Looking for a simple & fun dessert idea for a small party? Use this step by step guide and make an ice cream charcuterie board!
I have been busy reading all of your comments and private messages over the last few days, wishing our Evie, a Happy 13th Birthday.
Thank you, thank you.
Thank you for all of the love you showed me and our family from this post, “3 Things I want our daughter to know before she turns 13.”
We had so much fun celebrating this special milestone birthday. So much family fun, that it melted away much of my apprehension and mixed emotions that I shared earlier in the week.
While we celebrated as a family on Eve’s official day, skipping sports and all regularly scheduled activities to intentionally take a pause to enjoy the big day.
Eve also wanted to do something fun with her middle school girlfriends.
Which I was all in for.
All in…except for the part of knowing WHAT to do for it.
So what does one do exactly for a 13th Birthday Party for a Teen Girl and her friends?
When the girls were all little, we used to host BIG birthday parties with all the people and all the activities in our home.
From bringing in face painters, to petting zoos with pony rides, renting enormous water slide moon bounces, tea parties, arts & crafts painting parties.
You name it…we have hosted it.
And now?
Now, as the girls are growing…we are welcoming smaller, more intimate gatherings.
An opportunity for less chaos, and more connection.
Honestly?
We haven’t hosted a party for the obvious reasons from the Covid climate, and also because we now gravitate more towards investing in “experiences” for our girls versus dropping a lot of money to host a party.
But this 13th birthday?
I wanted to create the opportunity to meet some of Eve’s new teen girlfriends, with whom she has forged friendships with at her middle school, that she sees everyday, but that we never see.
So I pitched out the idea that on an early dismissal Friday, we could inviter her friends to be dropped off to our local bowling alley. We would enjoy an hour of bowling and then, I would bring all the girls back to our house for pizza and…?
An Ice Cream Sundae Bar…Charcuterie board style.
Between you and me?
I think the ice cream charcuterie board was what won this idea over. 🙂
So, if you are looking for a fun and relaxed way to entertain a group of teen or preteen girls for an afternoon?
This post is for you.
We had so much fun creating this ice cream board that I decided you needed to know how we went about it and what we found to be the best toppings to use when creating a festive and yummy ice cream charcuterie board.
And Oh and P.S.?
I think I figured out why it is, that I like to make charcuterie boards.
Creating these themed food boards is a lot like…
decorating. 🙂
You start with your core foundation pieces and then add in the smaller items for interest, or in this case yummyness.
Do you want to know the details on how we made our ice cream charcuterie board and the best sundae toppings to use to make your own?
Come and find out friend!
How To Make An Ice Cream Charcuterie Board
First, you will want to select an oversized cutting board, or in this case we opted for a tray with a lip so that all of the small candies would not roll off.
When you are using cheese, meats and vegtables you do not need to worry about them rolling off the side of a flat cutting board. But, in the case of ice cream toppings, I would recommend using an oversized tray with a lip as your base to avoid the roll-off hazard.
Because, this tray has been used for all kinds of decor, flower etc, I wanted to line the base of the tray with a fresh and clean base after I cleaned off the tin bottom.
I still have these thick paper place mats that I found in the clearance section of Home Goods a ling time ago, you may remember that I used them to originally line our master bathroom drawers when we gave it a facelift in Covid, in this post.
These paper placemats have been used for many things, all of which have not been place mats. 🙂
Next, I placed the foundation pieces of pint size ice cream containers, on the tray.
Now, for the “pretty” factor, I decided to use pint size containers of assorted flavors.
For the “penny” factor, I also bought several larger containers of the tried and true flavors to have on hand as “extra” ice cream, and I eventually added a 4th larger container in the far right corner of the tray.
Next up, I added more foundational, but smaller scale items to the tray.
A mason jar of gold plastic spoons, two stacks of small and large sized waffle bowls, you could also add waffle cones and a round dish of rainbow sprinkles.
Next, I added in small bowls of blueberries, strawberries cut up into small pieces and raspberries. I also poured the chocolate fudge into a small glass pitcher and added a spoon to the jar of caramel syrup and another small dish filled with Butterfinger bit crumbles. (These are found in the baking section of the grocery store and also happen to be my personal favorite.)
Now for adding the good part…CANDY.
We opened each nag of candy and started to layer the ice cream board using the largest size candy, which happens to be our girl’s favorite candy – Trolli Sour Bite Crawlers.
Next, we added in some small cake balls from the bakery section of the grocery store, mini sized Kit Kat chocolates and mini sized Reese’s cups. You can buy these unwrapped in resealable bags. (I have them linked here and all of the ingredients at the bottom of this post from Target, for easy shopping.)
Last but not least, we sprinkled the smaller candy toppings into all of the empty and available spaces of the tray.
The smaller candy toppings we added were Gummy Bears, Reese’s Pieces, m&m’s chocolates and Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips. (Did I mention I like peanut butter? 🙂
Another topping idea is to add in small cookies that are plain like Teddy Graham’s or mini milk chocolate covered graham crackers like these from Target.
After we added all of the small candy and cookie crackers on the board, every nook and cranny was filled with ice cream sundae deliciousness.
I am loving how easy it was to create this ice cream charcuterie board and display all of the yummy toppings for easy sundae making!
Hot tip: I laid TWO ice cream scoopers on the board, one on the bottom left and the other on the upper right corner so the girls can easily scoop until their hearts are content.
And you know what happened next don’t you?
My Maci girl had to taste test the toppings to make sure they weren’t poisonous. 🙂
I hope this post has given you some inspiration for your next teen party or small gathering!
I don’t know about you…but we are ready for some warmer weather and sunshine around here to start entertaining on the patio again.
And?
I can’t wait to recreate this ice cream board all over again when we do!
This was so easy to make, and now I have linked all of the ingredients below for you to make an easy Target pick up to recreate your own board. (The Butterfinger Bits is the only item not available at Target, but can be found at Walmart or Shoprite.)
Thanks friends for helping us to celebrate the BIG 13 around here!!
Living on a prayer,
Heather
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Kayla says
Did you not have an issue with the ice cream or sorbet melting? I love this idea and would love to use it, but I don’t want our ice creams melting before everyone can enjoy it.
taylor says
beautiful, have a fun birthday eve!