Ice Cream Party -4yr- Sugar Cone Cake

My daughter loves ice cream cones, so it was easy to settle on her 4th birthday party theme. 

I took pictures of her with pretend ice cream cones from her little play kitchen and she selected the one to use for her invitation (licking" the ice cream).  It showed her mischievous personality.  I cut out colored foam sheets to look like scoops of ice cream and cut out a sugar cone shapes out of a roll of cork board (both found at Michael's).  I assembled the ice cream cones on the front of card stock and put a red pom pom on the top for the cherry.  Inside we put Ava's invitation and all the particulars about the party. 

We had lots of balloons out for decorations and on the inside I made a decoration to look like ice cream cones by the fireplace where all the presents were.  I got two pieces of poster board and rolled them into a cone shape then fed helium balloons through it so that they looked like scoops of ice cream on the cone.  I just tied the ribbons to a balloon weight at the bottom so they stayed bundled on top of the cone.  At one table I had a lot of coloring sheets with ice cream cones ice cream sundaes and other ice cream related sheets printed from various clip art websites.  Since all of the guests were 5 and under it was a nice quiet activity they could do in between other activities. 

The first craft was a hit and actually took longer than I planned or expected.  I bought little 2 1/2" clay pots that are rose pots -- they are a little taller and skinnier than regular clay pots so they look more like ice cream cones.  I also bought clear plastic ornaments that are fillable so they are cut in half.  I put a bunch of craft things on the table and gave examples of what the children could do: they could fill the ornaments with shredded paper; they could fill it with Modge Podge glue and then put a bunch of glitter inside and shake it; they could fill it with puddles of acrylic paint close the ornament and shake it…whatever they wanted their "ice cream" to look like.  Then they put the cherry pom pom on top to hide the part sticking up from the ornament.  For the "cones" they could decorate with glitter glue or various foam stickers I had out.  When they were finished I glue gunned the ornament to the top of the cone and they took their ice cream cone home. 

The next big craft was assembling their own ice cream sundaes.  I bought clear plastic sundae stands from Oriental Trading and had a whole bunch of ice cream things to decorate with -- sprinkles fudge/strawberry/carmel topping nuts chocolate chips whipped cream etc.  I also had cake and sugar cones for those who wanted to make those instead. 

Other games and activities we had included pin-the-cherry-on-the-ice-cream-cone which I made out of poster board an ice cream cone shaped pinata which I filled with Baskin Robbins candies and a fun balloon game.  I have a loft upstairs and blew up many balloons the previous day so they would stay on the ground.  I took half sheets of poster board and assembled cones out of them giving one to each child.  I went upstairs and started throwing the balloons over the loft.  The kids were trying to catch them in their cones and whoever caught the most won! 

Time for cake -- I made a huge cake to look like an ice cream cone starting with a 12x18 sheet cake cut for the cone two 9-inch round cakes and one 10-inch round cake to make the scoops.  It was easy to decorate -- just icing and sprinkles.  After that we opened presents -- many of which were ice cream themed.  Finally as the guests left they got a goody bag. 

Most things I bought from Oriental Trading -- cute little ice cream bowls and spoons an ice cream parlor sticker sheet scene an ice cream cone shaped paddle ball set ice cream bubbles ice cream shaped candy and a foam ice cream shooter.  For thank you notes I found a stamp of an ice cream cone and stamped white note cards with it then colored in the ice cream.  It was a fun party and a great way to kick of the summertime ice cream season!"