Let's make some Ice Cream!!!
Dylan turned four last weekend while we were out of town (more on our vacation later) so before we left, we celebrated her birthday with a few of her friends.
The theme? Ice cream of course.
We started out with some adorable invitations that my mom and her friend made for me, I mean us (Dylan and I). We added the wording to the invites, and handed them out to three of her friends. Four little girls for a four year old sounded just about right. These girls get together once a week to play, so we just made the party their get together for the week.
I'd spent some time getting things organized for the party and when party day arrived, we were ready. Pink balloons on all the chairs, pink table cloths and pink party dishes. It was a lot of pink!
My mom came over to help me out, and the watch the scene as it all unfolded. Dylan's friends started to arrive and they sat at the table with a new box of crayons and a dot-to-dot ice cream cone and coloring sheet. It was an easy first activity.
Afterward I gave the girls some stickers (ice creams of course) and let them decorate some empty baby formula cans. Once the cans were decorated to their liking, we put some flavored milk (chocolate and strawberry) into separate ziploc baggies and added them to another bag filled with ice and rock salt. We stuffed these bags into the cans and the fun began.
The girls paired up and got to shakin'. They jumped up and down with those cans, danced, rolled and did everything they could think of to get those cans moving. When they got tired, they rolled it to their partner, or just handed it off so they could take a break and the next girl went crazy. By the end, the girls were all jumping together whether they had a can or not, and they were tired.
BUT, they had made their ice cream. We took the bags of ice cream and put them in the freezer for a few minutes while the girls moved on to their next activity.
Pin the Cherry on the Ice Cream Cone!
I took a piece of posterboard, drew an ice cream cone (in pink) and cut some foam circles in red. The girls wore a pink beauty mask to hide their eyes, told me how many times they wanted to spin around, and did their best to place the cherry on top of the ice cream cone. I think they had a good time, and did a pretty good job too.
Finally the ice cream was ready. The girls went back to the table, and received a large dish full of strawberry, chocolate and vanilla ice cream. On the table was an array of toppings for the girls to choose from. Sprinkles, M&M's, nuts, cherries, Oreo cookies, chocolate chips, hot fudge, caramel sauce and whipped cream. It was a free for all.
At least it was supposed to be. I don't know who these girls are, but the topping choices were minimal. They did eat all of the cherries, and each had whipped cream, but for the most part, there were only little bits of this or that taken. It didn't matter though, they loved it. They also each got an ice cream cone cupcake. I baked cupcakes inside of store bought ice cream cones and added pink frosting to make them look like a cone. They turned out really cute. I would totally make them again. Each girl added a cherry and a few sprinkles before eating.
There was some outdoor play here and there in the back yard in between activities and even some chocolate or strawberry milk. Then it was time for presents.
Dylan got some cute gifts from her friends and I think all in all they had a good time. When it was time to leave Dylan handed out her buckets of fun.
The buckets were just large tin cans covered in scrapbook paper with each girls name on it. We nailed a few holes into the sides, added some ribbon and it was an easy gift for the girls to carry home with them. Inside, the ice cream theme was carried out...
ice cream cone bubbles
cake batter ice cream flavored lip balm
an ice cream cone notebook
their pink ice cream dish and spoon with an individual serving of ice cream tucked inside
ice cream flavored hard candies
a magnet of their initial to put on their buckets
and a candy bar with ice creams on the front that read Dylan's Candy Bar
I think it was a great success, and Dylan told me it was her best day ever, but looking back, it was a lot of work and I'm thrilled I don't have to host another birthday party like this for at least another year.*
* Isaac won't have a party with his friends until he turns four. There will be a post in another couple of months talking about his family celebration though.
