud, fun, and over the top.
Before the crew rolls in, one quick note: menu options vary by location, so check your desired center's menu ahead of time using the Location Finder. Then round up everyone, grab a few lanes, and treat July 19 as the excuse it was meant to be.
The history behind the holiday
The day is more official than it sounds. Back in 1984, a presidential proclamation named July National Ice Cream Month and reserved the third Sunday for ice cream specifically, which is why the date moves around the calendar each summer. The proclamation even made a point of noting how many Americans love the stuff, which, frankly, tracks.
A few facts worth dropping between frames: July is the biggest ice cream month of the entire year, so you are celebrating in peak season. Vanilla is still the top-selling flavor in the country, quietly beating every bolder contender. And ice cream has been fueling get-togethers for well over a century, from the old soda fountain to the modern loaded shake. Point being, this is a holiday with history, and we intend to give it the send-off it deserves.
Signature shakes, loaded and ready
Our dessert menu is where the celebration starts, and the Signature Shakes are the first move, since every one is built on ice cream. The Twix shake blends the caramel and chocolate bar into something thick enough to slow down a straw. The Oreo shake packs in chocolate cookies for a cookies-and-cream hit with a serious chocolate backbone. And the M&M shake dumps the candy right into the glass, colorful, rich, and exactly as fun as it sounds.
The smart play is to order all three across the table and turn it into a taste test. Pass them around, take a vote, and let the trash talk fly over which shake reigns supreme. It is dessert with a competitive streak, which is about as on-brand as it gets for a night at Bowlero.
The Monster Cookie Melt takes center stage
If you are going to go big, go Monster. The Monster Cookie Melt is the showstopper of the dessert menu: a jumbo chocolate chip cookie warmed until it is melty in the middle, then piled high with vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream. On a day made for ice cream, a warm cookie buried under a cold scoop is about as good as it gets.
This one is built for the whole group. Drop it in the center of the table, hand out a stack of spoons, and watch the crew descend on it. It is the kind of dessert that demands a photo before anyone touches it and disappears faster than you would expect once they do. For a bigger crowd, a group or social event makes it easy to turn dessert into the centerpiece of the whole night.
Dessert as the main event
The best part of celebrating with us is that the dessert is not the end of the night, it is part of the show. Bowl a few games, work up an appetite, and then cap it off with shakes and a Monster Cookie Melt while the scores are still being argued over. The whole thing turns a one-day holiday into a full night out with the crew.
It works for any kind of group, from a birthday crowd to a friend group with a free Sunday. Speaking of which, if the day doubles as a celebration, a birthday or group party takes the planning off your plate. The bigger the group, the better the dessert spread, and the louder the celebration. When you know the crew is rolling through, reserve your lanes so you are not waiting around to get the party started.