Entertaining friends is a lot of fun but if you do it often, you may find yourself settling into a routine. At first your parties were exciting but now they are all starting to feel the same. If you find yourself wondering how you can add a fun twist to your next party, one thing you might want to consider is getting a frozen drink machine.

A frozen cocktail machine is a special type of blender engineered to avoid some of the typical problems associated with making frozen cocktails in a traditional blender. You are probably all too familiar with the drawbacks of making margaritas and the like using a blender: crunchy hail stones of ice breaking your teeth or watered down drinks. These machines actually shave the ice as opposed to chopping it which yields a much smoother result.

The possibilities for slush machines are endless. Many of these machines are marketed toward margarita fans and it does indeed do this Mexican staple justice. However, strawberry daiquiris also come to life in these machines. A perfectly smooth mudslide is the ideal after-dinner drink for a pool party.

You can even use a frozen drink machine to make non-alcoholic beverages. Kids love slushy treats flavored with fruit juice or fruit syrup. Smoothies are a healthy and delicious treat for the whole family. These machines also make better milkshakes than blenders. A frosty coffee treat can save you a lot of money over going to expensive coffee chain restaurants.

The best thing about these machines is that they are very easy to operate. You can set up everything in advance so you won’t have to worry about pouring, mixing and measuring during your party. You may already know that your ability to pour, measure, and mix becomes diminished in proportion to the amount of alcohol you have consumed so this can help you save face and still make great drinks for your guests even when you’re a bit tipsy. Cleanup is a snap with most machines having parts that are easily popped into your dishwasher so you don’t have to spend the next day cleaning up the mess.

If you’re just having one party or a big special event, you might want to consider renting one of these machines. However, if you entertain a lot, you can buy one for just slightly more money than a good blender and it’s something that you will get plenty of use out of. This isn’t one of those gadgets that will collect dust once the novelty wears off- this is something you will want to use again and again.