The New Ice Cream Social: Celebrate with Sweets & Sparkling Wine

The ice cream social is making a comeback. We’re reinventing the old fashioned get-together by turning it into a sophisticated soiree featuring decadent desserts and sparkling wine.

Invite friends over for a sampling of sweet treats and bottles of bubbly, and turn any ordinary day into a sophisticated celebration. Unlike a dinner party – which can be a big, costly, and stressful endeavor – throwing this kind of party requires little prep work, and allows for a lot of flexibility since you can host your party post-dinner any night of the week, or even on a weekend afternoon. Follow our easy plan for an amazingly low maintenance and budget-friendly entertaining idea.

Plan your fête by choosing three or more flavors of frozen treats to make a "flight," and a luscious wine to pair with each. Purists will love sampling classic ice cream flavors like Vanilla, Strawberry, and Coffee with a selection of white and rosé Champagnes (which must, by law, come from France’s Champagne region to be labeled as such). But there’s no reason to limit yourself to those core flavors. The Häagen-Dazs® brand offers more than 50 perfectly crafted varieties of ice cream, gelato, frozen yogurt, sorbet and bars, so have fun exploring new flavors in addition to old favorites.

Try assembling a caramel collection with Häagen-Dazs Sea Salt Caramel gelato, Dulce de Leche and Caramel Cone ice creams. Match them with Italian Proseccos on the sweeter side, which will be labeled demi-sec or dry. Or, choose light, fruit-forward varieties like sweet Orchard Peach sorbet, bright Limoncello gelato, and tropical Pineapple Coconut ice cream paired with a trio of sweet white and rosé Cavas, Spain’s affordable answer to Champagne. Chocolate-lovers (meaning everyone – who doesn’t crave chocolate?) can choose from a whopping 11 Häagen-Dazs varieties, including Midnight Cookies & Cream, Dark Chocolate Chip gelato, and Rocky Road. Serve them with a flight of chilled pink and red sparkling wines, like a bubbly Moscato rosé from California, or Lambrusco, a fizzy Italian red that’s gained popularity in recent years.

Party prep is a cinch. Simply set out wine glasses on a bar or buffet, plus pretty dessert bowls, spoons, and napkins, and ice buckets. Just before guests arrive, bring the ice creams out of the freezer so they have time to soften, and set out a few bowls filled with warm water and ice cream scoops for serving. Place both the sparkling wines and the desserts in order from lightest-to-heaviest so your guests can sample from left to right. You can even set up a blind taste test so they can guess the varieties of wines and frozen desserts. Encourage everyone to sample through the flights and try different pairings. Your favorite flavor combination might be one you haven’t tried yet.

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Gourmet Shops in the United States That Sell Haribo Sweets

When Haribo sweets first came to the United States it's only sold in gourmet shops. Up to this day the world renowned sweets are still elusive at some points. Good thing there are still gourmet shops that sell them. So if you are looking for gourmet products and the gummi candies made by Haribo, you might want to check the following out.

The Chelsea Market Baskets have a wide selection of the best gourmet products from around the world including Haribo sweets. You will find food ingredients, coffee, pastries, kitchenware and other amazing products there. Aside from being a gourmet shop, the Chelsea Market Baskets is also where you can find ready to give gifts for any occasions like birthdays, weddings, and holidays. They also have professional and courteous staff and great packaging. Any food lover will surely love their shop.

Dean & Deluca is a famous gourmet market in the United States, too. Their amazing candy department is to die for! Any person with a sweet tooth will go crazy over their massive collection of sweets from all around the world. Have a taste of chocolates from Belgium, or experience the famous Darrell Lea of Sydney, and unique and incomparable gummi candies of Haribo sweets from Germany. Every sweet you can think of is almost in Dean & Deluca. They also have exquisite wines and gift baskets if you are looking for some amazing gift items. Moreover, they have the highest quality herbs and spices, cheese, oils, vinegars, coffee, tea, and more. Visit their shop sometime to know what I mean.

If you want to buy the best kitchen utensils and shop for gourmet products like coffee, cheese, chocolates, and Haribo sweets all at the same time - Zabar's is the place for you to go. One of the best sections in Zabar's is their Fish Counter. They have the best smoked fish the city and salad ingredients to complement. Aside from that, Zabar's does also have a Gift Counter where you can buy gift baskets containing their best selling foods and products.

If you are looking for an all around store that has every product from Bakery, Beer, Cheese, Coffee & Tea, Floral, Grocery, Meat & Poultry, Prepared Foods, Produce, Seafood, Wine, Whole Body, and Pets - Whole Foods Market is the perfect place. They also have a wide array of candies and chocolates including Haribo sweets. All the products in their shelves have passed the quality standards so you are assured that you are paying the best there is.

The next time you find yourself looking for Haribo sweets and are stuck, visit these gourmet shops and feed your hunger for these delectable sweets and all the gourmet products you can think of.