JFF- Ice Cream Trucks

We rarely have one here. But when my younger son was a toddler we did have one almost every day. I was so mean! I told him it was a music truck. We almost always had ice cream at home and he had too many sweets already.

All I know is what my Mama told me . . . the Music Man, who drives up and down the street to let others hear his music, really loves ice cream, so he uses ice cream wall paper!

We had one over the summer come by maybe once a week. We live in a nice neighborhood and he owns a nice custom truck, not the chipped paint, barely making it down the road kind of truck (thats what I had when I was little!!!). And I go out there with the kids. They get snow cones for only $2 which I think is cheap! I actually chatted with the driver, who is the owner and has several trucks and is expanding. He mostly does fairs and parks and things so I told him about our schools (that is behind my house) fair and put him in touch with the woman that runs it and his truck was there, so that was pretty cool that I was able to help him get some business. How sad that your neighbor won't let the kids buy an ice cream from the truck! I specifically remember always buying "big sticks" from the truck when I was little, its a great childhood memory!

T.:

We have an ice cream truck that drives by our street - my boys go nuts - and run out the door with their money and bring me back a drum stick!!

No. not scared of creepy drivers. Ours is a Russian guy. Found out we are Russian (husband's side) and teaches the boys a word in Russian.

Song drives me nuts? Yeah...I get tired of hearing the Sting...

OMG I never thought of saying it was a music truck. Brilliant.

If only I had read that sooner, I wouldn't have to talk loudly when he comes by BEFORE dinner. Hello ice cream truck driver. :)

I buy them occasionally because obviously if I had them i the fridge, they would not taste quite as good. ha ha

I bought them as kids from the ice cream truck so it was a fond member but I do recall feeling uncomfortable once. The guy kept staring at my chest. To this day, I don't like them. I told my mom, she bought me a bra and told me we could no longer buy them from the truck. Eeek.

Aaaaw, I LOVE the ice cream truck! In our old neighborhood when the kids were little, it came down our street three times a day in the summer (lunch, dinner, and bathtime, grrrr). The drivers were college students, mostly girls. We went out to get something once or twice a week. Such a big thrill for the kids. Camptown Races was the song, Doo DAH, Doo DAH!

Now they're all teenagers and nobody cares, sigh.

:)

Not in our neighborhood. We have the creepiest ice cream "truck" drivers.

Once I was outside and I hear the ice cream man music, and an old, rusted, windowless van comes pulling around the corner. With a man driving and another man hanging outside the sliding door. Inside the van was a small cd player and a box of ice cream. They didnt speak English either. Talk about creepers!!

Thats the kind of "Ice cream" man we get here in this area.

Oh, the songs! One only played, "Do Your Ears Hang Low." That's it. Just that song on a constant loop and our neighborhood is really circuitous, so you heard it for hours and hours.

We had a really inappropriate name for the ice cream lady, because she would come right when everyone got off work and all kids were outside playing. Our housing made a "U" with a huge play area in the middle so if one kid got ice cream every kid knew and woe to the parent who had to say no. Of course, we were often that parent because I'll be darned if I'm going to be guilted into ice cream by my kid or pressured by the ice cream lady.

It was a personal mission in our house after that to never buy Ice Cream from the truck. We were like Eddie Murphy's mom in Raw: You don't need Ice Cream Truck! Mama will make you an ice cream sammich!"

ETA - We have since moved and this guy only comes by once a week, and the truck is actually owned by the base we live on, so the money goes back into base services programs. Now, we buy from the truck.

The songs drive me nuts. If they went back to the bells I would probably give my kids money. As it is I do nothing to encourage them to come in our neighborhood.

We have O.. We buy stuff occasionally. But the funny thing is this truck zooms down the street. Um....think maybe allowing people to get out their door might increase sales.
The music borders on maniacal and the drawings of "characters" on the truck are downright disturbing (art degree, anyone?)
But the guy is nice. :)

I do... VERY occasionally buy (about once every two years). Unfortunately, I haven't met one non-creepy ice cream truck driver (but marginally creepy. I'm not thinking pedo or anything). Sometimes the guy comes down our street... sometimes not. We can always hear him whether he does or doesn't, cause the street he always goes to is within earshot. The song is messed up... it has boingy noises and giggles with it. Creepy.

