Sweet Parties: $100 Budget: Retro 50's Coke Float & Ice-Cream Sundae Social

What is the first thing you think of when you see the word “Coke Float”?  Refreshing perhaps?  Ice cold on a hot summer’s day?  How about nectar of the gods?  Maybe even what momma Unicorns give to their foals while nursing?  (Yes it’s that damn magical people!)  Well what if I told you that once upon a time, serving and consuming coke floats, or ice cream sodas, was considered illegal…wha????  Shocked, shocked and chagrined I’m so sure.  See back in the olden days soda was sold and marketed as a “miracle cure” for the masses and not the obesity-inducing scrumptious syrupy concoction that it has been turned into now.  So it was often considered a controlled substance and required oversight and control, much like alcohol.  And just like alcohol, soda and thus ice cream soda drinks, could not be sold on Sundays in most “conservative areas.”  Soda fountain owners needed to find a way to make some kind of money on Sundays, the day of rest for soda.  Thus the ice cream sundae was born.  The rest, as they say, is history…

And lo and behold both of these found on one dessert table!  Hello My Sweet’s Ice Cream Social/soda dessert table dedicated to several members of our family.  Heather and I have a ton of birthdays for our families in February, so to say that we are busy during that month is an understatement.  From both of our daughters, to Heather’s mother, brother and uncle all of them have birthdays this month. That’s right!  Heather’s momma, also known as Cynthia Robertson.  She is the lady who kindly lets us ransack her home for some really neat antiques to use as props on our dessert spreads.  Her affinity for that fizzy brew from the Coca-Cola Company borders on legendary.  From carrying around her own in a cooler cup, to hiding stashes of it in her bedroom (family inside joke), this lady loves Coke. So it was with this devotion in mind that we came up with the idea of doing a “make your own” ice cream sundae & float dessert table, complete with all the fixins’, and consisting of what you would call the yin and yang ideological equivalent of the dessert world.  But we didn’t gather to argue ideology, just to share some sweets, treats and good times with family.  Oh and we did it for less than a hundred dollars!  To quote my favorite Disney movie, “So why don’t you just ruminate, whilst I illuminate the possibilities…”

I can almost sum it up in one sentence.  Dollar Tree is your friend.  Seriously.  I would say about 70% of the props and décor for this table came from our local Dollar Tree store.  The rest of it from our local Wal-Mart and from previous tables we have done.  The idea behind the printables was to reflect the look of the soda fountain shops of yore.  I personally do not come from that generation, but soda/ice cream fountains and diners have always held a personal charm to me.  Must be something to do with the vibrant, but complimentary, color palate and all the shiny chrome & glass.  We were to have matched our awesomely retro printables with a straight outta the ‘50s red Formica and chrome kitchen table that Cindy owns.  However, it needed a little TLC in the form of refinishing or refurbishing the Formica top. Due to our hectic schedules we were not able to get this done in time for the ice cream social.  Totally sad face too, it would’ve been the perfect companion piece to everything else. Even with that little setback, I think the whole family had a blast with creating their own desserts or just enjoying a refreshing glass of Coca-Cola.  Best part for me?  Leaving several family kids behind that had just downed 2-3 glasses of NON caffeine free Coke AND ice cream.  Laugh out loud indeed.

Here is a detailed breakdown of the exact costs for this table taken right off the store receipts where applicable;

Table Décor/Props:

• Coke glasses w/handles - x3 @ $1.00 = $3.00
• Green large Coke glasses - x3 @ $1.00 = $3.00
• Green small Coke glasses - x5 @ .50c = $2.50
• Clear 3 compartment tray - x2 @ $1.00 = $2.00
• Sundae glasses - x5 @ $1.97 = $9.85
• Small Coca Cola Classic glass bottles - x5 already had
• Red & White striped paper straws - already had (Purchase them here.)
• Red & White striped plastic straws - x2 packages @ $1.00 = $2.00
• 5 yds of cream colored pinstriped cloth - $2.00 (Wal-Mart clearance bin.)
• Large teal party tub - $9.00
• Red small napkins - $1.00
• White large napkins - $1.00
• “Fast food” red plastic basket - $1.00 (Dollar General)
• Small silver beverage tub - $2.50 (Target)
• Glass sugar pourer - $1.00 (top not used)
• Small plastic tongs (pack of 4) - $1.00
• Small plastic scoops (pack of 4) - $1.00
• Plastic silver colored cutlery - already had (Kroger)
• Vintage Coca-Cola ice cream scoop (purchased from Abandoned Treasure on Etsy) - $3.00
• Printables - $9.19 (OfficeMax)

Total - $54.04

Food:

• 2 ltr. Coca Cola Classic - x3 @ $1.28 - $3.84
• 1 ltr. Coca Cola Classic - x2 @ 0.98c - $1.96
• Spanish Coca Cola Classic glass bottled - x5 @ $1.25 - $6.25
• Whipped topping - x2 @ $1.63 - $3.26
• Maraschino cherries w/stems - $1.68
• Jar of chocolate jimmies/sprinkles - $2.38
• Jar of multi-colored sprinkles - already had
• Hershey’s strawberry syrup - $1.98
• Hershey’s caramel syrup - $1.98
• Smucker’s hot fudge topping - $2.08
• Smucker’s “wet pecans” topping - $2.38
• Jar of dry roasted peanuts (chopped ourselves) - $2.88
• Tub of vanilla ice cream - $5.97

Total - $36.64

Grand Total - $90.68

So you can see, this party is just under $100. We served 12 people easily and had plenty for more, up to at least 18.  If you are on a tight budget, this is the party for you! You can never go wrong with ice-cream!

