We decided on a primarily aqua, teal, and goldenrod scheme for the party, along with pops of other bright colors like pink, orange, and lime green. For decorations, we decided to stick with some of our favorites--pinwheels, bunting, and tissue paper pouf balls--along with a new craft, a ribbon banner! All handmade decorations are things that we offer for sale.
We also decided use a mix of milk glass and clear pieces to stash the toppings, and rustic items and food tins as accents. We had two main areas to style--the dining room, where guests picked up their ice cream and topped it, and the mantel in the living room, where guests ate their sundaes.
Since the mantel was the first thing guests saw when they walked into the party, let's start there!
We decided to flank the mantel with two of our wide-mouth vases filled with pinwheel flowers. Next to that is a jar of dirt from my family's farmland in Oklahoma, placed in one of my great-grandmother's canning jars. It's a sentimental item that my mom had already placed on the mantel, so we left it. We popped some candles on top of our blue mercury glass pillar holders and leaned a chunky white frame in front of that to add depth and to serve as a stand for the I of Ice Cream. The frame + a bit of tape held up the large pinwheel as well. And the E is on a clear plate stand with a yellow depression glass saucer behind it.
We finished off the mantel with another white frame, the rest of our sign letters to spell CREAM, and more pinwheels!
Here's the view from the living room into the dining room/sundae station:
When they first entered the room, guests were prompted to grab a limeaide or some water. Before they got to the drink stations, however, they walked by a bookshelf whose top received a makeover! We used some of our vintage food tins, our mother's oil lamp, and her tin globe to create a pretty vignette. The ribbon banner makes for a great backdrop! Ribbon banners are one of the crafts we offer for sale, and they can be made on dowels like this one or strung along fishing line so that they can be drooped or hung as you please.
Our first drink station featured homemade limeades!
We placed the pre-made limeades in one of our galvanized oval tubs which we gussied up with some labeled swallow tail bunting. Straws were placed in a pint-sized blue mason jar, and another pinwheel bouquet completed the vignette along with our mother's antique red juicer and our baking tin, which we leaned behind the tub.
The limeaides were served in pint-sized wide mouth mason jars:
To add some flair above our drink dispenser, we made a cluster of tissue pouf balls, another craft from our portfolio!
The opposite corner of the room served as the water station and as the start of the ice cream line! Guests could scoop up their own ice (served in one of our punch bowls) and then serve themselves from our Ball mason jar drink dispenser.
Our second galvanized oval tub held the pre-scooped vanilla ice cream. We couldn't resist making another mini-bunting for the tub. And aren't those flashcards adorable? Brittany actually bought those on a First Friday shopping trip to use as art in her kitchen, but we thought freezer + cow = ice cream! Plus the cow helped tie in more of our rustic elements. Speaking of rustic, isn't that wooden frame tucked in the corner cute? We love how the wood and the metal complement each other.
To the right in our round galvanized were chocolate and strawberry dips.We accented this table with our weather vane and our mom's cow creamer. It was actually her smart idea to bring that out, and we loved it! Isn't the white table cloth cute too?
After scooping up their ice cream (har har) guests hit up the toppings table for a variety of delicious add-ons! Here's a head-on shot of the table, which we topped with a rainbow bedsheet and a bright quilt bought by our mother:
And a bird's eye view:
We placed the spoons, napkins, and cones at the end of the table adjacent to the ice cream so that guests were sure to pick up those essentials. The spoons are in our measuring cup, the napkins in one of our small metal pails, and the cones stacked on a medium-sized zinc tray.
Just behind the cones, we used a variety of milk glass and clear glass goblets and pedestal bowls to hold toppings. We made little swallow tail labels for each topping and attached those to bamboo skewers to help guests easily identify each one. This is just one example of a printable that we could customize for your event!
We were so excited to break out some of our chicken feeders to use with smaller round candies, like M&Ms and Whoppers. The quart-sized mason jar fit a whole extra large bag of M&Ms! We also had some fun with our scrabble tiles--see where else you can spot them on the table!
To the left of the chicken feeders, we placed our milk glass and clear glass cake stands and topped them with brownie bites and mini white cupcakes. The cake flashcard is another of Brittany's purchases, and we actually spraypainted the YUM frame blue for our studio. We made the sign for the party and popped it in there.
Here's a bird's-eye-view of the cake stands to give you an idea of how gorgeous they really are! Both the hobnail and teardrop milk glass stands have really lovely edges to them. They'd make great additions to your dessert buffet!
We couldn't resist showing off the hobnail stand a little more--how lovely is its underside?
And now for the portion of the table opposite the ice cream station:
We popped some of our clear sherbets on a large zinc tray and filled them with sprinkles, coconut, pecans, and almonds.
Next to that, we placed a variety of sauces (with table tent labels, of course--don't want to confuse the caramel and the butterscotch!) in some of our small crystal bowls and small pedestals.
And for those who wanted to make their sundaes a little healthier by adding fruit, we displayed some strawberries, pineapples, and bananas, along with a cutting board in case anyone wanted a genuine banana split!
To finish off the table, we popped some gluten-free cookie dough bites and various chocolate candies into some serving dishes.
And voila! That's how we fixed up our table so that all our guests could get their fixin's! Doesn't this sundae look delicious?
