There's not much that gets me more excited than party planning.
I so love a good party. Even more than that, I love to be the organiser of one. As a 33 year old it would be pretty ridiculous to plan annual birthday parties for me or hubby (we're lucky if we get a cheeky meal out if I'm honest).
Having a child has brought out the inner party planning goddess in me and I think I'm going to be that mum that get's very excited about how we celebrate as each year rolls around.
This year's theme for Baby Girl's second birthday was ICE CREAM. Something that is very much a special treat in this house, and how much more special can you get than a birthday celebration?
This post is going to be photo heavy. I want to show you every little detail, how I created the look and where I got everything so you can re-create it to. I'll include as many links as I can at the bottom of this post. You're welcome :)
My blank canvas was our family dining table propped against a wall and drapped in some white paper covers. The whole look was planned around the melting ice cream cake.
I ordered the cake to (attempt to) save time but I decorated it myself. I've done a post on how to make your own melting ice cream cake. The beauty about this cake is it doesn't have to be perfect, the imperfections and melting goodness is what makes this cake. If you're too scared to try it yourself, pass the task on to your local cake maker. I'm sure any great cake decorator would love having a go at this little creation.
I wanted to find the perfect balance of a simple but effective treat table. I'm often guilty of overdoing the sweet treats and having far too many left overs at the end of the celebrations but I feel like I got it just right this year.
I got a few specific ice cream decorations and my plan for the additional bits was keep them colourful with pastel shades to tie everything together nicely.
This little ice cream van mini cake stand was so much fun. It looked so great on the table and was the perfect statement to sit right next to the cake.
I found a great idea for these amazing ice cream cone cupcakes, which is basically just as it says - cupcakes in an ice cream cone and topped with piped buttercream icing. I cheated and didn't actually use the recipe. I actually used a cake mix and pre-made icing. I normally make everything from scratch but I just wanted to whip these up in the quickest amount of time possible and they turned out so well!
For previous parties I've spent a whole week baking in the lead up to the big day. I told myself I wasn't going to do that this year so I wanted to keep things as simple as possible. On the top of the ice cream stand were the ice cream cone cupcakes and then throughout I scattered these delicious mini cheesecakes from the English Cheesecake company. When I tell you there were literally people scrambling over the flavours they'd been eyeing off you better believe me. They really do taste even more amazing than they look, and that's saying something!
I love the ideas of these little cones that look like ice creams. You can pop any kind of snacks inside but I went with popcorn and they were a hit.
I scattered the paper plates around the table which was a mixture of brightly coloured hexagon shaped plates and pretty smaller pastel plates.
The ice cream decorations across the wall were a great back drop. I cut the string so they were all at different lengths and attached them to the wall with glue dots.
The bunting across the bottom of the table was a last minute purchase but I thought it made the perfect touch.
Finally, I had some confetti left over from a previous party that I scattered across the table.
We had 45 minute between me making the final touches to the table and the guests arriving. When I brought Baby Girl downstairs from her nap and showed her what I created she was so excited. All she wanted was for me to sit her in her tripp trapp and admire the table. She actually sat there for the whole 45 minutes, gazing at every little detail chatting away with me about the fun she would have at her party. And you know what? It made every single minute of planning this whole theme totally worth it.
I think an ice cream themed party is perfect for any ice cream lover (and who doesn't LOVE ice cream?).
Want to shop this theme? Here's my party supplies list broken down:
Ice Cream Van Stand | Party Ark | £15.00
Ice Cream Honeycomb Decorations | Party Ark | £4.75 for a pack of 3
Ice Cream & Sprinkles Wooden Spoons | Party Ark | £4.50 for a pack of 24
Ice Cream & Lollies Garland | Party Ark | £6.95
Mini Pastel Plates | Party Ark | £3.50
Birthday Party Photo Booth Props | Party Ark | £5.99 for a set of 10 props
Wooden Food Cones | Party Ark | £4.95 for a pack of 8
Hexagon Colourful Party Plates | Party Ark | £4.25 pack of 12
Paper Napkins | Clas Ohlson | £0.99 clearance - pack of 30
Paper Straws (selection of pink & white, grey & white and green & white) | Clas Olson | £2.49 for a pack of 24
Mini Milk Bottles | Tiger | I purchased these a couple of years ago, I can't remember how much they were but I use them for all my parties
Box of 12 Cheesecake Minis | English Cheesecake Company | £36.00
White Linen Feel Table Cover | Sainsbury's | £3 each
Now I'm not normally one to bring negativity to my blog but I feel like when listing the suppliers I used there one that wasn't quite worthy of being up there under the 'shop the theme' section. As I mentioned, I decorated the melting ice cream cone cake but I brought the cake pre-made to save time. I ordered an extra tall cake from Genuine Cakes. On the day before the party when I collected it, they actually presented me with two separate cakes rather than the one tall cake I had ordered. There was a serious error of communication internally within their business and their terrible customer service and the way in which they handled their mistake (basically doing nothing and severely over charging me) left me extremely disappointed. Luckily I managed to save the cake and bind the two together however as a result of not having extra icing to colour match what was already there, meant the finish of the purple buttercream was roughly iced rather than the smooth look I was planning for.
Hey ho! Everyone loved the finished result in the end so I didn't let it bother me too much.
All that aside, the day was perfect filled with family, fun and food - everything that I'm about.
Check out my latest YouTube video for a closer look at some of these goodies including an impromptu photoshoot with me using some of the photo booth props HA!
Hope this has provided you with some party inspo. Would love to hear about your upcoming party plans if you care to share?
** Linking this post up to #coolmumclub **
** Linking this post up to #coolmumclub **
Kat x
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Oh my goodness this is amazing! And that cake...wow! x #coolmumclub
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