when I first heard “have an ice day,” I thought it was SO clever. But after decades now of hearing it and seeing it, I don’t consider it quite so clever as inevitable.
updated 8/29/23
have an ICE day?
“Have an ice day!”
I don’t know exactly how long members of the ice industry have been using this version of the classic line: “Have a nice day!” But I’m sure that once the original yellow smiley face (circa 1963) and its catch phrase took off, “Have an ice day!” was right on it’s heels. I mean, all you’re doing is moving one letter to the side. It could happen simply by accident. I suspect the phrase even preceded the smiley face, but the internet is less than helpful here and instead wants to sell me smiley face ice molds. Which I ended up buying.
here’s an actual smiley face ice sculpture that I freehand carved years ago. I thought the base design was pretty groovy (and a little crooked 🙃)
To avoid being sued by Wal-Mart and/or some French company that apparently has trademarked the smiley, I’ve made significant changes to the iconic symbol. For the first one, the winter smiley, it’s pretty silly, really. The smilie doesn’t have ears or a neck, but now it has earmuffs and a scarf. It also has a major case of frostbite, which would not be nice.
The blockhead smilie t-shirt is a little trickier. If you’re on this site, odds are, you immediately recognized his nose as the tip of a chainsaw bar cutting him in half. If you didn’t, well, then I may need to go back to the drawing board.
This is my other have an ice day t-shirt. I have a couple of these myself. I think the blockhead smilie is much more specific to ice sculptors. The winter smilie might have broader appeal; we’ll see.
I had another t-shirt that I’d planned to put out before I was going to work on these ideas. It’s zombie-themed and you might have seen it, but that’s unlikely. Unfortunately, world events conspired against me. So I’ve decided to hold on to that design until cutting body parts off with chainsaws becomes fun again ☠️ Maybe Halloween? Meanwhile, these “have an ice day” designs are, in a sense, the exact opposite of that design. If there is a lot of interest, I may also give them away as prizes or rewards, so let me know if you want them. Comment on the ice sculpting secrets Instagram account or the facebook page since I haven’t gotten the comments on older posts working yet.
So…have an ice day!
(Had to say that; sorry.)
