8 Ice Cream Treats That Defined the 1970s

Long before delivery apps and grocery freezers packed with pints, summertime had one unmistakable soundtrack: the jingle of an ice cream truck coming down the street. Kids would hear it from blocks away, run for loose change, and rush back outside before it disappeared. What that money bought was sometimes not ice cream in the strictest sense at all — maybe a gumball hidden in the bottom of a frozen cup, maybe sherbet packed into a cardboard tube — but it always felt like a celebration.

It was the era when Carvel turned birthday cakes into cult favorites, Good Humor added cake crumbs to nearly everything that could handle them, and General Foods moved pudding into the freezer case. Some of those novelties are still easy to find, barely changed from the originals. Others vanished so thoroughly that mentioning them is enough to bring back childhood memories for anyone who grew up with them.

Here are eight ice cream creations that helped define the truck-trading culture of that golden decade, drawn from company histories, archive pages, and nostalgia-filled discussions that still debate which one deserves a comeback.

Bomb Pop

The Bomb Pop’s place in ice cream history is more than just a matter of memory. Merritt Foods created it in Kansas City in 1955, and by the 1970s its signature cherry, lime, and blue raspberry layers had become a truck-standby favorite. The bright colors made it feel like the ultimate summer-and-Fourth-of-July treat, and it quickly became one of the company’s top sellers.

It also solved a common kid problem: deciding on only one flavor. The rocket-shaped pop packed three tastes into one frozen bar, and it was cheap enough that a dollar could still leave change. Part of the fun was deciding how to eat it — carefully by layers, or straight through the center. Either way, everyone ended up with a blue tongue as proof. More than six decades later, it is still sold in nearly the same red, white, and blue design.

Screwball

Good Humor’s Screwball made the cut because it turned dessert into a tiny challenge, and the company’s own archive identifies it as a 1970s product that sparks nostalgia. A cone-shaped plastic cup held cherry or blue raspberry slush, with a single gumball hidden at the bottom as the prize for finishing it.

Unlike treats that were gone in a few bites, a Screwball took work. Kids used a flat spoon to scrape their way down to the candy, which was often frozen hard by the time they got there. For those who wanted an even bigger payoff, there was also a Two-Ball version with a second gumball buried deeper. Competitors later copied the idea, but Good Humor remains the name most closely tied to it, and old-school fans still talk about the thrill of reaching the bottom.

Chocolate Éclair Bar

Good Humor introduced the Chocolate Éclair bar more than 60 years ago, before Unilever bought the brand in 1961. The bar combined vanilla ice cream with a chocolate center and a crunchy cake coating. It later became one of the three treats Good Humor grouped together as “The Classics,” and the trio was brought back in 1992 after becoming especially familiar during the 1970s and 1980s.

Its endurance shows how firmly it had settled into the truck rotation. Fans continue to praise it in online discussions, and it has appeared on lists of Good Humor’s best treats of all time. Unlike its sibling Toasted Almond, it has never disappeared from grocery freezers, and it remains on shelves today, helped by long-running demand and even a coffee-flavor collaboration inspired by the bar.

Toasted Almond

Like the Chocolate Éclair, Toasted Almond dates to before Good Humor’s 1961 acquisition by Unilever, when the ice cream maker’s lineup already included dozens of items. The bar paired vanilla ice cream with a crunchy almond-coated shell, giving it a texture that many fans remember fondly.

Though it was discontinued in 2022, it became one of the most mourned Good Humor items, sparking complaints on social media and even a petition. Its reputation has grown over time: people who grew up with it still trade homemade copycat ideas online, and nostalgia-driven conversations continue to single it out as a standout from the era.

Strawberry Shortcake

The third member of Good Humor’s cake-coated trio, Strawberry Shortcake, is one of the two still available to buy. It features strawberry ice cream wrapped in the same sweet crumb coating as the Chocolate Éclair bar and Toasted Almond, and it was a regular part of the truck lineup throughout the decade.

While it may not have had the same following as the others, its familiar flavor kept it relevant. Fans say it tastes much like real biscuit shortcake with strawberries, and it remains in major grocery freezer sections today, largely unchanged from the original recipe. For anyone who wants to taste a 1970s-era novelty without hunting through nostalgia forums, this one is still easy to find.

Jell-O Pudding Pops

Jell-O Pudding Pops earned their place by offering something genuinely different. General Foods test-marketed the frozen pudding-on-a-stick idea in the late 1970s, using real Jell-O pudding instead of the more watery ice texture common to most frozen treats. The product did not reach national shelves until 1981, and the Bill Cosby advertising campaign that made it famous ran through the following decade.

Sales in the first year were reported at around $100 million, a sign that this was more than a novelty. The appeal was all about texture: creamier and denser than a Bomb Pop or Screwball, closer to frozen mousse than to a standard popsicle. They are easy to make at home now, but their roots belong to the 1970s, even if the biggest payoff came just after the decade ended.

Push-Up Pop

The Push-Up Pop belongs here for practical reasons as much as nostalgic ones. A cardboard tube filled with orange, cherry, or grape sherbet could be pushed upward from the bottom as you ate, making it easier to handle on a hot day. There was no wrapper to peel and less mess to manage, which made it a natural fit for truck-window sales.

The best-known Flintstones-branded version became widely familiar later, but the plain sherbet tube itself predates that era and is remembered by many as a 1970s treat. Its appeal came from how easy it was to control, and the design also helped keep the sherbet insulated. It is still sold in roughly the same format today, which says a lot about how well the original idea worked.

Creamsicle

The Creamsicle has the simplest case of all. Frank Epperson patented the frozen treat-on-a-stick format in 1905, and the Popsicle Corporation introduced the Creamsicle in 1937, pairing an orange shell with a vanilla ice cream center.

By the 1970s it had already been around for decades, giving it the kind of familiar place in freezers that newer treats spent years trying to earn. It was so recognizable that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers borrowed its name for their orange-toned 1976 uniforms. No gimmick was needed; the citrus-and-cream combination was enough to keep it popular. It remains on sale today with essentially the same formula.

Methodology

This list is based on company and brand archives, contemporary newspaper coverage, and consumer discussions on social media and nostalgia forums from people who grew up in the 1970s. The focus was on treats with a verifiable origin, sales history, or popularity peak tied to that decade. Two items, Jell-O Pudding Pops and the Push-Up Pop, are not technically ice cream, but they were deeply connected to 1970s truck and freezer culture.