Ice Cream Social Hosting Tips

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Here’s the scoop! To celebrate the end of my kindergartner’s first year in elementary school, we threw a little last day of school ice cream social with a few local friends. The weather was looking iffy all week but an hour before the party started, the sun came out and we were able to entertain 12 kids, mostly age 7-3 outside with ice cream and playtime.

In typical fashion, I couldn’t just host a little party without some cute party details. Luckily, Wholesale Party Supplies agreed to partner with me with some basics to make this little get together extra special!  The whole party was a pink, mint and white color scheme that was easy to pull off. Add a balloon arch and some inflatable ice cream cones and the decorations were all set.

• Considering where you put the dessert table – Ice cream and heat doesn’t mix well so try to find a shady or cooler place to put the dessert table. I staged ours in an open space of our garage which was right next to the freezer. It allowed me to grab the ice cream from the freezer when it was scoop time, and tuck it back in when they were all passed out.

• Mix in solid with basic prints – There are LOTS of cute ice cream themed paper plates and cups out there but when focusing on a color palette vs the design, you can get more for your dollar with solids and basic prints, like dots and stripes.

• Skip the cones – I bought waffle bowls thinking they’d be a great way to contain the ice cream and allow the kids to have a crunch. These were smaller than I realized and only held about a scoop and a half of ice cream. No big deal but it didn’t allow a lot of room for toppings, which spilled over on their plates. Plus most of the kids didn’t know how to eat the cone after they finished the ice cream! Next time I’ll just get plastic bowls to make their ice cream sundaes, but make sure to include a crunchy topping option for those looking missing that texture.

• Limit your ice cream flavors and toppings – I only had 4 flavors and 6 scooping toppings, but when all the kids wanted a little of each topping, it really slowed down the line. Next time I’ll do one less flavor of ice cream (PS cotton candy WAS the big hit) and maybe do 4 toppings. I had both Reese’s piece and M&Ms plus 2 types of sprinkles but I think they would’ve all been fine with one candy and one sprinkle option.

• Offer a drink – Before the party, I filled up a big drink container with ice cold water and put out plenty of cups for kids to wash down their sugary creations. For some reason open cups and unlimited refills seems to make kids drink more than normal! Tip: Keep a Sharpie marker nearby so they can label their cups.

• Leave room behind your table for scooping duty – Instead of scooting my dessert table up against the wall, I left room behind for myself and a fellow mom to stand back there and scoop the treats.

• Favors are always welcome! – Even though this wasn’t a birthday party, it’s always fun to give a little thank you favor. I ended up passing these out during the party and the kids were popping the foam “ice cream scoop” all over the yard. Grab this ice cream favor tag here as a free download!
• Custom shirts are fun for the host! Grab the free SVG cute file to create the t-shirt shown above!