Anna Claire & Julia's Ice Cream Parlor

We had the sweetest time celebrating the girls' 3rd birthday!  This summer, my hubbie took the girls on their first trip to the ice cream shoppe and it has been a prized date with daddy ever since.  So I decided we would create our own backyard parlor and the girls loved every minute of it!  What a special time of celebrating our sweet girls with dear friends and family!!  

Thanks to a very handy Gramps, the girls had an adorable ice cream stand waiting for them in the backyard the morning of their birthday. 

The applique ice cream shirts were ordered from Gigi Babies and I just loved them! The ruffled edges made them extra girly compared to the regular tee. Christy, the shop owner, was so wonderful to work with and is already making some Disney shirts for our upcoming vacation!  Be sure to visit her adorable shop HERE!  

I just love pennant banners for that classic ice cream parlor setting.  With 50s music playing, soda jerk hats and striped paper straws, we had some retro fun! 

 

Once ice cream was served, we gave each kiddo a soda jerk hat from The Varsity.  For the non-Atlanta friends, The Varsity is the world's largest drive-in diner and has been open since 1928!  It's a classic Atlanta spot for diner burgers, frosted oranges and "What'll ya have?"

One of the girls' birthday presents was the wooden ice cream set from Melissa and Doug.  I bought it at Michaels with a 40% coupon and got it much cheaper than paying shipping prices.  They LOVE it and have been serving up ice cream cones for the last 2 weeks!

Sugar cones and the cutest mini cake cones were found at Walmart.  I ordered the polka dot cups, striped cupcake liners and wooden spoons from Shop Sweet Lulu.  A great online shop for paper straws, balloons, favor bags and so much more!

The ice cream parlor printable collection is available for purchase, but hasn't made it into my esty shop just yet.  If you are having an ice cream party soon, simply email your requests for a listing.

Another sweet customer and new friend offered her ice cream glasses for the party.  I have a bazillion paper straws left over from another shower so I was glad to use them!

Fun red diner baskets that I found on clearance at Joann for a quarter! 

Printable water bottle wraps from the Parlor Party Collection.

My dad has the sweet tooth in our family so I had some Red Vine licorice and cherry sours just for him!  It's possible I had a few too! ;)

IBC root beers, glass cokes and ice cream were on sale several times this summer at Publix and Kroger so it I grabbed them when I could save a few pennies! :)

I used the diner paper dishes for sandwiches and snacks.  The sweet manager at The Varsity gave me a whole stack after our last lunch visit.  Never hurts to sweetly ask!  The individual portions look cute and are great for kids!

This may have been the most enjoyable part of the party.... teaching 3 year olds how to run a relay race.  I laminated the individual parts of an ice cream cone, added velcro to the back of each piece and hung felt squares along the fence.  With a basket at the other end, the kids assembled their ice cream cone by running back and forth to add each piece.  Their sweet giggles to play such a fun "new" game were priceless!!

After a sugar filled morning, I thought it only fitting to send our toddlers  home with toothbrushes! Another friend and customer used the same favor for her daughter's sweet shoppe party and I just loved it!  With peppermints for the parents, everyone went home happy.  The favor sign is also available as a printable with the parlor printable collection.

And one more fun idea that I spotted in my party planning...

As each guest left, I took pictures to create a party album for the girls.  They LOVE looking at pictures of their family and friends.  I have also started pre-school with them this week so it will be a fun way for us to practice letters as well!

Each guest held the blank card that I designed and I then digitally added their name.

All fun must come to an end eventually. The girls had the best time celebrating their special day!  We have pulled the ice cream parlor into the backyard several times since to re-stage our party fun once again.  My sweet Julia always has a hard time saying goodbye.  At least Anna Claire leaves you with a grin! :)  What a FUN day! 

Happy Birthday, Anna Claire!  Happy Birthday, Julia!  I love you dearly and am so proud to be your momma!  You are my favorite 3 year olds in the whole wide world!! I will always love celebrating you! Can't wait to party again next year!  Until then, stop growing up so fast!!  All my love!!