It’s time to show off my Ice Cream Parlor Birthday party!  I am so excited to share this with you.  I started by collecting ideas and inspiration on a pinterest board.  Then I started creating labels…  I was originally going to use white brown and pink, pretty classic ice cream parlor colors.  BUT I switched to green, mint ice cream green!  Vanilla, chocolate and Mint Ice cream!  My favorite ice cream flavor!  And a different twist on some of the classic color schemes. Thanks again to my sister Chelsea Peterson Photography not only for her help finishing up and setting up, but also taking and editing these amazing pictures for me!

I really REALLY wish my table was just a foot longer.  It ended up being a BIT crowded and could’ve used a tad bit more space, but two tables would’ve been too much…  I WANTED to make a table, but ran out of time, plus what would I do with it afterwards?  We decided to risk having an outdoor party in September.  The worry was rain, but it was actually not only sunny, but INCREDIBLE hot!  SO hot everything started melting!

I MIGHT have overdone how MUCH I did, but honestly I actually cut back on quite a few of the toppings, sauces and food items I wanted to make!  Also I originally planned on copying the cake from One Charming Party, but then last week was hit with inspiration!  You can see how I made my ice cream cone birthday cake in yesterday’s post!

For sauces I made my Grandpa’s Hot Fudge, Kara’s Sinful Caramel Sauce and Peanut Butter Sauce and my Marshmallow frosting

I had a TON of toppings, probably too much, BUT I wanted to make sure I had stuff for all the different tastes coming.  Some guests are like me, into candy, and other guests are more like my husband into fruits and more “healthy” stuff.  I had crushed candy bars (butterfingers), sprinkles, toasted coconut, mixed nuts, toffee, mini chocolate chips, mini M&M’s, apple pie filling, raspberry pie filling, granola and Reese’s pieces!

I also made cookie bowls, I should have made a second batch, they were by FAR the most popular way to serve the ice cream!  I used my Dad’s famous chocolate chip cookie recipe with mini chips and the back of a muffing tin for the shape.  Not as pretty as the ones floating around pinterest, but delicious and they worked just fine!  I planned on making brownie bowls as well as chocolate wafers for homemade ice cream sandwiches but ran out of time, and in the end had no room for them anyway!

I had my classic mini water bottles of course (it took me weeks to find these galvanized steel tubs in this oval shape!  Thank you Lowe’s).  And I made Ice cream cone wrappers (they have three different phrases on them: I scream, you scream, we all scream).  I thought the kids would love the cones, but only a few got eaten…  I guess I know better for next time, more cookie bowls, less cones!

I also made Ice cream pops from oreo balls (instead of cake balls, nasty) AND I tried something new!  I made my favorite cheesecake recipe (without the sour cream topping) and froze it.  Then I chopped it into small triangles and froze them, again.  I stuck them on sticks and dipped them in semi sweet chocolate and refroze them!  They were the HIT of the day…  Good thing I made such a large cheesecake!  I still have a FEW more in the freezer that I’m still enjoying!

My favorite find was this mason jar water tank!  LOVE it!  It fit my mason jar theme so well and it’s simple enough to use over and over again!  Wanting to keep the milk cold so I froze some milk in a huge cube and it worked great!.  The kids LOVED it!   So did my father in law, chocolate milk is his favorite drink of all time!

The only mishap was the butter-cream and ganache melting right off the cake because of the surprising heat…  But while it didn’t stay pretty for long it still tasted amazing!  So I just got the knife out and served it, problem solved!

The kids were SO patient as we finished up the photo’s and then told them they could go to town!  They had a ton of food, not surprising they didn’t eat much dinner that night!  Because of the sun and warmth we put up a huge tent and put it over the table to help with the melting.  About an hour after the party started it cooled down enough that the melting slowed down to almost a halt!  I guess I started the party just an hour too early!  Who knew the middle of September could BE so warm!  I made the party open house so people were coming and going all afternoon/evening.  It was great to spend some time relaxing and socializing with family!

If anyone is interested in any of my labels here is the silhouette studio files you can download and use them!  If you want any of my labels without the silhouette cut lines let me know, I’m happy to send them to you!