Two things I can’t believe. That I have three children, and that we have had zero huge birthday parties. It is crazy to me how much life can change, and how we all seem to be finding our way. Zarie turned three August 24th and we threw her the sweetest (total pun intended) Sundae Funday themed celebration–with just the five of us.
When I asked, she told me that she wanted party balloons, cake and ice cream for her birthday. Nothing crazy, but I wanted to do it up for her at home, regardless of all the craziness happening outside. Sundae Funday—also known as an ice cream themed party–is SUCH a simple theme. I highly recommend both for lower key occasions like ours, and for larger celebrations. Zarie truly seemed to have a great time. It’s been a theme with our quarantine birthdays, that our kitchen nook is the center of the fun, and the big reveal. I love to see Raegan and Zarie’s faces when they come downstairs.
Zarie’s “Sundae School” tee is from The Wishing Elephant. Her fun little melted ice cream cone shoes are hand-me-downs from Raegan, but I found the updated version here.
When it came to styling and colors, I wanted to keep it super classic. Old school ice cream cart Neapolitan classic. Strawberry, Chocolate, and Vanilla–with some pretty Mint Chocolate Chip thrown in there.
For her balloons, I purchased THESE Sundae Funday letter balloons. I wasn’t a huge fan of the gold letters, so I decided to spray paint them vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate haha. I inflated them first, and used regular flat spray paint from the craft store. These took two good layers to cover the shiny gold…so don’t worry if it peeks through at first.
You can find those super cute mint chocolate chip cone balloons HERE. I always send Mark out to the grocery store the night before to get them inflated for me. He always has made it a tradition to pick up flowers for the birthday girls. I think it is the sweetest thing ever.
How darling is that little ice cream cart? It is my favorite detail from the party, and is actually the same cart that my husband built for Raegan’s Flower Market Birthday Party, last year. You can find the plans to DIY your own here. I revamped it by adding a DIY poster board awning. I literally used a small bowl to trace a scalloped pattern on the edge of both a white and pink poster board. I cut the pink board into strips, and glued them on top of the white board. This created the look of a classic ice cream cart awning. Zarie got such a kick out of it!
I also used these Olive and Eve Co. printables and this Pearl and Jane felt ball garland to dress up the ice cream cart. Since we weren’t having ice cream at 7 am, we setup one of her birthday gifts; a toy ice cream parlor set (here). The girls have been playing “Ice Cream Shop” with it, and this adorable pink cash register. We also set up all of her birthday gifts on the cart. The ice cream treat wrapping paper is Spritz brand from Target.
Our girls get up early, so since we weren’t actually going to have ice cream sundaes at 7AM—I thought “ice cream” waffles and bananas would be a fun substitute. I toasted frozen waffles and cut them into the shape of a cone. Added sliced bananas, a maraschino cherry, and rainbow sprinkles. TA-DA! She LOVED this! I have actually done this as breakfast for the kids before, and it never loses it’s novelty. Simple and fun. I also set up coconut yogurt in these fun ice cream bowls. The adorable ice cream bowls and spoons set gives me such a feeling of nostalgia. We reused the same bowls and spoons later to house the toppings for our ice cream sundae bar. The plastic fancy plates are ones I’ve had in my stash forever. I believe they were a HomeGoods find. You can snag the vintage glass milk bottles here.
Just like Raegan’s Rainbow and Unicorn 5th Birthday, Daddy was our master birthday cake baker! He went out and purchased two funfetti box cakes and two cans of white frosting. I had the idea to use food coloring to dye the icing “mint” and Mark totally made it happen. We used these vegan chocolate chips to decorateI LOVE that it looks like mint chocolate chip ice cream, but doesn’t actually taste like it. The darling felt cake topper we used was designed by Pearl and Jane, and you can find it here.
The rest of the day consisted of presents, sugar, and tons of play time. Zarie asked to have pizza for dinner, and our family FaceTimed in for a massive virtual version of Happy Birthday. Afterward, we had our epic ice cream bar–complete with freshly made waffle bowls. We have had our waffle bowl maker for some time now, and I am totally planning to pour cornbread mix in it for chili bowls this winter. You can find our waffle bowl maker here.
Sidenote to my dairy allergy mamas: ReddiWhip now offers coconut and almond based whipped “creams” and they’re pretty good!
We celebrated Zarie’s Sundae Funday the day before her birthday (which happened to be on a Sunday) because Mark had to work the next day. I decided to have one more ice cream themed surprise on her actual birthday. I ordered decorated cookie pops and cookie pop kits from Frost Your Cookie. I set up the cookies and milk on the ice cream cart, as a fun activity after lunch. The kit came with blank cookie pops, frosting, sprinkles and all the tools they needed to make their own masterpieces. At this point, they’ve officially had enough sugar for the next century.
I think my sweet girl had an amazing day, and I still can’t believe she is three. Head over to my “occasions” Instagram highlight for some behind the scenes setup action! I hope you enjoyed reading about Zarie’s Sundae Funday, and if you have any questions, please leave them below.
You can also find tons of the party items I used in my Sundae Funday Amazon List HERE.
xoxo
Shakira
