Easy Ice Cream Theme Birthday Party

Before we get lost in the sea of all things autumnal heading our way, I wanted to share our end of summer birthday bonanza - an Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party!

I pulled this together for my 12yr old daughter's big day.  It's been a challenging summer for us, so we wanted a day of celebration and fun for everyone that wouldn't make me stress out trying to over-craft an entire party...which I have done a number of times.  

You can find all my other DIY Parties HERE.

I used some free clip art, fonts and iPiccy editing to make this digital party invitation:

I found the ideal ice cream themed "party paper products in a box" set on Amazon which gave me most of the mainstay items in one fell swoop and was a real bargain at $28.  Of course it's "currently unavailable" now, but the brand was Blue Panda.

Ice cream cone shaped plates, matching napkins, cups and flatware for 24 people:

Dessert plates and plastic tablecloth were included too, plus an ice cream shaped birthday bunting, which was a nice detail for the table.  I reused a hot pink felt cut-out table runner leftover from our previous Sewing Themed Birthday Party.

The paper set even came with balloons and some nice matching gift bags and I also bought this cute little cardboard ice cream truck centerpiece to add a little more decor fun:

I got a pack of foam ice cream poppers to do double duty as party favors & decorations.  These were a big hit with all ages:

 The cake was done by our favorite local bakery, Sorella's.  I saw a round cake online that had ice cream cones on the sides with frosting "scoops" and thought that kind of design would be ideal, just made bigger as a sheet cake.  There's usually squabbling over the cake section with the most frosting, so this way everyone got it!

Fortunately I also had this cute ice cream-themed gift bag in my stash from a previous family birthday (saving party bags = win), to tie into our theme:

 My big DIY party contribution was making this ice cream truck piñata:

 It took a bit of planning to design, but it came together just as I hoped and was really inexpensive to make. We love having birthday piñatas, but I just can't see spending $20+ on a store bought one, only to beat the heck out of it and throw it out.  This one literally cost me $5 plus the candy inside!

I even added some last minute personalization to make it extra special:

To complete our tablescape (and hide a broken window that was being replaced a few days later) I got this ice cream parlor backdrop - also from Amazon.  I figured we could use it for some fun photoshoots and, with a 1yr old daughter added to our now large family birthday list, more parties down the road.  I flanked it with some of the party set balloons, which were a perfect color match:

Overall, we were able to have a fun styled party, but without all the expense and headaches they usually entail to pull together.  That made both mom, and the birthday girl, happy:)

Check out some of my other DIY Parties:

   

 

Woodland Fairy Garden Birthday Party

A few weeks ago we celebrated our little lady's birthday and for the first time in 3 years it didn't rain us out, so we were able to make it fun outside with a full Woodland Fairy Garden Party!

Since fairies are super popular I was SURE there'd be tons of ready-to-buy themed party supplies. When I started looking I was shocked that there was next to nothing out there. Weird right?  This time I put in a lot less work, time & money and didn't have to DIY myself out of my mind.  I think it was my favorite one to date too!

In previous years I went ALL out for her parties and did all kinds of decorations, favors and games that took a lot of time and effort to put together.  Looking back at all these previous parties from the past, I don't know where I found the time or energy:  

  

Even these, which were much less DIY or cost-intensive, exhaust me to look at now.  They still took a lot of planning & prep, which I just didn't feel like doing this time:

 

Instead, I decided to mainly shop my house for stuff I already had and make only a few basic items.  I had several baskets and tabletop items made from twigs & faux moss I've used as home decor over the years.  They were perfect for adding a woodland feel to our table.  

I bought some butterfly paper products and a few little fairy, bird and butterflies to decorate them: 

The big birthday present from us (that also served as ideal party decor) was this fairy garden.  We made it in a shallow pot so it can be brought inside in the winter to enjoy and stay green all year round:

We picked a special fairy friend and got her all sorts of garden goodies (scored on sale since it's end of the summer) so she could flit about as desired.  The doors on the fairy cottage open & close so our fairy friend can enjoy being inside and out:

It needed to have some floral stepping stones, mossy rocks and a few woodland friends too:

Our go-to local bakery, Sorella's, did an amazing job making this beautiful fairy house cake for us too and everything on it was edible and delicious (no yuck-flavored fondant here!):

I also whipped up some quick edible mushroom houses too with marshmallows & strawberries on skewers and a quick stroke of food marker details.  Super cute and tasty, but next to no skills or time required:

My kids love having a themed piñata for parties, but I'd had a hard time finding anything right (or less than $10) in stores, so I literally threw this fairy house one together the night before the party.  I'll post a tutorial for it soon:)  

I used supplies I had on hand (including a cardboard box from a recent package and streamer remnants from past parties) and it worked great.  It was nice & strong too, so all the kids got a good number of whacks in before the candy exploded out:

And since photo booths/frames seem to be all the rage at parties these days, we made our own little fairy frame and costume station.

My husband used fallen branches from our yard to put together the frame and I got some floral garland to wrap around it.  The wings, wands and head wear were all things we had already.  The fleece elf hat I'd made for my daughter when she was a baby worked great as a little gnome cap:

And we used all the floral stretch headbands I made last summer (tutorial for them HERE) for pretty flowery headpieces too:

It was great that everyone enjoyed doing a whimsical picture with the birthday girl - I think the adults enjoyed it even more than the kids!  And I finally got a photo of me with my special girl for her birthday...the last time may have been her first birthday (since mom is always the one running around during the party, not actually experiencing it).  

It was so much fun, we even got teenage big brother to take part:

I think what I loved the most was I wasn't driving myself insane, or staying up until dawn, to put together a fun, pretty party.  It was in-expensive and didn't involve elaborate plans or set-up.  It's so much better to be able to experience it than just stage it!