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When Kitty Bernardo, bar manager at Paradise Lost, saw some industry friends walk into the bar at the end of their shift, they knew they were in trouble. You see, Bernardo had \u201ciced\u201d these friends earlier in the night. Yes, <\/span>iced<\/span><\/i>. Like from 2010s lolcat internet. \u201c<\/span>I remember seeing my friends icing each other in college and thinking, <\/span>This is such a ridiculous trend that can\u2019t possibly keep going on<\/span><\/i>. This was right around the time other viral trends like the Cinnamon Challenge and Planking were happening, so I was convinced that this was going to be just another one of those passing fads that\u2019ll be here and gone,\u201d says Bernardo. And yet, here they were, icing and being iced in 2025, having the time of their life.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Icing <\/span>was \u201cinvented\u201d in 2010<\/span><\/a>. The rules are simple: You surprise your victim with a Smirnoff Ice\u2014the citrusy malt beverage\u2014often concealed in some creative way. They must chug it on the spot, unless they have a Smirnoff Ice on their person to block the attack, in which case the original <\/span>icer<\/span><\/i> becomes the <\/span>icee<\/span><\/i>. It began on college campuses, where the enduring popularity of drinking games, a taste for easy-drinking alcopops and nascent visual social media platforms (you could already tag your friends in Facebook photos or upload your night to Photobucket, and Instagram debuted in July 2010) smashed together. Now not only could you prank your friends, you could <\/span>post about<\/span><\/a> the <\/span>ever more elaborate<\/span><\/a> ways you did it, inspiring copycats and competitors around the world. It was a meme, IRL.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cWas\u201d is not the right tense here. Fifteen years after it began, icing has outlasted similar dated trends like the Ice Bucket Challenge and the Milk Crate Challenge. And why not? Icing is timeless, an \u201cirreverent yet ritualistic handshake,\u201d as Bernardo puts it, cementing that no matter how bad things get, you\u2019re still committed to a good laugh. Even if that means you have to chug a Smirnoff Ice.<\/span><\/p>\n
For some, the tradition has remained among family and friends since the 2010s (see: the wedding I went to where the bride was iced by her own mother). But others are new to the prank. TikTok is <\/span>full<\/span><\/a> of people<\/span> far too young<\/span><\/a> to have been around at icing\u2019s inception, but still getting in on the prank, pulling it off <\/span>at weddings<\/span><\/a> and birthdays and family gatherings.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n \u201cMy partner and I have created a multiyear tradition of icing their brother and his wife,\u201d says writer Lindsay Lee Wallace. She never took part in college, but the opportunity for a low-stakes sibling competition was, well, intoxicating. \u201cMore recently we hid six bottles throughout their recently purchased home on Thanksgiving. One year we wrapped Ices and gave one to each family member on Christmas.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Kian Sharafi, general manager of Mister Paradise in Manhattan, says icing has come back in a big way in some local industry circles. He claims it started when folks from Coqodaq, another New York restaurant, came to Mister Paradise and iced him while he was making drinks. \u201c<\/span>I actually had a reservation at Coqodaq a week or two after that,\u201d he says. \u201cSo then I brought a whole six-pack to ice the whole bar team.\u201d Now, he and Bernardo say, there is a \u201cfull-on ice war\u201d among several bars in New York. \u201c<\/span>I will always be on guard at Mister Paradise, Apartment 5 and Coqodaq,\u201d says Bernardo.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Sharafi has also iced customers with a stash that the bar keeps on hand, if they seem like they have the right vibe and want to join in. \u201cEverybody remembers that this is just a dumb, fun thing to do,\u201d he says. As pranks go, it\u2019s a fairly tame one: \u201cNobody actually gets hurt at all. It\u2019s low-impact and\u2014I don\u2019t know if \u2018high-reward\u2019 is the right word\u2014but people are drawn to it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Bernardo says the resurgence, or continuation, of icing, plays into our current era of \u201cironic nostalgia.\u201d But that nostalgia is showing its head elsewhere, and appears deeply sincere. It\u2019s the same drive putting <\/span>\u201970s cocktails on the menu<\/span><\/a>\u2014yes, there\u2019s a wink, but the fun is real.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>This is super cheesy, but running bits make me feel like my friends and loved ones will keep being around for long enough that I\u2019ll get to ice them at their upcoming major life events, and they\u2019ll ice me at mine, and that\u2019s as beautiful as it is nauseating,\u201d says Wallace. Icing has lasted because more than any other mid-2010s internet prank, you at least get something enjoyable out of it at the end. Bernardo echoes the sentiment. \u201cIf I ice you, it means I love you… It\u2019s a sick and twisted olive branch that brings people together,\u201d they say. \u201cBut it\u2019s also just funny as hell.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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