Have some fun making your own DIY slurpees! The kids will love this cool and tasty treat and you can even throw a little science lessen in there!
DIY Slurpees
My kiddos {and hubby!} are absolutely obsessed with slushies, so I thought these DIY slurpees would be a fun treat. They work through the process of supercooling, so it can be a fun little experiment too!
Sine these drinks do maintain the carbonation of the soda, they don’t have the exact same flavoring as the slurpees that you would buy at the store. But, they have that same icy texture of a slurpee and are just as refreshing. Plus, the process of making them is pretty cool!
It can take a little bit of experimenting to get the best results, but that’s half the fun. Even if it “fails” you’re still left with a nice, cold soda to enjoy. If you prefer a thicker slushie, the second recipe at the bottom of the post, may be more to your liking.
What is supercooling?
These DIY slurpees work due to a phenonmenon called supercooling. Supercooling occurs when you chill a liquid below its freeing point without it becoming solid. So how do these DIY slurpees work?
When you shake up the soda before putting it in the freezer, the pressure in the bottle is increased. This naturally lowers the freezing temperature and, more importantly, removes any large bubbles from the soda that could act as sites for the ice crystals to form. As your soda sits in the freezer, the temperature will eventually drop to that supercool state. When you then remove it from the freezer, release the increased pressure, and shake it around, the carbon dioxide bubbles are released again. The crystals can then start to form around these bubbles and create that slushie-like consistency. Science can be pretty cool sometimes!
How to Make DIY Slurpees
Are you ready to make your own DIY slurpees? You can use any flavor of soda that you prefer, so pick your favorite! For some reason, we seemed to have better luck with the darker sodas such as root beer or coke, but this really shouldn’t have any effect.
Shake
Take a 500 mL {16 oz} plastic bottle of pop and shake vigorously for 5-10 seconds to increase the pressure in the bottle. This will help to lower the freezing point a little bit and also eliminates any large bubbles that could act as sites for ice formation.
Freeze
Place the bottle in the freezer for approximately 2 1/2 – 3 1/2 hours. The goal is to get the soda as cold as possible without actually freezing it. The closer you can get to this “magic” point, the better your slushie will turn out. Try not to move the soda around during this process as it will make it more likely that it will just freeze.
We started checking on our pop bottles every 15 minutes after the 2 hour mark to try and find that perfect time. It actually took a couple of failed attempts {when the pop actually froze} before we settled on about 2 hours 45 minutes. Just remember that this time will vary from freezer to freezer {and even with different locations within the same freezer} so be consistent with where you put the pop bottles. You might need to do a little bit of experimenting!
Slurpee Magic
Remove the bottle from the freezer. In one continuous movement, unscrew the bottle cap just enough to release some of the pressure, quickly tighten it back up. Turn the bottle upside down or shake it a little and you should see the ice crystals magically starting to form. Pour into a frosted glass.
And this is what you get. A nice, cool DIY Slurpee!
Alternate DIY Slurpee Method
While I think the process of making the slurpees using the supercooling process is pretty cool, here’s another method that’s totally fool proof. Simply freeze half of the bottle of soda {approximately 1 1/4 cup} in ice cube trays and keep the rest of the soda in the fridge. Once the soda cubes are frozen, blend the soda cubes with the remaining soda in a blender plus 4-6 additional ice cubes. You’ll get a delicious slushie every time. Easy peasy!
I hope you have as much fun with this as we did. The whole science behind it would be a fun idea for older kids to research and might be a cool idea for a science fair project! This also works with Gatorade and other sports drinks, And if you want an adult version, it will work some alcoholic drinks too {those with lower alcohol content}.
More Summer Drink Recipes
For more delicious summer drink recipes, check out these posts…
These look so yummy! First time on your blog. Love it!
xo
Daniela
Put A Bird On It
http://iputabirdonit.blogspot.com
Thanks Daniela! Happy to have you drop in!
What a fun summer project! The kiddos and I will definitely have to try this one. Have fun at D-Land!
Thanks Maryann! Having tons of fun!
How fun is this? My boys will love it – thanks Jenn!
Who knew it was that easy to make slurpees?! My kids would LOVE this!
