How To Order A $3 Ice Cream Soda Float From Costco's Food Court

Costco's food court is as legendary as the large quantities and low prices that characterize the rest of the warehouse club's offerings. Although much of the attention focuses on the delicious (and inexpensive) Costco hot dog, there are plenty of other gems on the menu for creative shoppers to discover. A food court hack you'll probably wish you knew sooner involves making an ice cream soda float. All it requires is combining the cafe's ice cream cup and fountain soda for the low price of under $3.

The frozen dessert is the pricier of the two items at $1.99, which gets buyers 10 ounces of vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry soft-serve. Meanwhile, the 20-ounce fountain sodas cost just $0.79 apiece, for a pre-tax total of just $2.78 for your sizable float. Once you've filled your drink, simply dump or spoon your ice cream into the cup to complete this simple but satisfying treat.

In reality, the float can actually end up costing even less for those ordering multiple ones. The substantial ice cream serving is enough for several floats, as a typical scoop of ice cream ranges between 2 and 4 ounces. This means your ice cream order is usually enough for two to five floats, depending on how much ice cream each gets.

Although the classic option is the famous root beer float, Costco's self-serve drinks make it possible for shoppers with a curious palate or a favorite soda to experiment. Costco swapped out Pepsi products for Coca-Cola ones in 2025, offering choices that include original, diet, and Coke Zero, along with Sprite, Minute Maid Lemonade, and Barq's Root Beer. Between these six drink options and the three ice cream flavors, shoppers can whip up 18 different float varieties, meaning there's a float for every taste.

On Facebook, a video showing off the tip earned over 31,000 likes and reactions, along with hundreds of comments, some suggesting their own variations such as cherry cola floats or mixing ice cream with orange soda. Meanwhile, on Reddit, reviews included the succinct but enthusiastic, "this combo SLAPS." Plenty of commenters replied that they'd never thought to combine the two, but would now.