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Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party: DIY Decor Ideas

I scream, you scream, we all scream for an ice cream themed birthday party with do-able decor you can pull off at the last minute!

Love this Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party Inspiration! DIY party ideas from Juniper's 2nd Birthday Celebration. Inexpensive and do-able ideas you can pull of in the last minute! From backdrops to lawn decor to favors to letter-board quotes!

Bless her heart, Juniper’s second birthday fell during the week we moved, which meant we hastily split a single cupcake among the three of us, sang “Happy Birthday,” and called it a day.

But we put a date on the calendar to give our little lady a proper birthday celebration with family three weeks later. And we had such a sweet time, I decided to snap some pictures so I could share some of my favorite party details from Juniper’s Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party with you all.

Here’s the inside scoop. {Wink.}

Theme

For some folk, a party theme might turn them into a stress-ball. But for me, it’s a fun way to hone in my focus and also spark some creativity.

Last year, I took inspiration from a felt flower crown to plan Juniper’s Blooming First Birthday Bash.

A Blooming First Birthday Bash, inspired by spring flowers in pink, blush, and white. DIY party ideas for a woodland floral-themed celebration, spring fling, or botanical garden party!
A Blooming First Birthday Bash!

This year, I decided to explore some of Juniper’s obsessions for theme inspiration: Elmo, Minnie Mouse, Frozen…but then, a new idea struck. What if we went with a shared family obsession instead? That way, it could be a party to suit everyone’s tastes!

Juniper comes from a long line of ice cream lovers. Her grandpa–my dad–is a true fanatic. And with our Orlando temperatures hitting the nineties everyday, nothing sounded quite as refreshing as sitting poolside with a bowl of frozen goodness to enjoy.

An ice cream themed birthday party it would be!

Invitations

I love me a Paperless Post invite. All the ease of a digital invite with the thrill that comes from getting real mail with your name on an envelope that opens to reveal a card.

I included on the card one of my favorite photos of Juniper from earlier this year, relishing in a lick of ice cream. See that sparkle in her eyes? Girl’s got good taste.

Love this Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party Inspiration! DIY party ideas from Juniper's 2nd Birthday Celebration. Inexpensive and do-able ideas you can pull of in the last minute! From backdrops to lawn decor to favors to letter-board quotes!

We kept our invite list to family just to keep things simple. Also, we wanted an opportunity to have everyone over to our new home, too, so it doubled as a house-warming of sorts.

DIY Ice Cream Themed Decor

I’m the sort of person who would much rather invest time into decorating than cooking…and so a few weeks before the party, I started collecting ideas from Instagram and Pinterest–our modern-day magazines!–for ice cream themed birthday party decor.

I chose just a few DIY projects that seemed inexpensive and do-able to me, purchased supplies the week before the party, and was able to put everything together within less than 24 hours of the party. Phew!

Any other party planners out there work best under pressure? If so, you can totally pull this off! Here’s how I did it.

Ice Cream Balloon Backdrop

Since we’d be spending most of our time on the back patio by the pool, I decided to add some instant party atmosphere with a fun balloon backdrop at the food table.

Love this Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party Inspiration! DIY party ideas from Juniper's 2nd Birthday Celebration. Inexpensive and do-able ideas you can pull of in the last minute! From backdrops to lawn decor to favors to letter-board quotes!

Love this Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party Inspiration! DIY party ideas from Juniper's 2nd Birthday Celebration. Inexpensive and do-able ideas you can pull of in the last minute! From backdrops to lawn decor to favors to letter-board quotes!

My inspiration came from the talented @BackdropsByAnna on Instagram who created this beautiful backdrop for an ice cream themed birthday party for another two-year-old:

Love this Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party Inspiration! DIY party ideas from Juniper's 2nd Birthday Celebration. Inexpensive and do-able ideas you can pull of in the last minute! From backdrops to lawn decor to favors to letter-board quotes!
Backdrop by @BackdropsByAnna. Photo by @LittleSunshinePlayground.

