Celebrated annually since 1984 on the third Sunday of July in the United States, the unofficial holiday celebrates everyone’s favourite sweet treat.

The holiday was created by an official proclamation by President Ronald Reagan in 1984. At the time, the holiday was supposed to be only celebrated once – on July 15, 1984. The ice cream industry, however, decided to continue the tradition every year since. In addition to observing a National Ice Cream Day, the proclamation also designated July as National Ice Cream Month. This too has now become a tradition.

Traditionally made by freezing a mixture of cream or milk, sugar, and some kind of flavouring, ice cream is often eaten after a meal as a dessert or as a mid-meal snack. As a treat, ice cream has a long and varied history, though very little is known about its origins. Some historians believed that the Chinese were responsible for inventing the earliest versions of this dessert, while others suggest that the Romans mixed snow with honey and fruits to create the first prototype of ice cream.