Perfect foods for watching Hallmark Christmas in July

One of the first brands to jump on the Christmas in July bandwagon was The Hallmark Channel for obvious reasons. I mean, if you had piles and plies of Christmas movies laying around that all focused exclusively on a three month period of the year, you’d look for another excuse to put them on the air too.

Of course, just because it’s summer doesn’t mean that the movies have changed. At all. The Hallmark Rule still applies in that once you’ve seen one Christmas movie you’ve pretty much seen all of them. Because they are essentially all the same exact film.

As I said the last time I wrote about Hallmark Christmas movies, they all follow the same formula. Boy connects with girl. They dance around their feelings for each other for two hours and kiss at the very end to live happily ever after.

And it doesn’t really matter to me if there is snow on the ground or ice cream trucks on the road, they are all still a heck of a lot of fun to watch, especially with your special someone or a group of close friends.

The perfect foods for watching a Hallmark Holiday movie in July.

Now as I mentioned above, last Christmas (in deference to Wham!) I gave you a list of the perfect foods to have on hand if you planned to watch any of the numerous Hallmark Holiday movies. They were all foods you will see in every movie no matter the cast or the setting.

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However, since this is Christmas in July, I thought I would go back and rethink the list so that they would be a bit more appropriate for the season. Snacks that might cool you down instead of warm you up. With a bit of imagination, they should all still do the trick and make your Hallmark Holiday movie viewing party a hit.

Iced Coffee (in a to go cup)

Usually right in the beginning of (Insert name of any Hallmark Christmas movie here) the couple that isn’t a couple yet get together in (Insert name of small town here) to have coffee. It usually includes a walk around the town square where everyone is ridiculously friendly and full of Christmas spirit.

Substitute iced coffee for the hot variety and you get the exact same effect without your internal body temperature going through the roof. But it still should be in a to go cup. Certain rules can’t be broken.

Chocolate Milkshake

After everyone drinks their coffee, nine times out of ten the next drink they have is hot chocolate. On rare occasions it may be apple cider but hot cocoa is a pretty safe bet.

Much like with the coffee, just ice things down. Instead of hot chocolate go with chocolate milkshakes. The best part is you can make whatever flavor you want. Don’t like chocolate but don’t want to be left out of the fun? Make a vanilla or strawberry milkshake. and add all kinds of toppings. As an added bonus you can add whatever toppings you enjoy. Speaking of which …

Gingerbread and Christmas Cookies

One of the best parts of Christmas in July is that unlike the regular holiday, nothing has to be made from scratch. It’s more about hanging out and having fun so spending hours in the kitchen with a hot oven making cookies isn’t necessary.

Just head to your favorite local bakery, get an assortment of cookies (preferably chocolate chip, gingerbread and snickerdoodles) and put them on a platter. Viola! Instant dessert. Plus you can have fun smashing some to bits to put on top of your milkshakes.

And there you have it. An easy way to throw a great Christmas in July Hallmark movie viewing party. Now go grab a milkshake and curl up in the air conditioning and watch a movie. I recommend The Nine Lives of Christmas with Kimberley Sustad and Brandon Routh. Yes, even Superman has made a Hallmark Christmas movie.

What do you think Guilty Eats Nation? Does a Hallmark movie and am iced coffee sound like the perfect way to spend a Friday night in July? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think or join the conversation on our Twitter and Facebook pages.