Did you know that there’s such a thing as National Hot Fudge Sundae Day? Seriously – you can google it!

Personally, I think any day is a great day for a hot fudge sundae, but if someone wants to give me a good excuse to enjoy one, that works too. 😜

Anyways, I love a good theme and thought a nautical twist felt very fitting for a summer ice cream party, so I invite you to scroll on down and *set sail for shakes and sundaes* with me today. 😉

Ice Cream Party Printables

My Nautical Sundae printables are available in our store! Use them to add instant style and personalized details to your party. 🙌 You can edit the custom text yourself – right on the website – whenever (and as often as) you need to! Click here to buy this collection.

HOW TO SET UP A NAUTICAL ICE CREAM BAR

The first thing you’ll need to do is map out the basics:

1) flavors of ice cream made from Real California Milk
2) mix-ins and toppings
3) serving vessels

For a shakes and sundaes bar, I’ve found that it’s best to keep the ice cream options simple. Serve just 2-3 flavors so that you have plenty of room for toppings & mixers. 😋

In addition to cups & sundae bowls, it’s nice to include ice cream cones for the people that love them… like me! ;)

Quick Styling Tips:

• I found the plastic bowls pictured above at Target for .79 each. They’re technically kids bowls, but perfectly sized for ice cream sundaes!
• Wooden spoons were customized with patterned paper on the handles (except for one printed design I had that already matched).
• Bottled toppings like flavored syrups and hot fudge got a quick makeover too, with ribbon + printable papers & labels.
• This station is equipped with everything you need to make milkshakes, floats, ice cream sundaes, and even an Ice Cream Sundae Milkshake (!) like this one:

Don’t be afraid to get creative with the way that you serve toppings too. Several of the toppings in my “Sprinkle Station” were served in a cute white container that’s actually a kid-friendly art supplies organizer:

Speaking of kid-friendly, this was one of those projects that my own little ice cream lovers couldn’t wait to get their hands into too… they made a beeline for the Sprinkle Station station the second I let them loose. ;)

DIY Ice Cream Sailboat

My favorite part of this table was the Ice Cream Sailboat centerpiece. In a nutshell, this is a (very simple!) makeshift sailboat that looks like it’s carrying the ice cream:

To make the sailboat, I used a red planter from Ikea as the boat base. It’s filled with acrylic containers full of Vanilla, Strawberry, and Chocolate ice cream + ice to keep them cold.

The sail is made from foam core cut into a triangle shape, covered in fabric & embellished with a printable sign. You can download the printable sail sign here.

The finished sail is hot glued to a tall wooden dowel. The dowl is inserted into a small, floral-foam-filled container that’s sitting directly behind the red planter. (The planter had a slight angle to it, so it was hard to attach the dowel rod directly to it without the sail tipping forward. Putting it in a separate container solved that problem instantly!)

I also channeled this “ice cream boat” idea within the printables:

Details, Details!

Nautical themes always make me think of the “message in a bottle” idea… so for this table, we had “MIXERS in a Bottle”. 😉

The mixer bottles and milk carafe are embellished with colored duct tape, twine, and printable triangle-shaped labels.

The hot fudge and caramel topping bottles were decorated in a similar way, except they’re wrapped with patterned paper instead of duct tape:

Cups for the milkshakes were also embellished with baker’s twine, and I hot glued mini party flags to wide straws (from Ikea). The straws were shortened a bit as well.

Helpful Tip: Even though milkshakes are traditionally served in tall soda fountain style cups, I recommend using short tumblers or smaller cups for a milkshake bar. It takes a LOT of ice cream to make even a small milkshake, so this size should satisfy most people. Guests can always make a 2nd one (possibly in a different flavor!) if they’re hungry for more.

For the nautical Sprinkle Station, I loved the idea of showcasing a cute whale shooting sprinkles out of its blowhole. Quickly realizing that would take quite the effort to create in 3D form, I settled for the simpler solution this time around and added colorful paper details to a cute wooden whale instead. 🥳

Coffee Sleeve Sailor Hats

The little DIY “sailor hats” made from coffee sleeves are a fun craft project that the kids can help with too… just trim standard coffee sleeves a bit to make them shorter, then add a square of patterned paper in the middle. Glue paper “sprinkles” to the front for a fun, ice-cream inspired touch. (I also used this idea in my Little Sailor Birthday Party for Pottery Barn Kids!)

Milkshake Flavor Combos

Pictured above are a few examples of the different milkshakes you can make from a standard ice cream bar: (clockwise from top left) Bananas for Caramel, Strawberry Shortcake, Chocolate Cherry, Coconut-Vanilla-Fudge Sundae, and Chocolate Malted Crunch.

The sky’s the limit for your own station though… that’s the best thing about a make-your-own ice cream bar!

Ice Cream Party Printables

Printables are my favorite *secret weapon* for adding unique style to any celebration! Click here to customize my Nautical Sundae collection for your own party – instantly, online. 🤗

This post is sponsored by California Milk Advisory Board. Make sure to look for the Real California Milk seal when shopping for your ice cream!