Have you recently moved? Are you craving community in your new city? Well, we sure are! We recently sold our home that we lived in for over 20 years and raised our babies in! It was an emotional move but all new chapters in life have a silver lining! Am I right? At least that’s how I like to think!
We built a home along Lake Michigan in a small town in Wisconsin. We live on a country gravel road and wanted to get to know our neighbors! I wanted to have everyone over but since it’s the end of the Summer, I feel like everyone has had their fill of bbq’s (I don’t think I can do one more burger on the grill!) and I didn’t want to do a full blown pot luck dinner.
What to do? Enter…ICE CREAM! Who doesn’t like ice cream? And how easy is that? After all, the whole point is to bring our neighbors together for some great conversation and some great food without spending hours in the kitchen!
I checked our calendar and found an open Sunday afternoon and called it, “Sundaes on Sunday”! I sent out a simple E-vite ( that took roughly 10 minutes) to our list of approximately 12 neighbors and asked them to come on over from 2:00-4:00pm as we would love to meet all of our new neighbors! To my surprise, almost everyone RSVP’d Yes!
The Set Up: I set up (2) 6 ft folding tables, threw on these fun disposable tablecloths, added some napkins and ordered these cute paper ice cream bowls! Next to the bowls, I set out stacks of waffle bowls that are yummy and practical! Guests could simply grab a paper bowl and place an edible waffle bowl inside it! I didn’t want anyone ending up with a mess on their lap, so I found that the waffle bowl works better when sitting in a paper bowl for extra back up!
Now for the good part…the ice cream! Since I was expecting approximately 20 people, I chose 5 flavors that I thought would appeal to a crowd! And that I personally love! Ha! Vanilla Bean, Chocolate, Mint Chip, Cookie Dough and Cookies and Cream. I placed all ice cream tubs in a few shallow 9×13’s full of ice. Next, I took 7 glass bowls and filled them up with different toppings. (M&M’s, Gummi Bears, Crushed Oreos, Chocolate Chips, Toasted pecans, Sprinkles, and Cherries.) Then I set out some syrups…Hot Fudge and Caramel, and some mashed thawed strawberries. Lastly, I added a few cans of whipped cream to the table and I was ready for my guests!
As people arrived, I directed them to a small table that had adhesive name tags and pens so they could fill one out and wear it with pride! I mean after all, if I’m going to the trouble of trying to meet my neighbors, I needed to put a name with the face! I don’t know about you, but sometimes I have short term memory loss when it comes to names!
Adults & kids helped themselves to the ice cream sundae bar, we chatted, neighbors introduced themselves to one another (turns out we weren’t the only ones that didn’t know one another) and before you know it our delicious party was coming to an end! We took a group photo and many people said that we should do this more often! I’d call that a success! And a wonderful way to meet our sweet new neighbors!
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