Summer Party Ideas 4 Kids: Ice Cream Social

Ice Cream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream! Since July is National Ice Cream month we put together a fun and bright ice scream social themed party that you and your kids will love. Hang up some fun colored paper wheels and pinwheels, serve lemonade with colorful straws and set up a make-your-own-sundae bar.

This theme is especially fun during the summer months when you can also get out the lawn games to keep everyone entertained. The red, white and blue color palette looks festive and it’s easy to find décor and paper goods this time of year. Read on to learn how to throw an old-fashioned ice cream social full of sweet details.

Setting the Theme

Your backyard is a great place to host an ice cream social. It’s a great way to have friends and neighbors over without having to clean the house! It’s also a great “dessert” party. No need to serve other food, as the ice cream is the star of the show. We typically host an ice cream social around the 4^th of July and infuse a patriotic theme into the invitations and décor. Since the party is outside you can focus your efforts on just one main table, which will be the sundae bar. Kids light up at the site of the “bar” and are super excited to dive right in and start making a sundae as soon as they arrive.

We carry the patriotic theme over to a drink table and create a few centerpieces by filling vases with pinwheels and flowers picked from our yard or a neighbor’s yard (with permission of course:). The vases are wrapped in paper to bring in a bit of the red, white and blue theme.

Invitation

Create a colorful party invitation to invite your guests to the ice cream social. If you will only be serving ice cream, let them know. We created an invitation for you, but there are many great choices available at big box stores and on-line.

Ice Cream Social Invitation FREE Printable – dsm4kids

Activities

Since the party is in the summer it’s a great time to break out the lawn games. It’s always a good idea to keep your guests, especially the kiddos, active and occupied. Here are a few classic lawn game ideas.

Croquet
Bocce Ball
Badminton
Horseshoes
Bags
Lawn Darts

Ice Cream & Toppings

We typically make homemade ice cream for the ice cream social, both of my kids love to help make it. But you don’t have to. Store bought ice cream would be just as tasty and a lot less work. If you do want to make your own ice cream, here is an Old Fashioned Vanilla Ice Cream recipe:

Makes 2 Quarts

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons Sugar
3 tablespoons Flour
½ teaspoon Salt
2 ½ cups Milk
2 Eggs, beaten
2 cups Whipping Cream
1 tablespoon Vanilla

Combine sugar, flour and salt in saucepan. Gradually stir in milk. Cook over medium heat approximately 15 minutes or until thickened, whisking constantly. Gradually stir about 1 cup of hot mixture into the beaten eggs. Add to remaining hot mixture, whisking constantly. Cook 1 minute, remove from heat. Chill for two hours. Combine whipping cream and vanilla in large bowl, add chilled mixture, whisking to combine. Freeze as directed.

Setting the Table

The main focus of this party will be the sundae bar. Make it easy for kids and parents to help themselves. We use cups for the sundaes and floats, and we also provide cones. You may need to help kiddos by dipping the ice cream for them and then letting them put on their own toppings. Especially if you have a lot of younger kids at the party.

You will need a few containers and platters for the table. The main things you will need is something to keep the ice cream cold and to hold all of the toppings. We have a big galvanized bucket that is perfect for the ice cream and then I use “veggie” trays for the toppings. No need to purchase anything, look around the house and see what you have on hand that will work

Sundae Bar

The kids’ favorite part of the ice cream social is being able to create their own sundaes with all of the fun toppings. The toppings can get out of hand! We have cut back a bit on what we set out. Below is a list of what we serve, but of course you should set out your family favorites.