Here’s a quick run-down of the supplies I used and steps I followed to re-create my own!

SUPPLIES

For your convenience I’ve included *affiliate links below.

STEP BY STEP TUTORIAL

1. Hang your tablecloths. I am no stranger to using plastic tablecloths when creating party backdrops (the original & last year’s braided party backdrop featured them prominently). You can’t beat the price, how lightweight they are, and their transformative powers.

I decided to cover a pair of french doors on our back patio with two overlapping white plastic tablecloths to provide a blank canvas on which to adhere the balloons. Also, it would make for minimal damage to our new home, only leaving behind a few pin-size holes on the top and sides of the door frame where I secured the tablecloths with clear push-pins.

2. Cut out and secure your cones. I was at IKEA picking up some items for the new house, when I came across this brown wrapping paper with criss-crosses reminiscent of waffle cone pattern. I snatched it right up to use for party decor. But brown butcher paper or kraft paper would work just fine!

The perfect wrapping paper for transforming into ice-cream-themed party decor! Bring on the waffle cones! (Pssst! It's from IKEA! It's called "Givande.")

Here’s the full length of wrapping paper spread across our floor, which was plenty for our party decor needs:

The perfect wrapping paper for transforming into ice-cream-themed party decor! Bring on the waffle cones! (Pssst! It's from IKEA! It's called "Givande.")

I cut out two cone shapes based on my inspiration image and secured them to the tablecloths using a few rolled pieces of clear heavy duty shipping tape. I didn’t need a measuring stick for any of this because I could use the french doors themselves as a guide.

3. Blow up your balloons and layer them row by row. I blew up the balloons not to full capacity, but a little smaller so I could fit more side-by-side. And I used one piece of clear shipping tape to secure the knot to the plastic tablecloth.

This was the most time-consuming part because it took a lot of re-arranging to get it to look right.

And a word of warning: if you get some of the clear shipping tape on the round part of the balloon, don’t try to remove it. Just leave it be. Otherwise, it’ll very likely pop on you. It happened to me at least 5 times before I learned my lesson.

Once I got my row of balloons positioned where I wanted them, I carefully added another piece of clear shipping tape to other side of the knot to help secure it even more.

And then I moved on to the next row! Here’s a peek from the side:

The Ice Cream Balloon Party Backdrop in process!

The Ice Cream Balloon Party Backdrop in process!

The red balloons to achieve the look of the “cherry on top” was an afterthought, and I happened to have two red balloons on hand. But I love how they completed the look of the two ice cream cones for our two-year-old.

Love this Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party Inspiration! DIY party ideas from Juniper's 2nd Birthday Celebration. Inexpensive and do-able ideas you can pull of in the last minute! From backdrops to lawn decor to favors to letter-board quotes!

Amazon got me with that, “Customers also purchased…” category after adding the tri-colored balloons to my cart. And I decided to purchase the matching “Happy Birthday” banner, which I strung across the front of the table. It’ll be a great piece to re-use in future years.

Love this Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party Inspiration! DIY party ideas from Juniper's 2nd Birthday Celebration. Inexpensive and do-able ideas you can pull of in the last minute! From backdrops to lawn decor to favors to letter-board quotes!

The backdrop proved to be the biggest time investment of the projects I took on. It took me a couple hours since I was also wrangling a toddler at the time; however, after seeing how it turned out, it was worth every sweaty minute. Also, it stayed up for two days after the party because we’re slow at clean-up. So, I can say it definitely holds up to humidity.

Such an adorable balloon backdrop for an Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party! This post also has fun ideas for lawn decor and party favors...ideas you can pull off at the last minute. Woot woot!

“I Scream, You Scream” Letter Board Quote

I finally succumbed to the felt letter board trend, and debuted our sign when sharing our moving announcement on Instagram this May.

