With the current state of the economy, think about a family gift this year rather than spending so much money on lots of individual presents for everyone. A well thought out family gift, something that you would consider purchasing anyway, can make a great surprise for everyone. If you want to provide individual presents for everyone to open, you can put together a great stocking for each family member with some inexpensive but well thought out gifts for a relatively small amount of money.

Be sure that when your family opens their new ice cream maker that you have all of the ingredients in the house to make your very first batch of ice cream right away on Christmas day. In fact, I surprised my family with this last year and I removed the bowl from the box ahead of time and placed it in the freezer so that it would be all ready to use. You can even make the mixture the day before so that the kids just have to help you pour the mixture into the mixer and you will have ice cream in no time.

There are so many benefits to using the Kitchen Aid Ice Cream Attachment over a traditional ice cream maker. They all make some of the best ice cream that you will ever have so what makes them so different? First of all, unless you have lots of room in your kitchen, where would you put yet another appliance? The great thing about the Kitchen Aid Ice Cream Attachment, you already have a place for your Kitchen Aid mixer, keep the bowl ready to make ice cream at any time right in the freezer and there is nothing else to store.

It is also much quieter than a conventional ice cream maker. One of the biggest complaints from people with other ice cream makers is that they are extremely loud. The Kitchen Aid attachment is no louder than the mixer normally is, which is not loud at all.

Unlike conventional ice cream makers, no salt is required when using the Kitchen Aid Ice Cream Attachment. This is one less thing that you need to stock up on and helps prevent a messy project.

A great tip that I've learned is to use the splatter shield for my mixer and a large measuring cup with a spout to pour the mixture in without making a mess.

Some great recipes come with your Kitchen Aid ice cream attachment but you'll also find great recipes for free on line and some great books as well.

I love to prepare an ice cream bar with my family on each of our birthdays. I let everyone choose their favorite topping and put these out for everyone to share as well as the must have toppings like whipped cream, hot fudge and walnuts. It gets a little messy but it is so good.

People of all ages love ice cream. You will create some wonderful memories getting your family together making ice cream.