How To Host An Ice Cream Social That’ll Have Them Screaming for Joy
Summer means fun in the sun and what screams that more than and ice cream social? Recently, we hosted a series of ice cream socials with friends from the neighborhood and it turns out, it was a super easy, play date to plan and popular with all the invitees! Here’s how you too can host a fabulous ice cream social this summer in 4 easy steps cuz hey, I scream, you scream, we ALL scream for ice cream!
Set up a sprinkle station! The thing that makes an ice cream social so fun and interactive is getting to choose from a variety of toppings and getting creative with the choices! Using a 3 tier stand and a cake platter we already owned, I created a lazy Susan setup with sprinkles ranging from: 3 kinds of rainbow sprinkles, to organic, teddy graham crackers, to chocolate chips, nerds and gummy bears. For added Instagram-able fun, make sure to add in topping choices that add a little height to your final creation (think Japanese Pocky sticks, cake pops, suckers, or long cookies). 
- With this sprinkle station, we had 5 quarts of different flavored ice cream to choose from..thus the need to keep hosting ice cream socials in order to free up space in our freezer! But a simple Neopolitan ice cream quart would do!
tip. to create these fun ice cream cups, simply frost the rim of your glass, add sprinkles and set in fridge before party!
- Create a craft! Kids of all ages love to get artsy. What better way to tie in the theme than to prepare a simple, fun ice cream craft for them to take home as a memento of the event? For our get-togethers, I pre-cut cones and ice cream scoops from pretty patterned paper and prepared glue sticks, glitter sticks, washi tape, gem stickers, pom pom balls and all sorts of sprinkle-like toppings for the kids to pick, glue, and mix/match with.
But you could easily download free printables of ice cream cones for kids of all ages to color in too. - Decorate! Create a festive atmosphere by simply using whatever leftover party decor you already have! The great thing about ice cream socials is that it can be interpreted with any color theme. So bring out those colorful napkins, paper plates, lanterns and banners and give them new life again! We used this as an excuse to re-use our Oh Joy for Target party decor and bought a couple new items from Target to coordinate, just to freshen up the space and make it feel festive. A trip down Target’s dollar bin aisle will always inspire! Juliet of course, insisted on helping me decorate and was the perfect little party planner!
- Toys for Tots! Gift the adults a break by preparing fun, themed toys to attract the little ones allowing the adults to mingle! We pulled out our gifted Melissa & Doug ice cream cone set, and Duplo ice cream legos, then let the kids set up their own shop with fake money in Juliet’s play house.
And we also had our Our Generation ice cream truck with all its miniature ice cream treats nearby for kids to explore and play pretend with.
Hopefully this post, inspired you to get social like we did this summer!
To see the same party decor in other past posh play dates, click here!
To see our summer bucket list of must-taste trendy NYC ice cream spots, click here!
To get further inspired with a series of “sprinkle some fun” sponsored posh play dates we had, click here!
so darn CUTE! You plan the best play dates. How lucky are the kids..er shall I say moms??
It was a fantastic playdate. Jasper really enjoyed himself as did I!
I’m so glad you could come over! I hope you’re enjoying the rest of your summer.
So cute and so fun and so easy to do – kids love ice cream – rack up the mom brownie points asap! Thanks for hosting us!
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