And so I decided to slap a new quote on it in honor of Juniper’s birthday, saying,

I scream, you scream, we all scream for Juniper’s second birthday!

I could not resist the opportunity to snap a few photos of the birthday girl with the letter board before the party started.

Love this Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party Inspiration! DIY party ideas from Juniper's 2nd Birthday Celebration. Inexpensive and do-able ideas you can pull of in the last minute! From backdrops to lawn decor to favors to letter-board quotes!

Love this Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party Inspiration! DIY party ideas from Juniper's 2nd Birthday Celebration. Inexpensive and do-able ideas you can pull of in the last minute! From backdrops to lawn decor to favors to letter-board quotes!

Here are a few inspirational images that were runner-ups for our letter board quote:

{Snicker snicker.} So many gems! It was hard to choose. Hopefully by sharing the runner-ups here, some of you can make good use of them now, too.

Here’s a link to the letter board we have, which is only $15 on Amazon, and is a fantastic 12″ x 12″ size. I even bought two more to give as hospitality gifts. Here’s a link to the plastic bead organizer case I bought for only $3.26 for keeping all our letters, punctuation, and emojis organized. Anyone curious for me to write a blog post on how I use it? Let me know in the comments because I’m itching to share!

Okay, here’s another sweet shot of our little mama. She can turn anything into a “baby.” Even an ice cream cone shooter.

Love this Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party Inspiration! DIY party ideas from Juniper's 2nd Birthday Celebration. Inexpensive and do-able ideas you can pull of in the last minute! From backdrops to lawn decor to favors to letter-board quotes!

Ice Cream Cone Lawn Decor

Since we had the back of the house covered in terms of party decor, I wanted guests to know immediately upon arrival that they were in for a treat! And when I happened this brilliant tutorial for Ice Cream Cone Lawn Decor by Chica & Jo, I had to whip up some of my own.

Such a cute idea for lawn decor for an Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party! Supplies are simply balloons, skewers, tape, paper, and you can add sprinkles on top with spray adhesive! This post also has fun ideas for a balloon backdrop and party favors, too...all ideas you can pull off at the last minute. Woot woot!

Ready to see how easy it is?

SUPPLIES

STEP BY STEP TUTORIAL

1. Cut out and create your cones. I used that same IKEA wrapping paper from the backdrop project to create a quarter-pie shape that could be rolled into a large ice cream cone. You’ll want them to be at least a few inches shorter in height than your skewers. I forgot to measure, but by happy accident, they were the perfect size for my skewers at 12″ on the sides. I used one as a template to cut out 9 cones.

Love this Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party Inspiration! DIY party ideas from Juniper's 2nd Birthday Celebration. Inexpensive and do-able ideas you can pull of in the last minute! From backdrops to lawn decor to favors to letter-board quotes!

And then, I ran my scrapbook EZ runner tape up along one of the sides, created my cone shape, and secured the two sides together. I tried to leave a small hole at the bottom of the cone for the skewer to poke through.

2. Blow up your balloons and attach them to the skewers. Next, you’ll blow up your balloons to a size that feels right for your cone and then attach the knot to the flat end of the skewer using clear shipping tape, so the pointy side is facing down. It doesn’t need to look pretty because this part won’t be seen. It just needs to be secure.

Love this Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party Inspiration! DIY party ideas from Juniper's 2nd Birthday Celebration. Inexpensive and do-able ideas you can pull of in the last minute! From backdrops to lawn decor to favors to letter-board quotes!

3. Poke the skewer through the bottom of your cone and into the ground. Here’s where the magic happens! When you’re ready to put out your ice cream cone lawn decor, you’ll poke the skewer through that hole in the bottom of your cone and right into the ground where you want it displayed.

Love this Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party Inspiration! DIY party ideas from Juniper's 2nd Birthday Celebration. Inexpensive and do-able ideas you can pull of in the last minute! From backdrops to lawn decor to favors to letter-board quotes!

