Summer Treats Birthday Party

Growing up, I envied - nay, coveted - a summer birthday. I'm a January baby. My birthday parties always revolved around ice skating, if it wasn't bitterly cold outside, or VHS showing of Girls Just Want To Have Fun in my family room. #ChildOfThe80s

Meanwhile, my friends with summer birthdays had their parties at the lake, in the sunshine. Ice cream cake was served, bathing suits were worn and the smell of Banana Boat tanning oil was thick in the air. #ChildOfThe80s

Talk about inequality.

So naturally, I revel each year in Natalie's July birthday, because I finally have a summer birthday to celebrate. (This is what parents do: we co-opt our kids' opportunities to heal wounds of our past. Because therapists need to make a living too.)

The year Natalie turned six, I chose Summer Treats as the theme for her party. It started because I saw party supplies similar to these:

And I may have teared up a little. "Ice cream cones, flip-flops, sunglasses, beach balls. It's like a Top 10 list of summer hits."

And so Natalie got the party I always wanted. She is so lucky.

The Theme:
Summer Treats

The Decor:
Because this theme was triggered by me paging through the Birthday in a Box catalog, it felt right to order everything from them. We got plates, napkins, streamers, balloons, even the supplies for summer treats goody bags. (For all the bubbles and cheap sunglasses and crazy straws I sent home, I now ask thee for pardon.)

The Cake, Part One:

Is that not the cutest cake? And this one required no creative cutting or carving. I bought an ice cream cone cake pan from Wilton, baked my favorite cake it it and frosted it to look like a double-scoop.

The bottom of the cone was chocolate icing covered with lightly toasted crispy rice cereal, the mint chocolate scoop was green buttercream sprinkled with mini chocolate chips, and the strawberry scoop was pink buttercream with topped with sprinkles. Natalie was thrilled - especially when she asked for her piece of cake to have both kinds of ice cream on it, and Corey obliged.


The Cake, Part Two:
For Natalie's friends party, she and I made ice cream cone cupcakes. This is not an idea unique to me; you can read a great write-up about how to make them here. But I will say: They are lots of bang for little buck.


The Entertainment:

We smashed our ice cream cone pinata. We did sand art. (Outside, of course.) (See?!? You could never do that in January in Minnesota.) And we played in a giant beach ball sprinkler.

Simple. But as I've often said, simple fun is the most fun.

And then we ended our party by giving Natalie a snorkel mask and flippers, which she used in the bathtub every night until she gave herself swimmers ear from all the time spent underwater.

Ahhh. Summer.