Inspired by her boys’ love for ice cream, Jennifer created a vibrant and vintage Double-Scoop Ice Cream Soirée birthday party for her two little boys. I’m in love with the mini ice cream cone cake pops (pictured above) – they have to be one of my favorite party details ever! Don’t miss out on all the other amazing party details and inspiration perfect for any summer birthday or get-together.

PARTY HIGHLIGHTS to look out for:

• Darling ice cream cone cotton candy party favors
• Vintage milk glass dishes and crates for stacking
• “Ice cream cone” balloon table centerpieces (upside-down party hats + balloons!)
• Colorful, baroque style birthday invitations and matching party printables

PARTY DETAILS, as told by Jennifer . . .

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Party Theme

I wanted my boys to have input on their dual birthday party this year (both born in April and both being boys we celebrate together!) Without a doubt, they both asked for their favorite things: ice cream, bounce houses, and popcorn! So I went with an ice cream birthday party theme using our favorite locally owned and home made ice cream which is just to die for! It would have been yummy all by itself but of course we had to have a fun toppings bar! I had been collecting the antique white milk glass for some time and really wanted to incorporate that somehow so that would give the party a slightly vintage vibe. The pavillion we had rented has a turquoise blue background wall so I knew we needed to go with that color scheme and I wanted to add a nice fresh orange to go along with it. So blue and orange with hints of yellow were used as the color palette.

Activities & Food

Everyone got to go through and pick their ice cream flavor, then choose a waffle cone or a cup and then go for it…17 toppings to choose from and the kids just LOVED that they could get anything they wanted, they were in heaven!  I tried to keep several of the toppings in our matching color scheme- all orange reeces pieces, blue/orange/yellow sprinkles, yellow pineapple, easter colored M & M’s and sixlests which matched perfectly too, and many more in other bright fun colors. After all the sugar we had a huge bounce house castle for all the extra energy! At birthday cake and singing time we passed out ice cream cone cake pops instead of cake to go with our theme and its also just easier and cuter than cutting cake slices and serving them! On the side we had a popcorn machine for a little bit of something salty after all the sugar, plus its my son’s absolute favorite food :)

We served water bottles in several old galvanized tubs tied with matching orange ribbon on the lids.

Party Decor

Early on I found a fabulous dyed burlap in the perfect orange shade at hobby lobby and knew we must use it at the party! I also stumbled across the Modern Moments Designs Blog and saw the owner Jessica’s sons birthday invitation she had done a while back and simply fell in love with it. I KNEW immediately I wanted to use some form of that invitation! We had professional photos taken months before the party with the boys eating ice cream cones in their matching bow ties which looked so adorable in the invitations!  I found fabric to match our blue and used that for the food tables and made a hemline of burlap on the bottom of the center table. All the milk glass turned out perfect to hold all of the toppings and I used old coke crates to elevate them and give them some heigth. To attach the food labels onto the milkglass I used tiny orange clothespins. I also ordered custom made stickers from Modern Moments Designs Blog to match the invitations and put those on the orange ice cream tubs and the yellow and white polka dot waffle cone wrappers, so cute!! I used them again for the party favors which were sugar cones with cotton candy on top to look like ice cream, wrapped with the same cone wrappers and sticker and tied up in a plastic bag. The labels had stickers of the boys eating their ice cream printed saying “Thanks for coming!”

There were four picnic tables for sitting in the pavillion as well which I covered with orange paper cloths and used galvanized tubs to hold the balloon ice cream cones and little signs in that same matching invitation font for centerpieces for those tables. Super easy to make and made a bold statement! The backdrop was the easiest! The pavillion wall was painted in the blue we were using and I just used huge foam board pieces and covered them with the orange burlap. Then I enlarged the boys’ invitation photos and also blew up the front of the invitation for the center. This really completed the look and brought everything together nicely! Overall it was pretty simple to put together and you can’t go wrong with an ice cream theme-its a hit with not only the kids but the adults too! :)