I had to wait years to get the Mr Frosty I longed for as a child, and though he's not the most used item in my kitchen, he's the one I am most fond of. The premise of Frosty is that he is a genial snowman who magically turns ice into delicious fruity deserts. The reality is that he is a simple crushed ice maker. You lift his hat, pop in the ice, grind it up, and remove from the drawer in his tummy. The ice is crushed by furiously turning the handle on his back while applying pressure to his hat to force ice onto the grinder. Mine came with bottles that you fill with cordials and then pour over the ice to make a 'dessert', and also two ice cube trays that make ice cubes shaped like little fruits and snowmen. It also came with two plastic 'sundae bowls' which are too cheap and small to really be of any use. Now, Frosty is clearly great fun for kids - though I do wonder how small children would cope with the grinding mechanism - but I still use mine for making cushed ice for cocktails, granita, and I use the cube trays regularly to make novelty ice for kids and parties. Granted, the quantities of crushed ice you get out of Frosty are not large, but my point is that, long after the kids are bored of playing with him, you'll still be able to use him as a handy but kitsch kitchen appliance.

I paid around £19 for mine, which was good value for money. However I've seen them retailing on Amazon for nearly £30, which is really more than this product is worth.