4. Optional: coat the tops of your balloons with spray adhesive and then add sprinkles. Not gonna lie, this was the step that made me decide I just had to try this DIY. I couldn’t get over how cute the cones looked with actual sprinkles stuck to the top.

Love this Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party Inspiration! DIY party ideas from Juniper's 2nd Birthday Celebration. Inexpensive and do-able ideas you can pull of in the last minute! From backdrops to lawn decor to favors to letter-board quotes!

Though I still can’t find the boxes with our batteries or Mark’s watch, I somehow managed to find my old bottle of Elmer’s spray adhesive.

My adhesive of choice: Elmer's Spray Adhesive via thinkingcloset.com

And then borrowed the sprinkles from the dessert table to top ’em off with some colorful dots. They almost look good enough to eat!

Love this Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party Inspiration! DIY party ideas from Juniper's 2nd Birthday Celebration. Inexpensive and do-able ideas you can pull of in the last minute! From backdrops to lawn decor to favors to letter-board quotes!

I lined our front driveway and walkway with the 9 ice cream cones, leading folk to our new front door. I was grateful the rain stayed away, and the skewers stayed put in the ground for the entire party. Yahoo!

Love this Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party Inspiration! DIY party ideas from Juniper's 2nd Birthday Celebration. Inexpensive and do-able ideas you can pull of in the last minute! From backdrops to lawn decor to favors to letter-board quotes!

Okay, tell me these aren’t the cutest things you’ve seen in a while?

I die.

Love this Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party Inspiration! DIY party ideas from Juniper's 2nd Birthday Celebration. Inexpensive and do-able ideas you can pull of in the last minute! From backdrops to lawn decor to favors to letter-board quotes!
The view from the front door.

Definitely check out Chica & Jo’s blog post with the original tutorial and lots of fun activity ideas for ice cream themed birthday parties!

Dinner Menu

For drinks, I whipped up some sweet tea and pink lemonade. And by whipped up, I mean that my father-in-law mixed up the Crystal Lite for us! (Thanks, Dad.)

When folk arrived, we had a few light snacks out to stave off hunger pangs but not spoil appetites

  • chips & salsa
  • veggies & dip
  • hummus

And then about an hour into the party, Mark grilled us some burgers and dogs with the aid of his right-hand man, our nephew Jeremiah.

Grilling pros at Junie's Ice Cream Themed 2nd Birthday Party!

Grilling pros at Junie's Ice Cream Themed 2nd Birthday Party!

You can’t have a BBQ without watermelon and pasta salad, amirght? So we added those to the mix along with some more snacks:

Like I said, I’m not a big cook, but an easy-to-assemble side like the Caprese Pasta Salad is just my type! And it was a hit with the guests.

Love this Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party Inspiration! DIY party ideas from Juniper's 2nd Birthday Celebration. Inexpensive and do-able ideas you can pull of in the last minute! From backdrops to lawn decor to favors to letter-board quotes!

After some fun in the sun, we all had pretty big appetites!

Beloved family at Juniper's Ice Cream Themed Second Birthday Party!

Ice Cream Sundae Station

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…the ice cream sundae station!

Ice Cream Sundae Station with so many yummy topping options at an Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party Lovin' the DIY party ideas from this 2nd birthday celebration. Inexpensive and do-able ideas you can pull of in the last minute! From backdrops to lawn decor to favors to letter-board quotes!

I picked up two tubs of ice cream at the grocery store: Neapolitan and cookies & cream. And then had way too much pulling together the toppings and displaying them in the tiniest of dishes with the tiniest of spoons (thanks to my mother-in-law!).

Ice Cream Sundae Station with so many yummy topping options at an Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party Lovin' the DIY party ideas from this 2nd birthday celebration. Inexpensive and do-able ideas you can pull of in the last minute! From backdrops to lawn decor to favors to letter-board quotes!

