When did National Ice Cream day start? Presidential history explored

The National Ice Cream day in the United States took place on Sunday, July 20, in 2025. The annual celebration of everyone’s favorite dessert began in 1984, when the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan declared the third Sunday of July as National Ice Cream Day, with July itself being declared as the National Ice Cream Month.

Ice cream is intricately tied to the Presidential history of the United States. Ice Cream was first served in the White House by one of the founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson in 1806 who stunned his guests with the creamy frozen treat during the White House Independence Day celebration, as per USA Today.

National Day Calendar notes that in fact, Benjamin Franklin as well as George Washington were also fans of the sweet treat, and Thomas Jefferson once wrote down his recipe for ‘Old Fashioned Vanilla Ice Cream,’ which has been preserved at the Library of Congress.

Ice cream, which was brought to America by Quakers who established shops in cities such as New York during the colonial period, was also served by Dolley Madison, the fourth First Lady of the United States during the President’s Inaugural Ball in 1813, as per National Day Calendar.

 

 

 

 

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USA Today notes that the rich tradition of serving ice cream at the White House remained in place during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, whose second inauguration ball in 1865 saw guests enjoy varied ice cream flavors such as vanilla, chocolate, lemon, maraschino, white coffee and burnt almonds.

White House’s relationship with desserts and ice cream transformed when the position of the executive pastry chef was established in 1979, and Roland Mesnier took over the creation of innovative dishes for state dinners, according to USA Today. The pastry chef famously served a kiwi sorbet filled with tequila mousse for a state dinner for the then-President of Mexico in 1984, and served coffee and hazelnut ice cream for the German Chancellor’s state dinner in 1995, as per the news outlet.

How are outlets celebrating National Ice Cream day?

According to CBS News, ice cream vendors are offering competitive deals to consumers in celebration of the iconic National Ice Cream day.

Friendly’s will be offering free scoops of its signature ice cream for its members throughout its Founders Day, July 18 to July 20, the  National Ice Cream day, according to Restaurant News. For non-members, the chain is also offering ice cream dishes or cones for 90 cents.

Dairy Queen is celebrating National Ice Cream day throughout the weekend by offering a free Dilly Bar, a vanilla soft-serve plunged into chocolate, butterscotch or cherry, on purchases of $1 or above.

Popular chain Baskin-Robbins is offering its customers $5 off on all orders above $20 from July 20 onwards till July 26 in honor of National Ice Cream day, as per CBS News.

 

 

 

 

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Dunkin’, meanwhile, is giving its Rewards members a special 3X points on frozen beverages to celebrate National Ice Cream day.

As per CBS News, shops and vendors local to the Boston area such as Pizzi Farm, Foleys Ice Cream Shoppe, Uhlman's Ice Cream and Putnam Pantry are also joining the celebrations by either conducting donation drives or hosting ice cream parties.