Valentine's Day doesn't have to be just for you and that special someone.  Take the time to celebrate with your friends too!  Valentine's Day is about recognizing all the special relationships in your life.  It gives us a great excuse to pause and enjoy the simple things in life.  Use this day to call a good friend just to chat or catch up with someone you haven't seen in a while.

Plan ahead and have red or pink treats on hand to sweeten the day in honor of those closest to you.  Try Blue Bunny Sweet Freedom Black Raspberry Ice Cream Bar for great taste in only 100 calories, or check out Double Strawberry Sedonal Frozen Yogurt Granola Sandwiches for color-coordinated Valentine's bliss!

You can make this day even more special for the kids by helping them build their own Valentine mailbox.  This works great for Valentine's Day parties at school.  Pick a theme, like farm animals or countires, and let their imaginations run wild.  Shoe boxes make a great starting point!  Personalized mail boxes add a fun twist to the tradition of handing out Valentines to the class.

It was truly a monumental occurrence the day Chocolate Cake was first celebrated.  Think of all the little moments that would be different if there was no Chocolate Cake:  Grooms' cakes would be a different flavor; Chocolate frosting would have no shelf companion; Chocolate lovers across the globe would be unable to satisfactorily enjoy cake.  Thank goodness Chocolate Cake is here to stay!

To celebrate this special day in the heart of all chocolate lovers, Blue Bunny is higlighting three of its favorite Chocolate Cake recipes.  Try one on January 27 to celebrate with us! 

Blue Bunny Winter German Chocolate Ice Cream Cake is a delectable White Chocolate version of the classic German Chocolate Cake.  Each 9 inch round cake pan has squares of White Chocolate melted into the batter.  Topped with pecan frosting and whitel chocolate curles, this baked masterpiece win the hearts and taste buds of die-hard chocolate lovers all over again.

Blue Bunny Chocolate Lovers Champ! Tower comes in quite handy when a chocolate creation is needed on the fly.  Watch Chef Joe as he demonstrates how easy it is to enhance a chocolate cake with our delicious Champ! Chocolate Lovers Ice Cream Cone.

Enjoying cookies during the cold winter days is part of the season's magic.  A delicious cookie is everybody's favorite snack, and cookies have existed for as long as baking is documented.  The treats date back to 7th centry A.D, and appear to have their origins in Persia, or modern Iran, one of the first countries to cultivate sugar.  The baked desserts came to America with the first English settlements in the 1600s.  Today the cookie in one of America's favorite snacks and part of many traditions.  Cookies have become a holiday icon and are often served with another of America's favorite treats - ice cream.  Mixing creamy and crunchy is a great way to celebrate and can involve the whole family.  Here are a few ideas from Blue Bunny:

Bake and decorate your favorite cookies.  Then serve with one of Blue Bunny vanilla flavors as an ice cream sandwich.

Try mixing cookies and ice cream in a new way by testing on of the recipes on www.bluebunny.com

The world's love affair with ice cream and cookies is centuries-old.  Somehow these treats didn't make it to the New World together, but that is no reason to enjoy them separately!

With winter in full swing, one of the best ways to enjoy the snowy weather is to build a snowman. It's a fun and memorable family activity you can do with your kids - and who doesn't want to play like you're a kid again?

If you feel like staying indoors but still have the inkling for some winter snowman fun.  Blue Bunny has the perfect activity for you and your family.  Build a Blue Bunny Vanilla Ice Cream Snowman.  No hat or gloves required for this winter fun, all you'll need is some Blue Bunny Premium Vanilla Ice Cream, candies for the snowman's facial features and some enthusiastic snowman builders.  Make it an activity for the whole family and have everyone design their own!

If after building a snowman, you'd still like some more snowman fun, be sure to visit BlueBunny.com and check out the ice cream snowman homepage! 

It seems like at the start of each year, we all make the same resolution:  Lose weight.  But sometimes, shedding the winter weight put on during family feasts can be a little daunting (especially if 10 pounds is just a starting point).

The hardest hurdles are sometimes the mental ones.  Changing your diet after several months of rich food seems like absolute cruelty to your tastebuds.  Fortunately, Blue Bunny has several products and recipes that can aid in this transition.  In addition, to the entire Sweet Freedom No Sugar Added line, Blue Bunny also offers a variety of Light ice cream in convenient Personals sized portions.  These are some of our most popular, delicious flavors lightened up for guiltess indulgence.

