8 Tips you’ll need to throw the ultimate ice cream party

Ice Cream

What’s a better way to beat the heat than an ice cream party? You can turn a simple treat (possibly the world’s best) into an event with just a touch of effort and a lot of fun. Here are eight ways to throw one that your friends won’t soon forget.

Pre-scoop your ice cream: When everybody arrives, they won’t want to wait. Speed things up in the serving process by pre-scooping your ice cream — let everybody just grab with a spoon and get to topping!

Get creative on the toppings: You don’t have to have a whole Coldstone Creamery bar. But the greater variety of toppings, the more fun you can have combining and testing out! Get a variety of fruits, your favorite candies (don’t forget to chop them up, as they’ll freeze in the ice cream), and sprinkles (just for tradition.)

Deck it Out: There’s a whole host of ice cream party printables out there. Use one or more to jazz up your decorations. Custom ice cream cone wrappers, ingredient labels, ice cream cone streamers, everything you can think of has been prettied up by designers for you to hit print.

Creative Cones and edible bowls: Churros, brownies, cookies — flip a muffin tin over and you can make edible ice cream bowls out of a wide variety of materials.

A little sorbet and popsicles: whether you have a few lactose intolerant friends, or just some who’d prefer a low calorie alternative, a little sorbet is a good alternative to have on hand.

A good cocktail: even if your party’s all about the kids, the adults should be able to have a little fun. A variety of cocktails include ice cream or floats.

Apple Crisp or something warm: you’ve got to be careful of brain freeze, and the best way to combat it is a warm pastry fresh out of the oven, served a la mode. A crisp is a quick and easy way to put that together, just chop up the apples and spread the dry ingredients on top.

Keep some in reserve: The ice cream won’t last long in weather hot enough to enjoy it. Make sure to keep some in the freezer to pull out later as the first batch seems to get warm.

Now you’re ready: get scooping!