Here’s what was on the docket:

  • Gummy Bears
  • Sour Patch Kids
  • coconut
  • blueberries
  • strawberries
  • cherries
  • sprinkles
  • Reese’s Pieces
  • M & Ms
  • chocolate SHELL
  • chocolate syrup
  • caramel
  • whipped cream
  • more sprinkles

Ice Cream Sundae Station with so many yummy topping options at an Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party Lovin' the DIY party ideas from this 2nd birthday celebration. Inexpensive and do-able ideas you can pull of in the last minute! From backdrops to lawn decor to favors to letter-board quotes!

Once the kids saw me come outside with this tray of goodness, they had flocked to the table like moths to the flame! Can you blame them?

Ice Cream Sundae Station with so many yummy topping options at an Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party Lovin' the DIY party ideas from this 2nd birthday celebration. Inexpensive and do-able ideas you can pull of in the last minute! From backdrops to lawn decor to favors to letter-board quotes!

I dished up a small bowl for the birthday gal, and we all sang to her.

Singing to the birthday gal at Juniper's Ice Cream Themed 2nd Birthday Party!

Singing to the birthday gal at Juniper's Ice Cream Themed 2nd Birthday Party!

She even mustered up the courage to blow out her two candles despite being a bit flustered by the flames.

Singing to the birthday gal at Juniper's Ice Cream Themed 2nd Birthday Party!

And then, we all dug in! Nom nom nom.

The birthday gal! Juniper's Ice Cream Themed 2nd Birthday Party!

The birthday gal at Juniper's Ice Cream Themed 2nd Birthday Party!

Those beloved older cousins at Juniper's Ice Cream Themed 2nd Birthday Party!

Favors

After having seconds of sundaes, and taking some time to pray a house blessing, it was time to hug and bid each other adieu.

Each of the cousins got to take home an ice cream shooter as a party favor.

Ice Cream Shooters! Children of the 80s and 90s, remember those? The perfect favor for an Ice Cream Themed Second Birthday Party!

Children of the 80s and 90s, do you remember these throwback toys? I loved them as a kid, and even though they always broke after a few days, they were loads of fun while they lasted.

I found a set of 12 ice cream shooters on Amazon for a little over a dollar each. Worth it! Especially when I saw all the parents’ eyes light up with nostalgia and heard reports of how they kept the kids entertained for the car rides home.

Ice Cream Shooters! Children of the 80s and 90s, remember those? The perfect favor for an Ice Cream Themed Second Birthday Party!

Even little Junie had lots of fun hitting that trigger and seeing the ice cream ball shoot!

Love this Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party Inspiration! DIY party ideas from Juniper's 2nd Birthday Celebration. Inexpensive and do-able ideas you can pull of in the last minute! From backdrops to lawn decor to favors to letter-board quotes!

Ice Cream Shooters! Children of the 80s and 90s, remember those? The perfect favor for an Ice Cream Themed Second Birthday Party!

To Close

I hope this journey back in time to Juniper’s Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party sparked some inspiration for you…and mainly, that it served as a reminder that party preparation doesn’t have to be super complicated or expensive or time-consuming to be fun.

If you’re like me and it does your soul good to dive into craft projects, follow that lead! If you like to express your creativity through baking or cooking, you go, girl! Or maybe you like to love on others through activities and games…rock on!

Let’s use Pinterest and Instagram as sources of inspiration…and not to feel bad about ourselves if our parties don’t look like the images we swoon over. Because then we’ve lost the plot, haven’t we?

Let’s do what we love to celebrate those we love. That’s the best gift we can give them!

Thanks again for stopping by the party, and before you go, don’t forget to take an ice cream shooter! {Wink.}

Love this Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party Inspiration! DIY party ideas from Juniper's 2nd Birthday Celebration. Inexpensive and do-able ideas you can pull of in the last minute! From backdrops to lawn decor to favors to letter-board quotes!

Where to next?

