Ava turned 8 last weekend and as I’m planning the birthday party for her friends, I realised that I never shared the photos of the super sweet ice-cream birthday party we organised for her last year. It was a really fun day, full of ice-creams (obviously!) and with a bit of creativity too. It was fairly easy to organise and perfect for all ages above 6, I would say.

First we created the invites. We made it into a fun afternoon craft project! Out of a thicker sort of paper we cut popsicle shapes, from 2 layers, marking the ‘inside’ so we could easily find back the pairs later. We painted them with two colours of pink on the outside.

When the paint was dry, we collected the previously marked pairs and added ‘sprinkles’ and a dash of glitter to one side and the invitation text to the other. (I love that photo above, of Ava in her undies, working on her invites first thing in the morning!) Then, we glued them together with a popsicle stick in between. And voila: cute popsicle invitations ready to hand out! We made some extra popsicles because we had so much fun making them, and created a garland to use as decoration in our living room.

As a next step, I bought a pile of very basic, white plates and a selection of ceramic paint in candy colours (I bought yellow, baby blue, soft green, pink, salmon and soft purple). I also bought black and red ceramic pens. Then, I painted and baked two plates to serve as an example during the party. One with popsicles and one with ice-cream cones. Cute! (And fun to do!)

At the day of the party we started with painting the first layer on the plates, using only the yellow ceramic paint. I suggested little stripes for the popsicle sticks, and/or triangles for the ice-cream cones. It’s quite easy to work with the ceramic paint — mistakes can easily be wiped away with some kitchen towel. So even Casper did a great job :). We also let the children write their names at the bottom of the plate to avoid confusion later.

While that first layer was drying, everybody went out into the garden for watermelon popsicles and a ‘swim’ in the inflatable paddling pool. The weather turned out to be perfect for an ice-cream party! Meanwhile, we painted the second layer on the plates — the actual ‘ice cream’, using all the candy colours I had bought. I took small groups of children inside so I could help them with the process. This step was a little more tricky but the result was very sweet!

And then, the grand finale! Instead of cake, we (obviously!) served different flavours of ice-cream with all sorts of fruits, sprinkles and candy to decorate — each to their own taste. How fun! I think this turned out to be a party to remember : ).

The next day, I marked the back of the plates with a little heart and wrote ‘Ava’s birthday 2017’. I then baked them in the oven to set the paint. Ava handed them to her friends at school, wrapped nicely in tissue paper: their own little desert plate and a fun reminder of Ava’s party!

xxx Esther

PS A flower party for Ava’s 6th birthday