Blue Bunny corporate chef, John Kennedy has even developed smoothie recipes that provide a delightful twist on traditional novelties.  If dark chocolate soothes your cravings, make sure you try the Black Raspberry Chocolate Smoothie, which also includes almonds, a great source of calcium and Vitamin E.  If you love the taste of bananas and strawberries blended together, give the Strawberry Aspen Smoothie a try one afternoon.  You'll be surprised just how good 'lighter side' can taste!

Decorating Christmas trees, hanging holiday lights, exchanging gifts and baking scrumptious desserts are some of the traditions shared around the globe this time of year.  This season, create a new tradition; curl up around the Christmas tree with a cup of Blue Bunny Gourmet Sipping Chocolate and share the story behind one of our favorite traditions:  the Christmas stocking. 

Here is how the idea of the holiday stockings came to life:  Once upon a time, a nobleman lost his wife, and was left to raise his three young daughters alone.  He was quite worried he wouldn't have enough money to pay for the marriage of his daughters; yet, on Christmas Eve, village visitor Saint Nicholas heard of the nobleman's troubles.  Knowing that the man would be too proud to accept any money, Saint Nicholas snuck next to his house.  He noticed that the girls had hung their stockings to dry along the fireplace mantle, so Saint Nicholas threw gold coins down the chimney and a bag landed in each of the girls' empty stockings.  The villagers heard and began to hang their empty stockings above the fireplace hoping for Christmas gifts.

To make story-sharing even better this time of year, enjoy seasonal ice cream flavors like Blue Bunny Perfectly Peppermint and Blue Bunny Spumoni. 

This holiday season, Blue Bunny has again teamed up with a cappella music band Tonic Sol-fa to deliver holiday cheers.  To get a free Tonic Sol-fa song download click here.

Aside from the approaching holidays, there's another reason to indulge this December:  December 13th is National Ice Cream Day.  So grab a scoop and celebrate with us - Blue Bunny has something for everyone!

For those looking for unique holiday recipes, Bbluebunny.com offers fun ideas like the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Lollipops or the Blue Bunny Vanilla Ice Cream Snowman.

If you prefer light desserts, try the Caribbean Sundae made with pineapple, mango and pistachios, or the Chocolate Raspberry Ice Cream Cheesecake Parfait, made with Blue Bunny light ice cream, raspberries and toasted almonds.

For pie lovers who want to add another dimension to their favorite dessert, Blue Bunny has a variety of rich ice cream flavors.  Plus, the ice cream can be used to make a pie!  Just fill a pie crust of any flavor (Oreo, for example) with your favorite flavor of softened ice cream and sprinkle on some toppings such as crushed pecans.  Freeze, slice and enjoy!

Finally, for all the grown-ups looking for a refreshing take on classic holiday desserts, there is the Blue Bunny Spiked Rootbeer Float.  It's simple to make and sure to be the hit of any holiday party.  Just take root beer, Blue Bunny Premium Vanilla ice cream, root beer, peppermint schnapps and combine.  It tastes good shaken or stirred!

A popular holiday tradition, cookie making instills the essence of the season in all of us.  And whether you prefer classic chocolate chip cookies or snowmen-shaped sugar cookies, baking and decorating will give you a chance to connect with friends and family and get in the holiday spirit.

This year, add a little twist to your favorite holiday cookies with Blue Bunny.  Surprise your loved ones with Blue Bunny Cookie Creations - rich ice cream mixed with chocolate chunk cookie, monster cookie or peanut butter cookies - or update your traditional cookie recipe with a few fun recipes like Blue Bunny Bordeaux Cherry Chocolate Nut Cookies, delicious cherry-almond creations served with creamy cherry ice cream.  For more cookie recipes, check the Blue Bunny recipe site. 

_{Reducing calories is more important than you think - as we have mentioned this month, weight gain can increase your chances of diabetes, a potentially like-threatening condition that doesn't allow the body to use or produce insulin (a hormone that helps cells transform blood sugar into energy).}

_{Cutting down calories is essential to preventing Type 2 diabetes, but don't worry - you can still enjoy your favorite desserts and reduce calories without throwing away your love of ice cream.  Take a closer look at Blue Bunny's low-calorie, low- or no-fat options.  For those of you looking for reduced fat and no sugar added products with light and creamy taste, you can dive into a carton of Banana Split, Double Strawberry or even Cherry Vanilla ice cream.}

_{And if you think that having ice cream in the freezer is temptation defined, buy a small serving such as Blue Bunny Personals.  A container of Personals holds two servings, but at 200 calories max.}