Kate's Take

I love to plan. Birthday parties, dinner menus, fun activities, school events, travel itineraries, outfits…you name it and I love to do it! I’m not the best at impromptu anything so if my children were to list my faults as a mother one fault would surely be that they don’t get to have friends over nearly enough. I try to remedy this with fun birthday parties and group activities…you know, anything that I can plan; preferably out of my house! Lately, weekly Google Meet or Zoom parties have become popular for the elementary school set…think trivia, dance parties or “minute to win it” games. With these in mind, I decided to take it a step further and create something memorable for our kids and some of their classmates. Read on for my TAKE on a Virtual Ice Cream Social!

9 Steps to Hosting a Virtual Ice Cream Social

Make a guest list
- My only criteria for our ice cream social was that all guests had to be local as we would be delivering supplies. However, classmates, family friends or relatives would all be appropriate!
Make a list of supplies
- This is based on preference but some ideas are: ice cream, ice cream cones, napkins, sprinkles, maraschino cherries etc…
Order non perishable supplies
- For our party I opted to order these fun ice cream dessert bowls and spoons for our friends. However if you wanted to order something a bit more gender neutral and cost effective (depending on your quantity needed) I love this paper polka dot set.
- I also ordered these kraft paper bags to put the party supplies in for each family but ice cream bags would be cute too!
Order perishable online via Instacart
- As we’re under a shelter at home order and doing our very best to only leave our house occasionally I ordered everything but the ice cream from Instacart. Think hot fudge, sprinkles, Reddi Whip etc… In standard Instacart fashion not all of the products are the brands I requested but they were able to fulfill the order!
Pre-order Ice Cream or Custard
- Part of my goal in devising this virtual ice cream social was to be able to support a local business. With that in mind I pre-ordered chocolate and vanilla pints of custard from a favorite local business, Scooter’s Frozen Custard. I did have to pick the pints up but the shop has an outdoor walk up window which made it extra quick and I could schedule pick up for the date we would be doing our delivery drop offs.
Make Invitations
- I made an invitation template and the kids got involved by adding some stickers and then we had homemade invites to attach to each bag.
Package + Delivery
- We picked up the custard and made an assembly line and packed up the supplies in each bag while in the back of our car and set out to deliver a surprise package to some friends. Deliveries were made a couple of days before the date of the social to ensure guests could attend.
Create a set of Questions to Center the Party
- A bunch of elementary kids and ice cream is sure to be raucous maybe even more so virtually. We came up with a bunch of questions and a game to at least focus some of the party. Of course, these questions are ice cream themed…What is your favorite flavor? What are your favorite toppings? What is the difference between ice cream and custard? The list goes on!
Set up Virtual Meeting + Share with Friends
- Use Google Meet or Zoom to send out a meeting link with friends to join at the confirmed time and have a blast!

If you wanted to add another layer to the party or do this for one of your kids birthdays’ there are also some great ice cream DIY crafts, craft kits and even a paint-your-own ice cream truck!

For me, one of the most challenging things about COVID-19 pandemic and sheltering in place is the uncertainty of it all and the inability to make plans and really have the opportunity to look forward to something. Planning and coordinating this virtual ice cream social was some of the most fun I’ve had in weeks. It was something that I knew would bring joy to other people and the kids were excited, engaged and I was motivated to put my energy towards something other than cooking and cleaning. Dropping these packages off at our friends home and seeing their surprised faces (from afar) was truly the cherry on top! Hope you love and can adapt this idea for friends and family in your lives! Stay safe and healthy my friends.

***Affiliate links are included in this post.

Let me start by saying I LOVE to plan a party and Maggie's first birthday was no exception! Her birthday is in early May and as we were going to celebrate her birthday on May 5th (Cinco de Mayo) I decided a fiesta theme was the way to go. I've never thrown a party with a Mexican theme and I was blown away by some of the amazing ideas and vendors available. Seriously, the ideas were so fun but also a bit overwhelming. My life is pretty hectic so I had to come up with a few areas I really wanted to focus to make the party festive yet manageable to execute. Read on for my TAKE on a 1st Fiesta!

Invitations

Paper invitations are my absolute favorite and while not always practical or appropriate I have done them for all our kids first birthday celebrations. I strive to be organized but I have never been very good about filling in their baby books so a paper birthday invite is kind of like a win-win as I can easily tape it into their book. I found Maggie's pinata themed invites and matching thank you cards through Minted and they were the perfect inspiration to start planning. By sheer coincidence, the United States Postal Service had new Traditional Latin food themed stamps that were the perfect addition to the invite!

Decorations

I had the most fun decorating for the fiesta. I found a lot of inspiration from Pinterest and while it's easy to overdo it; especially for a 1st birthday party, I tried to stick to a few key decor items. My decor wish list was as follows: tissue paper flowers, pinatas, tissue paper banners and a serape table runner displayed with flowers and succulents. I'm definitely the most proud of the tissue paper flowers. They took longer than expected (mostly because we made more than I anticipated) but the end result was worth it. We taped 30 flowers to some framed artwork and I love the result. It almost looks like an art installation at a gallery. A week later and I still haven't taken them down. I found instructions on how to make them here and ordered this set of tissue paper to make them with. After trying a couple and not being 100% satisfied with the result I ended up watching a YouTube video to perfect my craft. The remainder of the decor I purchased online. I found a few adorable shops on Etsy where I was able to order serape-esque table runners, tissue paper garland, cactus napkins, mini pinata cupcake toppers and festive cutlery sets. I knew that I wanted to purchase a pinata for the party both for decoration and to be used as an activity for the older kids. I looked for a burro one to coordinate with the invite but ended up with a festive cactus pinata from Party City.

Sombreros, Fake Mustaches + Pom Pom Crowns

I couldn't resist ordering sombreros, mustaches and pom pom crowns to help the kids really get into the fiesta vibe. I was able to order the sombreros in bulk so many kids left with a sombrero to play dress up with at home. George was just too much in his taco shirt, sombrero and mustache. The pom pom crown was the perfect accessory for Maggie while she attempted to blow out the candle on her cupcake even if she was a bit overwhelmed!

Food

In the past we have made much of the food when entertaining but for this party we opted to streamline things and catered most of the food from local restaurant, Big Star. The tacos and fixings were delicious! My husband attempted a chipotle like rice and made our favorite black bean recipe from Jessica Seinfeld. I did pick up a few things from Whole Foods like tortilla chips, fruit and pre-made guacamole which we combined with 2 additional avocados and fresh pico-de-gallo. For drinks we served Topo Chico mineral water, Mexican Coke, Corona and my favorite margaritas! It couldn't have been easier. While I love a churro, we decided to serve cake and cupcakes from our favorite Chicago bakery, Sweet Mandy B's. I was able to email them photos of sample cake design and they pulled off the vision beautifully!

Party Favors

No matter the size of the party I can't let our guests leave without a party favor. I love to give cut out cookies or an appropriately themed children's book for a kids party. For Maggie's 1st fiesta we did cut out cookies in the shape of pinata donkeys resembling her party invite packed in cellophane bags. The bags were accessorized with colorful maracas and tied with a ribbon. Pro tip: I found the easiest way to attach the maraca to the bag was with one of my older daughters (unused) elastic hair ties! The older kids also left with a goody bag full of treats from the cactus pinata. If you're looking for a party activity (even if it lasts 10 minutes) I love to let kids decorate their kraft paper treat bags with stickers and markers!