Sneak Peek! Retro 50s Coke Float & Ice-Cream Social

Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone! We wanted to drop in and post a sneak peek of our latest party theme. It is a Coke Float and Ice-Cream Sundae Social that harkens back to the retro 50s style diner days. This party is a special one because we are going to share with you how easy and simple it is to re-create for the tighest budgets out there. It requires no baking or bakery purchases and everything you see can be found at either Wal-Mart, the Dollar Tree or your local grocery store. Stay tuned for the full post on this awesome budget friendly party coming soon!

Sweet Parties: JAWS Beach Birthday Dessert Table

So there I am, doing my inspiration thing.  Browsing the Interwebs, looking at Pinterest boards (more like totally getting distracted) and doodling on my idea pad.  I was well on my way to designing the perfect princess themed birthday dessert table for our niece.  The kind with loads of pink, fairy dust, and happiness strewn about. Then a single sentence changed all that.  “She wants a Jaws shark party instead.” Uh… My normal response to that question would most likely have been more…shall we say colorful?  But seeing as how Jaws is a cinematic classic and one of my favorite horror-ish flicks, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity, plus I do enjoy a design challenge.  A Jaws dessert table isn’t one of your run-of-the-mill beach-y themes either, just as Jaws isn’t your ordinary Great White shark.  

Incidentally, while researching for this theme, I found out that Amity Island, the setting for Jaws, is a fictional location. No matter, Amity Island, or at least a small portion of it was brought to life in dessert table form. Before I had settled on any sort of overall design I had actually decided upon a look for our printable food tags.  

The reddish-orange and white bungalows located on the fateful Amity beaches provided me with the perfect type of details for a boardwalk scene. The final design of our printable food tags were nothing like I had originally envisioned.  This is where working with a partner can really payoff.  Originally I intended for the tags to be tent cards, but after rough sketching one and cutting it out, Heather says, “Let’s make them 3D!” Ugh… She has a certain knack for tacking on more work.  I mean…what I meant to say was that it was a totally great idea!  I even went a little (more) OCD for this project and crafted bases for the bungalows that give it a boardwalk look and feel.  Just a hundred wooden craft sticks and a glue gun and voila, boardwalk platforms! See for yourself:

Other printables that Heather designed were the “Beach Closed” warning that the Amity Police Department had erected, and the decals on the air tank that ultimately was used to take down the shark.  Our air tank was constructed from a 2-liter bottle, sprayed painted gray with a few small bits to fashion the valve knob up at the top and finished off with the printable decals. And last but not least, you can’t miss the ginormous Amity Island billboard sign that almost spans the entire length of the table.

To make our prep-time even more complicated (Heather’s idea again) we undertook the construction of Jaws himself, in Piñata form.  We didn't document this process since it was the first time we had ever made anything of the sort and were basically just winging it with some guidance from Oh Happy Day. (They have an alligator tutorial.) Suffice it to say that what you lack in cardboard and tape formation skill, you can make up for in covering your piñata in multitudes of fringed tissue paper.  We also used a disposable foam plate to make our Jaws scary teeth, an easy and very effective trick!

Let’s see, now that we've covered the printables and the decor, let us move on to the eatables. 

For this quaint little beach get together, that happens to also involve a man-eating shark, we went with some:

• Sea Dogs - Just your average Hot Dog really.
• Shark Fin - Sugar cookies with royal icing.
• Life Preserver - Cake doughnuts, dipped in melted frosting and topped with fruit roll-ups.
• Root Beer Barrels - Any self respecting Jaws fan knows that this is how they tracked the shark in the open ocean.
• Shark Attack - Cupcakes, straight out of the Hello Cupcake book! 
• Ocean Water - Blue Hawaiian Punch
• Shark Bait - Which was a mix of Swedish Fish, Goldfish brand and shrimp flavored crackers. 
• Shark Teeth - In the form of triangle cut tortilla chips and “Chum” salsa, complete in a chum bucket.  

Decor wise, I knew that I had wanted to depict a beach scene.  But how best to do that, and with what props and materials was the question.  Ultimately we decided to go with a sandy colored flat sheet to represent the beach and some IRIS dish towels (in blue) from IKEA to mimic the ocean.  We placed them on the front of the table, much like a runner, but not centered down the length of the table.  We did this to give us enough room to make the faux beach boardwalk with the 3D food tag bungalows all lined up, sitting atop their craft stick platfroms.  We rounded out the rest of the design with more props from IKEA, the extremely versatile SOLBRÄND 4 piece plate set in light blue, and the dark blue 2 pack of bowls.  And scattered about the beach-scape are seashells plucked right from the very real beaches of Myrtle Beach, SC.  Having vacationed there the week before gave us opportune time to pick up lots of beach related trinkets for the table.  We even found a shark tooth.

About the Chum…call it crude if you must, I called it witty! Some other little touches that I think made it a must for real Jaws fans… foam plates with a shark bite cut out of them, the plastic silverware and drink cups in an oh so obvious blood red and brown sugar disguised as sand at the base of our serving pieces. We had a blast with this table, it was truly great fun to bring a classic film to life in dessert form! 

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