How To Host a Kid's Ice Cream Party

Most kids and adults love ice cream. It's cold, delicately surprising, and absolutely delicious. So why not host an ice cream party in honor of this tasty dessert?

1. Invitations: Create invitations shaped like ice cream trucks. Write on the truck with a marker so the information looks as if it were imprinted on the truck. If you can, stick on a "Scratch and Sniff" sticker of an ice cream sundae. Remember to add an R.S.V.P. so you have an idea of how much ice cream you'll need to buy.
2. Location: Summer time is the best time for ice cream parties; when colds aren't as widespread and there's plenty of sun. You may host your party in the yard or in your kitchen. Both choices have its pros and cons. If you were to host it in the yard, cleaning up wouldn't be much of a problem because you wouldn't have to worry about ice cream dripping as much as you would in the kitchen. The yard however, may be warm, and as a result cause the ice cream to melt faster. When choosing the latter, you will need plenty of dry ice and preferably a shaded place.

3. Toppings: On the day itself, prepare dry ingredients before taking the ice cream out ofthe freezer. First, line bowls of different toppings on a long table. There are hundreds of toppings you can choose from to please both kids and adults:
   
   • Chocolate sprinkles
   • Rainbow sprinkles
   • Chocolate chips
   • White chocolate chips
   • Hundreds and Thousands
   • Crumbled brownies
   • Assorted chopped nuts - walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, etc.
   • M&Ms, Reese's Pieces, mini marshmallows
   • Crushed Oreo cookies
   • Crushed graham crackers
   • Crushed peanut butter cups
   • Chocolate Syrup
   • Strawberry Syrup
   • Butterscotch Sauce
   • Sliced fresh fruit - banana, strawberry, blueberry, pineapple, etc.
   • Dried fruit - kiwi, apricot, cherries, etc...
   • Chocolate buttons
   • Shredded coconut
   • Whipped cream
   • Cherries

4. Ice cream!: Once the toppings are out, place waffle cones, sugar cones, empty sundae glasses, and long silver spoons on a tray. You want to offer a variety of ways to eat the ice cream. At this point, it really doesn't really matter if you just have vanilla ice cream. Children can experiment with different flavors using toppings! Of course you may have as many ice cream flavors as you wish. Try to pick ice cream flavors based on your toppings. Walnuts, brownies, and chocolate syrup may go well with banana ice cream but it won't do as well in a kiwi sorbet. Even then, you shouldn't worry too much because it's hard to go wrong with ice cream.

5. Water: Remember to make water available for everyone. Leave plastic cups out with a water cooler if you have one. And lastly, enjoy!