We are SO trying this Jenn! So fun!
Looks really easy AND yummy. pinned to try. found at the scoop linky. Have a great week.
I’m wondering if this would work with diet soda too. I’d love a good slushie every now and then but with 140 calories in 12oz. that’s too much to consume.
I haven’t tried it with the diet soda but have read that it works too. Good luck!!
THIS. IS. AWSOME. Doing this this weekend for suuure! Thanks for the tip!
Hope it worked out for you! It took a little experimentation but was lots of fun!
How do you do it
Just follow the tutorial in the post. If you have any specific questions, just let me know. 😉
I am wondering if that vigorous shaking and freezing causes the pop to get flat?
No, it doesn’t really go flat – you actually need the carbonation to create the freezing effect. Of course, it is in a slushie form so it doesn’t have that same fizzy taste as if it is just cold.
Glad I found this on Pinterest! I’ll definitely try it out. I live in a tropical country so the heat is KILLING US -____- This is the perfect (and fun) remedy for it! Thank you! <3
Ohhh, I’d love to live in a tropical country! It is a fun way to beat the heat though! 😉
What a fun idea! Thanks so much for sharing at the Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop!
Such a fun idea. Can’t wait to try it.
Have fun with it!
Hi, Jenn ~ I love this project, and my kids will love it even more! We’re all fans of Slurpees–especially in the summer–so I’m pinning this to my “Summer Fun” board. I’ll surprise the kiddos with it one of these summer days when all I’m hearing is, “I’m boooored!” :0) Thanks for the summer sanity saver!
Yep! It’s nice to have some tricks up your sleeve for those moments!!
What a fun idea for the summer. I will have to try this for sure. I am featuring you this week, over at Simple Supper Tuesday. We hope you can join us again, starting Monday night at 8pm EST.
Thanks so much! Hope you have a great week!
Great recipes! Loving the different flavors! Thank you very much for joining in the celebration of #purebloglove, we enjoy having you each week. I hope to see you on Thursday at 8PM, EST through Sunday night. ~Cydnee
I tried this at home with my dad, the ending result was yummy and I recommend this to others. It is perfect for summer time also!
Glad you liked it! 🙂
great idea
I love cold cherry Coke zeros. This would be great to try in a slushi! Thanks.
Yes! Those would be good.
OOO Yum. These will be great for the hot summer days ahead of us.
This is fascinating! Forget the kids, I need to try this myself!
Blessings, Leigh
Haha! Hope you can try it! 🙂
What a fun idea!! Love it! Looks delish and thanks for sharing on Throwback Thursday!
Mollie
No idea you could do this. I bet my kids would love it! Thanks for stopping by the #HomeMattersParty hope to see you back!
We discovered this by accident one winter when we left a soda in the car. It was the coolest thing to watch. Thanks for sharing on Weekend BItes
Oh that’s funny!!
What a fun treat on a hot day! Congrats on your feature at Throwback Thursday, pinned!
Does the soda need to be room temp to start or already cold from the frig? Just wanna know which ones to grab at the store. Thank you! Excited to make it!
It doesn’t matter. It’s the freezing time that’s important. 🙂
It really didn’t work for us.
It took us a few times to get it exactly right too. You need to figure out how long it needs to be in the freezer for before it actually freezes. If it’s too runny than it just needs a little bit longer. It can take a couple of attempts but even the failed ones were fun for the kids!
My kids are going to have so much fun with this! What a fantastic idea. I had never heard of this before. It will keep them away from the icecream. We went to DisneyLand last year for the first time and had an absolute ball.
Disneyland is always amazing! Definitely the happiest place on earth. 🙂
Hope you can give these a try with your kids – it’s a pretty cool little experiment.
Yum! Such a fun idea to try with my son! We would love if you would share at our weekly link-up party Handmade & Otherwise (Fridays 8am-Mondays 8pm).
Hope you’re able to give it a try!
Did you break the seal on the lid before freezing? I’m worried about it exploding in the freezer?
No, you can’t break the seal as you want the pressure to actually build up in the bottle. I’ve never had issues with it exploding – likely because it doesn’t actually get to the freezing point.
These look delicious, I think I will be making a lot of these as the weather starts to heat up!.