{Lulu a la mode 3rd birthday party}

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Our little Luella is sooooo sweet and LOVES to eat sweets,

so an ice cream social was the perfect way to celebrate!

Published on Hostess with the Mostess!

Ice Cream Social Party Printables
now available on my etsy shop!
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Enjoy these party pics and check out more images of

the event on my Flickr page!

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invitations included play money to bring to the event for the kids to use to purchase their own ice cream.

{Ice Cream Social Party Details}

When thinking of a theme for my daughters' birthday parties, I always take what they love as inspiration. For my daughter Luella's 3rd birthday, I knew the party would be centered around food! She definitely loves to eat and her favorite food- like most kids- is anything sweet! But I realized that when served cake and ice cream, both of my daughters go for the ice cream first and hardly touch the cake (except for maybe licking the frosting). That's when I decided her birthday party would be all about ice cream! No cake necessary! I chose to hold the event at 2 pm so I got away with not having to arrange serving a meal for the guests. It also allowed me to invite some extra guests since I was saving a little bit on our budget. I created custom "ice cream shop" branding for the event and called it "Lulu a la mode". I had so much fun making oversized ice cream creations to make the day memorable for the guests- especially for the kids and my birthday girl!

FOOD- a variety of ice cream treats were served; all of which were pictured on the ice cream shop menu. Guests could order and purchase their items at the ice cream shop counter!
*ice cream sandwiches from Hans' Homemade Ice Cream & Deli
*Klondike Choco Tacos & Heath Ice Cream Bars
*6 flavors of ice cream- including sorbet
*"toppings bar" including 6 kinds of sprinkles & gummy cherries
*ice cream sundae "birthday cake" made of Rice Crispies Treats (no cake at this event!)
*ice cream floats- Root Beer or orange soda with vanilla ice cream, and Sprite + Hawaiian punch with rainbow sherbert- yum!
*there was also a table for some salty snacks- popcorn, Pirate Booty, and crackers- in case the guests were on sweet overload
*gummy cherries were packaged with custom "thank you" labels as a favor

ACTIVITIES- children earned play money for each of these activities and had to buy their own ice cream:
*Photo booth ice cream shop- Handmade ice cream cart prop along with ice cream-adorned aprons for the kids to dress up like an ice cream vendor. Perfect for ice cream social networking! :)
*"Cherry on the top" game (version of "pin-the-tail on the donkey")
*"Design your own flavor" ice cream scoop coloring activity using scented markers- scoop creations were stacked up on the wall to see how high they could reach!
*Build-a-cone Castle" children were given cake frosting and several types & colors of ice cream cones to create a castle.
*In addition to the activities, play ice cream treats & a cash register were set out for pretend play and for the kids to make use of their extra play money.

DECOR- Giant scoops of pink ice cream were scattered around the house and were "melting" on our furniture and light fixtures, and tons of chocolate syrup was "dripping" from windows and walls and tables. The floor was even covered with rainbow "sprinkles"!
*custom ice cream shop logos which included an illustration of the birthday girl's sweet smiling face. *custom signs, menus, ice cream cup labels, and play money.
*handmade giant scoops of ice cream made using paper lanterns covered in pink tissue paper, cotton ball "whipped cream", and a foam ball covered in red felt as the "cherry on top".
*handmade "chocolate syrup" was so simple- neon multi-colored pom poms were hot glued to dark brown felt that was cut to shape.
*"Sprinkles" (multi-colored neon pom poms) were scattered all around the pretend play area!
*handmade ice cream cart complete with custom signage!
*DIY balloon ice cream cones.
*cherry heart pillows
*ice cream sandwich soap

VENDOR CREDITS AND RESOURCES
*event branding and design- Deanna Moore Design
*photography- Jen CYK Photography 

*neon multi-colored pom poms- Hobby Lobby  

*delicious ice cream sandwiches- Hans' Homemade Ice Cream + Deli

*ice cream scoop hat- Pam KR  

*ice cream sandwich soap- Love Lee Soaps  

*felt ice cream sandwiches- A Crafty Designer 
*felt banana split-  Fiddle dee Dee

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Jen CYK Photography

Jen CYK Photography

Jen CYK Photography

Jen CYK Photography

Jen CYK Photography

Jen CYK Photography

Jen CYK Photography

Jen CYK Photography

Jen CYK Photography

Jen CYK Photography

Jen CYK Photography

Jen CYK Photography

Jen CYK Photography

Jen CYK Photography

Jen CYK Photography

Jen CYK Photography

Jen CYK Photography

{{Nature Party on Hostess with the Mostess Blog!}}

Visit this amazing and inspiring party-planning website- hwtm blog to see their post about the 5th birthday party I put together for my daughter, Vivian! & check out my original blog post as well as my flickr page with more pics and party details! Thanks to Jen of Jen Cyk Photography for taking all the great pictures and for submitting the event to such a great blog!

This package is available as a printable in my etsy shop !

{Nature Party 5th Birthday 2012}

Printable files are available  on my etsy shop!

Nature Party invitation suite
photo by Jen CYK Photography

Nature Party invitation suite
photo by Jen CYK Photography

Nature Party invitation suite

Wildlife Field Guide - Illustrations by Vivian Moore

Vivi's 5th Birthday Party was so much fun- she truly is a nature girl at heart! Vivi is always collecting "nature" and "sciencing" it. Any new flower she finds, she is compelled to take it apart to see what's inside. Bushes, trees, flowers- are her favorite things to be surrounded by. Our car is turning in to a sort of compost pile- all the "nature" scraps are scattered along the floor. But we have to love and appreciate the excitement she has to do "research" on her found leaves, seeds, blossoms, twigs. This special 5th birthday, her love of nature was the inspiration for the party!

To see more images, check out my Flickr page as well as Jen CYK Photography!

bird house cake + edible terrarium

edible terrariums

 

framed flower monogram

the food spread- ya VECK"S SAIGON STREET FOOD is the best!

Banh mi sandwiches, egg rolls, and PBJ sandwiches!!!! What else do you need??? :)

bird house party favors with bird whistle inside

create-your-own trail mix station

create-your-own trail mix station

crocheted mushrooms

dessert table with mushroom strawberries, muffins, and bird house cake

plant-your-own terrarium station

Cake making!

These are the cakes I made for Vivi's 4th birthday- it was a bug party so I had to do something bug-themed, right? :)

The first one is sculpted with rice crispy treats and covered in chocolate frosting, graham cracker crumb dirt and sitting in coconut flakes that were colored with food dye. There were some candy rocks and sugar flowers and sprinkle covered rice crispy mushrooms, too! Then I added plastic ants and the birthday candles (the only non-edible parts of the cake)!


This cake was super easy! I cut donuts in half and lined them up on a large platter to look like a creepy crawly centipede. The legs were pretzel sticks and I used marshmallows and sprinkles for the happy bug's face!

It definitely brought a smile to the kiddies! They were all sooooo excited to eat it!

More Bug Out party pics!


And here's last year's "blue party" that was also made of solid rice crispies! It was pretty much impossible to eat the whole thing!  Check out all the party pictures here!