The thing that gets me is that once he came down our street after dark at 8:30pm. I wanted to yell at him out the window. That really messed up bedtime. Somehow, my kids thought there was a chance they could STILL have ice cream even though they were getting into their beds and had already brushed their teeth. ...like the tune they heard over-rode all logic, that they HAD to have some sweets now. LOL!

Also, it's $2.00 per bar! I can get a box of 8 count of the same thing for $5.00 easily.

That's my $ 0.02 :)

Yep -they come through our neighborhood and are always at the parks and in our general area. We frequently buy the kids ice cream, but not every time. My husband drove one when he was a teenager! He was such a hippy and had really long hair and wore overalls. I think he looked just like the Simpson's bus driver ;-)

We have never had one here in this neighborhood :-(..

Our daughter heard and saw one in the park one time. I told her about my neighborhood growing up and how my mom not only let us buy a treat.. but told us "we better get her a treat too"!

Good way to learn how to budget when our mom gave us $1.00 back in the day and we had to purchase 3 items.

Several years ago there were two incidents involving ice cream men. One was selling narcotics from his truck, and another kidnapped and raped a child. (She was found alive, thank God.) They happened within a few weeks. After it happened, it's against ordinance. I have never seen a not creepy ice cream man. They were always dirty, stinky, sleazy, and shady looking...with run down vans, or re-purposed falling apart trucks. Not someone I want my kid accepting food from!!! Not that I'm saying all ice cream men are criminals, our city just had a really bad string of luck with them. Of course, officials thought better safe then sorry.

The food truck craze is catching on here. I'd totally let him get ice cream from one of those. At least, they have inspections and take showers. The trucks are really awesome, too!

We have a Mister Softy truck that sells soft serve and we do buy it frequently..... the regular ice cream truck selling junk, we avoid it.

Only in the summer in our climate. Our guy is nice, but Bug's story will make me keep a more watchful eye, that is really scary! Since our guy knows there are customers on our street, he comes around regularly. And all the kids in on our street (including my own) go bonkers running out the door and lining up every time that familar music is heard. My youngest actually saves some of her allowance money in her room in a special spot, just to run out to the ice cream truck if it comes by. The only thing I don't like about it is explaining to our kids that we aren't going to them run out and let them buy a treat if we've already had some kind of dessert, treat, or ice cream at home. The unpredictability of it all can be a fun surprise or just disappointing if the timing isn't right.

There is one that always seems to go through the neighborhood next to ours but never where we live. We hear it all the time, and I used to tell DD it was the "music truck" but one day she said, "Hey! That's the ice cream truck!". I told her no, it was the music truck, and she replied, "The music truck has lots of ice cream!" LOL!

There is one that would come around the playground at least once a day this past summer and the music was creepy - it didn't sound happy at all, it sounded more like the Transylvanian National Anthem.

A guy I used to work with grew up near where I grew up and said their ice cream truck driver looked like Hulk Hogan. And rumor was that he was getting his jollies with the younger kids on the side and getting high with the older ones.

The first neighborhood my husband and I lived in didn't have an ice cream truck. I once visited a friend in another part of that town and was there until 9:30 or so. Around 9, the ice cream truck was out and about. I said, "What on Earth is the ice cream man doing out so late???" She turned to me and said, "......... He doesn't sell ice cream........" The unspoken was that it was a drug dealer. SO, needless to say, I'm a little wary of ice cream trucks... :) We do have a couple of them in our neighborhood here, though, and we've gotten something once. All it took was once for my daughter to figure out the association, too, and SHE didn't even go out to the truck!!

omg i grew up in the country - i have lived in town for about 15 years now (all my adult life) and i STILL can't get used to them...hate 'em!!! i will never buy from them. if my son gets ice cream from one it will have to be with someone else. the drivers ARE always creepy, they drive down the street creepy, the music is creepy...lol...ewwww!!

of course it doesn't help that the one that stalks our neighborhood looks like it's from about 1980, i mean would it hurt to take SOME care of the van? new coat of paint...something...? EW!

yeah we have a few....one of them keeps saying "HELLO" over and over again!.with a corny beat and dog barking noises..the other is typical tunes. Then on the "other side of the railroad tracks" near my house is basically a barrio and the ice cream service is a guy on a bike with a cooler with mango and tamarind flavored ice treats and wagon wheel looking funnel cake things.

we use to have one that came down our street, but it stopped about 2 years ago because it wasn't getting enough buisness.