If you’re looking for other party ideas, here are some of my most popular posts to spark inspiration:

Click HERE or the image below to join us for a royally fun time at Juniper’s Princesses & Knights 5th Golden Birthday Pool Party.

Juniper's "Princesses & Knights" 5th Birthday Pool Party & Royal Golden Birthday Celebration | Royally creative ideas including a punny invitation, DIY castle backdrop, a golden birthday banner, creative activities for kids of all ages & party favors galore! via thinkingcloset.com

Next, click HERE or the image below to journey over to Juniper’s “Madeline in Paris” Themed 4th Birthday Party, inspired by the classic Madeline children’s books!

How to host a "Madeline In Paris"-themed 4th birthday party at home with creative DIY party activities, French decor, and costumes inspired by the classic Madeline children's books via ThinkingCloset.com

For Pepper’s 3rd birthday, we had a magical “Mickey & Minnie Mouse” party. Click HERE or the image below for all the mouse-spiration.

Pepper's Magical "Mickey & Minnie Mouse" 3rd Birthday Pool Party | Creative ideas for hosting a magical Mickey & Minnie themed birthday bash for your little Mouseketeer with do-able decor, punny snacks, and party games that are fun for all ages! via thinkingcloset.com

For Pepper’s 2nd birthday, we had a Puppy Paw-ty that was dog-gone fun. Check out the paw-ty details by clicking HERE or the image below.

Pepper's 2nd Birthday "Puppy Paw-ty!" Creative party ideas via thinkingcloset.com - How to host a puppy-themed pawty with an adopt a puppy activity that's fun for all ages!

And for a floral-tastic time, join us for Juniper’s Blooming 1st Birthday Bash by clicking HERE or the image below.

A Blooming First Birthday Bash, inspired by spring flowers in pink, blush, and white. DIY party ideas for a woodland floral-themed celebration, spring fling, or botanical garden party!

For Pepper’s 1st birthday, we hosted a “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” party for Pepper. Click HERE or the image below to check it out.

Creative DIY Party Ideas for a "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" 1st Birthday Bash, inspired by our favorite baby lullaby. Get inspired to have a dazzling celebration for your shining star's first birthday or a baby shower during a pandemic or otherwise! via thinkingcloset.com

For a story-themed celebration, check out our “Anne of Green Gables” Inspired Birthday Party by clicking HERE or the image below.

How to host an "Anne of Green Gables" or "Anne with an E" themed birthday party with food, decor, activities, and games for the whole family! SO many creative ideas jam-packed in this post. Eek!

And last, but not least, for those of you with a Silhouette-machine interested in creating your own DIY Photo Booth props using my free cut-file, well, this one’s for you.

DIY Photo Booth Props - - Tutorial and free cut file via thinkingcloset.com
DIY Photo Booth Props & Free Cut File

This is Lauren, signing off.

*Full Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you make a purchase after clicking through, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks for helping to support this site!

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9 Comments

  1. How fun is that? That looked really awesome. Cookies’N’Cream is my fav ice ice cream, too! Your daughter has such a cute name! How did you come up with it? It reminds me of that book I read when I was younger: Junie B Jones.

    1. Aw, thanks so much for the sweet as pie words, CeCe! As for her name, I can’t remember where we first heard it, but it was always on our short list of name ideas. It felt fitting since she was born in June! And we loved all the nicknames: Junie, June-Bug, Junie B. Jones! Ha ha. I haven’t read those books, but I have a feeling they’ll be in Juniper’s future. Take care!

  2. Wowza! What a fun, creative, and special celebration for Juniper with so many family members present! So thankful you captured the ICE CREAM decorations and food for all of us to enjoy, salivate, and share in the fun! We all can be grateful for the invention of the ice cream cone and it’s big debut at the 1904 Worlds Fair! https://www.idfa.org/news-views/media-kits/ice-cream/the-history-of-the-ice-cream-cone

    God bless our precious Juniper and her parents!

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