You’re the Cherry on Top! How to Host an Ice Cream Party

I scream, you scream, we all scream for an Ice Cream Party! See how I put together this Girls Night, letting everyone know they are the cherry on top

I learned a secret this week. The key for a large turnout for a girls night is to serve ice cream! I hosted an ice cream party for a women’s group I belong to.

Our ice cream social included a build your own sundae buffet, ice cream inspired decorations, and we played some summer themed ice breaker games.

I set up a table for the buffet. We bought a few different flavors of ice cream and then offered a multitude of different toppings.

Ice cream flavors included:

• Vanilla
• Strawberry
• Chocolate
• Cookies and Cream

Some of the toppings went into these adorable ceramic ice cream cone dishes.

Ice cream toppings included

• Crushed nuts
• Cherries
• Whipped cream
• Caramel (homemade!)
• Fudge sauce
• Marshmallow topping
• Sprinkles
• Chocolate chips
• Chocolate sprinkles
• Rainbow sprinkles
• Chocolate covered candy
• Chocolate syrup

I printed out some ‘Here’s the Scoop’ invites to give to our women’s group. Sweet and simple with the date and time of our girls night ice cream social.

For our decorations I made a few large pieces that really made a big impact. These ice cream cones are made out of brown craft paper and balloons. Cut a half circle out of the paper and fold it into a cone. Then blow up some balloons and stack them on the paper cone. We made some single scoops and some double scoops!

My favorite decoration was probably these carnation floral ‘ice cream’ centerpieces. We used soda glasses filled with sugar to hold the flowers. A ‘scoop’ pink flowers, then the white flowers, and finally a red flower in the center on top for the cherry! And then a striped paper straw.

My giant ice cream cone on the wall was made out of brown craft paper and paper plates! I started by taping the plates together to form the scoop of ice cream. The last plate was the red cherry on top. Then I rolled out the brown craft paper and cut out a cone to hold the giant paper plate ice cream scoop.

My ice cream sundae was a base of cookies and cream ice cream with some nuts, sprinkles, whipped cream, and a cherry.

For our ice breaker games we played Would You Rather, Never Have I Ever, and a birthday game.

We started with Would You Rather and asked some summer themed questions. Ladies had to sit or stand depending on their answer.

• Would you rather stuff your face with ice cream or s’mores?
• Would you rather vacation in the mountains or at the beach?
• Would you rather swim in the ocean or in a pool?
• Would you rather grill hot dogs or hamburgers?
• Would you rather shoot off the fireworks or watch the fireworks?
• Would you rather wear flip flops or sandals?
• Would you rather go on a picnic or to an outdoor concert?
• Would you rather wade through the water or trudge through the sand?
• Would you rather enjoy a fresh tomato or a ripe peach?
• Would you rather shop at the Farmers market or at a craft fair?
• Would you rather enjoy fresh watermelon or sweet corn?
• Would you rather cool off with a popsicles or ice cream cone?
• Would you rather have a water balloons fight or play Marco Polo in the pool?
• Would you rather take kids to the pool or to the amusement park?
• Would you rather ride the roller coasters or the kiddie rides?

After we warmed up with the Would You Rather game we played Never Have I Ever. Everyone had to say something they had never done that they thought other people in the group had done. If you had done the thing the speaker said you had to stand up. We didn’t play where anyone had to leave the game for doing too many things, this was more just as an ice breaker game.

The last activity was having all the ladies line up by birthday, without talking. Getting a group of 30 women to not talk is hard! We did let them use their fingers to help get in line.

Host your own Ice Cream Social and cool off with the sweetest summer party idea!

Want more party theme ideas? How about a Great British Bake Off Party!