APDG ~ National Ice Cream Day - 7/17

Did any of you know that July 17th is National Ice Cream Day? Well yes it is.

National Ice Cream Day gives you the opportunity to .... you guessed it......go out or stay in and enjoy some ice cream.

National Ice Cream Day is celebrated the third Sunday of July in the United States. It is a time of the year when millions of people all across the country can enjoy one of the most iconic American desserts of all time. This day, as well as National Ice Cream Month, was established by presidential proclamation in July of 1984 and continues to be the favorite holiday of children of all ages.

In July of 1984, President Ronald Reagan declared the third week of July to be National Ice Cream Month by signing proclamation 5219. In this proclamation, the president called ice cream the perfect dessert and snack food and stated that over 90 percent of Americans enjoy it on a regular basis. He also stated in the proclamation that Americans should observe this day with appropriate activities and celebrations. According to the International Dairy Foods Association, the United States Ice Cream industry produces over ten billion dollars a year in revenue. Since international sales only make up about three to four billion dollars of those figures, it is safe to say Americans really love their ice cream. After all, they consume almost seven billion dollars of it each year.

Another fact that is sure to convince you of the American love for ice cream is the fact that almost ten percent of all milk produced by U.S. Dairy farmers is used in the production of ice cream. While the history of National Ice Cream Day is an indisputable truth, the same can’t be said about the history of ice cream itself. Many different countries have claimed that it is their invention, but most likely modern ice cream was invented by the Chinese during the seventh century.

In the United States, the history of ice cream is a little more straight forward. It was brought to the colonies from Europe and quickly became a favorite of the wealthy. It would remain in the hands of the elite until the 19th century when improvements in technology allowed ice cream to be mass produced. The rest, as they say, is history. There isn’t a whole lot of fanfare associated with this holiday. In fact, most people just go out and enjoy their favorite ice cream dish. Which is probably the perfect way to celebrate this day.

Next onto our swap:

Post THREE (3) pictures and/or gifs to each of your THREE (3) partner’s profiles with the theme “National Ice Cream Day” or ice cream. The pictures that you choose may be the SAME OR DIFFERENT between all of your partners. Please choose pictures that you think THEY will enjoy!

Only people with well filled out profiles may participate in this swap. I will be checking the night before partners get assigned.

If you get 3 pictures from your partner on "National Ice Cream Day” or ice cream you have to rate them a 5. The heart on the rating is for if you like what they sent.

To leave a photo on someone's profile use this code ! [ ] ( Put image address here ) With NO spaces & paste the picture's link between the curved parentheses.

Practice on your own profile first to be sure it looks good because you can easily delete it there.

Pick images that are size 300 wide or smaller to be sure they fit. I go to Google images to get my pictures.

Hover over images to see their size because there will be some larger sizes there too. If you really like something click on it and go to the words SEARCH BY IMAGE and click on that. THEN go to the word SMALL and see if there is one 300 size. There are other tricks in the group thread; AN EASY way to get a small PIC from a BIG one;-)

You can find moving pictures at http://giphy.com/

Please write the TITLE OF THE SWAP ON YOUR PROFILE DECO MESSAGE too! This makes it easier for partners that are in a lot of these swaps to rate it.

Any problems, feel free to contact me.

I want to thank @anrtist for allowing me to borrow SOME of her wording.