Ice Cream Party

Yes! We actually had an ice cream party on the coldest, darkest, rainiest December night. But, the bright colors made it feel quite cozy. So here it is... the party details! The table cloth, (along with many other ice cream items), were purchased at the end of August. I didn't foresee many ice cream items available in December, nor did I want to birthday shop this time of year.

I decided to make this "Natalie" banner at the last-minute with my Cricut. The letters were on top of ice cream cones, but you can't really tell... bummer! I ended up hanging some balloons at the ends, too.


What's an ice cream party without sweets? I have seen ice cream cupcakes a few different times, but I found a cool tutorial over at House of Hepworths on how to make your own pan to bake them. (Basically, you just cut circles out of a lasagna pan from the dollar store!) You can get the tutorial here.

I had purchased an ice cream cookie cutter, again back in August, so of course we had to make sugar cookies. (I also did green frosting with mini chocolate chips, but didn't get a picture!)

I made so much cake batter, I decided to do these cupcakes last-minute, as well. I got the idea from "Be Different, Act Normal." Theirs are WAY cuter, but I was in a rush, and just used my Christmas mint M&M's for the "ice cream."



The bowls were for each kid to take-home as part of their "goody bag." They were from Oriental Trading Co. and I bought them on Cyber Monday when they had free shipping with no minimum purchase. I believe I will be checking them out every Cyber Monday for Natalie's birthdays!

More favors: lip gloss and stamps from Michael's dollar section over the summer.

For most of our parties, we start with themed coloring and activity pages as the kids come in. It's nice to have something to do while waiting for all the guests to arrive. I found lots of ice cream coloring pages, word searches, connect-the-dots, etc. on line. I also had some ice cream stickers.

The birthday girl:

Our second craft was ice cream magnets... another purchase from Oriental Trading Co.

Our first game was an ice cream obstacle course. I just threw pillows on the ground and had the kids run around them while holding a stack of 8 scoops of plastic ice cream. (Luckily the plastic ice cream was already in the girls' kitchen, and not something extra to purchase.)



Next we did "Cold Ice Cream," (a.k.a. "Hot Potato").

And, the most loved game of the night... catch the ice cream cone! One kid got to throw the ice cream, (balloon), and the other kid had to catch it in his cone. Not super easy, but not overly difficult. They really had fun with this one!




Dinner break: pizza, veggies and fruit! After dinner, we asked Natalie if she wanted to do dessert or presents first. She chose presents.

Such wonderful gifts... she especially liked this black dress!

You already saw the sweets we had... but we couldn't help but have an ice cream bar, as well. Peanut butter, chocolate chocolate chip, mint chip, and vanilla along with toppings, or on a cone. Yummy!


Last, but not least, came the pinata. Yes, I decided to make one... starting the day before... while Daniel was at work, and I was alone with the girls... What was I thinking? Due to our rainy weather, the paper mache didn't dry until the day of the party. So, after I baked I began to do the rest of the pinata. I still can't believe it got done. Phew...

For some reason, that was the one thing Natalie really wanted. Due to the weather, Daniel had to hold it on a mop handle. But, it worked!

I was SO surprised it lasted through one round of everybody whacking it. Quite pleased, actually!


Not sure who had more fun... Daniel or the kids!

Finally, here is our annual shot of the parents with the birthday girl...