Ice Cream Sundae Buffet
Melody's first birthday party was an ice cream themed party. Because of this theme, I knew I would need to incorporate ice cream into the party. Traditionally, people include ice cream to simply go along with the cake, but I wanted something more. So I decided to come up with a way to have an ice cream buffet!
So one of the first things I bought for this ice cream buffet was a blue tray and jars for the toppings. Both were purchased from Target in the dollar section. The tray was to hold the bowls and spoons. I bought yellow bowls (actually treat cups) found at Party City. I picked yellow because of the "main" colors, this was the only color not incorporated. I bought the spoons from Amazon. They came in a multi color pack and I thought they would be perfect. The spoons were in a ceramic ice cream cone that I also found at Target in the dollar section. The last of the paper products were the napkins. They are white beverage napkins covered in sprinkles. I found these at Homegoods.
Now I am going to skip to the toppings. I bought both clear and pink jars from Target. They came in packs of 3, so I knew I would need around 6 toppings. Sprinkles and nuts were a must. Brad loves marshmallows, so I included those. I wanted some form of chocolate, and I ended up going with Oreos. I also love white chocolate chips on my ice cream, so I picked those out as well. Lastly was some sort of fruit topping. Cherries seem typical, but I personally prefer strawberries to top my ice cream, and a few other people I spoke with did too. So I went this route. I used spoons from the pack I bought at Amazon to serve the toppings. We also had whipped cream and syrup for toppings. I used a cake stand from our wedding to display them. I simply put two whipped cream containers out for people to use. At one time I considered decorating the whipped cream container, but that never happened! I bought clear syrup bottles from Walmart, and I poured chocolate and caramel syrup in each of the bottles.
Next up is the ice cream. I did not want to have to scoop ice cream or expect people to scoop hard ice cream during the party. So I bought disposable aluminum trays and parchment paper, and I pre-scooped the ice cream the night before. One large bucket of ice cream filled up two trays. I had white wooden trays from our wedding that I placed each aluminum tray in moments before "opening" the ice cream buffet. I also placed an ice cream scoop and tongs for people to use to get each scoop of ice cream.
Last is the general decor. You cannot really see it, but I had both a white and pink table cover. The white table cover is at the very bottom, then I placed the pink table cover on top. I pulled each side up using a safety pin to add a little flare. Then above the table, I included three lanterns covered in sprinkles to add some extra decor.
Overall I think the ice cream buffet was a huge hit! Everyone loved being able to make their own ice cream sundae, and the pre-scooped ice cream was a success! I highly suggest it!
