How do you serve/offer ice at parties in your home?

[Anonymous]

I hate those little ice buckets with tongs, but it's all I can come up with. What do you use to serve ice?

[Anonymous]

Yes, I do, but my parties aren't so formal. When someone serves themselves a drink, I point to the freezer and say "help yourself to ice".

I'm an ice addict, so I would notice it there weren't any available. I'd be the one asking if you minded if I got myself some ice from the kitchen if it weren't already out.

[Anonymous]

Some day, I hope to have a small ice machine in my bar area. A childhood friend had that growing up and we always used it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate those little ice buckets with tongs, but it's all I can come up with. What do you use to serve ice?

I'm not sure what the alternatives would be. No ice, ice from the dispenser on the front of the fridge, from the ice bin inside the freezer or a big bag dumped into a cooler. Maybe hire a server to tend the ice station next to the meat carving station?

We use an ice bucket and tongs. This is an upgrade from my pre-marriage days where I would use my hands to grab ice from the ice tray, then hand the glass to my guest. Apparently some people found that to be disgusting.

[Anonymous]

We usually make the drinks for them, and the type of ice and method of service is dependant on the drink. If we are doing a self-serve punch, we usually just have a ring of ice in the bowl. If, for some reason, we were going to serve regular ice made of tap water from the ice maker in our refrigerator, we would use an ice bucket and tongs, but this doesn't happen often. We generally serve water without ice unless specifically requested.

[Anonymous]

We use an ice bucket but instead of tongs have a little scoop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We use an ice bucket but instead of tongs have a little scoop.

+1