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Surprise and delight your friends and family with an epic Ice Cream Sundae Bar. Let guests customize their own sweet, colorful confections with different flavors of ice cream, sauces, toppings, and more. The best part? It’s no sweat to pull together.
I consider myself a life-long entertainer and have enjoyed hosting parties since my early 20s. Now that I have children, I’ve discovered that entertaining is even more fun.
My modus operandi includes keeping the guest list “exclusive” (each child invites just a few friends each; it’s quality over quantity) so I can spoil the attendees as much as possible. I love to go all out with decorations, games, festive snacks, an over-the-top meal, and a decadent dessert.
An Ice Cream Sundae Bar is a delightful (and easy!) way to impress kids and kids at heart. It’s a breeze to set up and serve, and the everyone can design their own custom creation with their picks for best ice cream flavor, sauces, and garnishes. Ben & Jerry shouldn’t get to have all the fun, right?
Table of Contents
Ingredient notes
- Ice cream: Rather than investing in 3-gallon tubs, I suggest buying pints or quarts of ice cream in several different flavors to offer variety. Vanilla and chocolate are classics for a reason, and offer a “safe” choice for those who are in the mood for something more traditional. From there, seek out a few “fun” varieties with fruit, cookie, or candy mix-ins. While a serving is usually listed as ½ cup of ice cream, most people, even kids, will build a sundae that includes at least 1 cup (perhaps split among a few different flavors). There are 4 cups of ice cream per quart and 2 cups per pint. Plan for 1 quart or 2 pints of ice cream for every 4 guests, plus an extra pint, just to be safe. I always offer at least one dairy-free option.
- Fruit: From ripe (yet firm) bananas to berries and cherries, fruit is an obvious choice for your Ice Cream Sundae Bar. Maraschino cherries, stemmed and sliced strawberries, blueberries, and banana slices are our family favorites.
- Sauces: Guests will feel like Dairy Queen-level royalty when they can choose from chocolate syrup, hot fudge, strawberry topping, caramel syrup, and melted nut butter. Of course, no ice cream sundae station is complete without whipped cream!
- Toppings: Everyone will feel like a kid again when they can take their pick from sprinkles, gummy worms, chocolate chips, mini cookies, Rice Krispy treats, small candies, chopped toasted nuts, toasted coconut, and small squares of cake or bar cookies. For a thoroughly-modern twist, add trendy topping options like honey, olive oil, flaky sea salt, crumbled potato chips, crushed pretzels, cereal, or chili crisp (just be sure to warn the kiddos that this is h-o-t!).
Step-by-step instructions
- Place ice cream on one side of a table right beside a stack of bowls. If desired, scoop up to 4 hours in advance (see “Recipe FAQs”) or simply add an ice cream scoop to each container and invite everyone to help themselves.
- Next to the ice cream, arrange fruit, sauces, and toppings for a self-serve station.
- On the far side of the table, include a basket, jar, or bowl of spoons. Add a stack of napkins, then ask everyone to gather ’round and go wild before the ice cream melts.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This Ice Cream Sundae Bar formula is designed to serve eight people. Multiply or trim as desired to match your crowd size (keeping in mind that it’s never a bad thing to have leftover ice cream and sundae garnishes to keep the party going!).
- Make ahead: Scoop ice cream up to 4 hours in advance and freeze on a sheet tray until party time to trim down on mid-party hassle and mess. An average ice cream scoop will create 4-ounce portions; anticipate that each guest will use at least two of these.
Recipe FAQs
A skimpy bowl means that toppings will fly everywhere, while a too-big vessel might lead to a slew of stomach aches. I recommend using 9- to 12-ounce bowls; you can find recyclable or compostable options on Amazon and at many major retailers.
If you haven’t scooped the ice cream already, you’ll need one scoop per flavor. To keep the ice cream chilled, place each container in a larger tub filled with ice. You’ll also need bowls and spoons for each of the sauces and toppings, plus more spoons (mini if you like; I do for the cuteness factor!) for all to snag so they can enjoy their sundaes. It’s also a wise idea to have plenty of disinfectant wipes and napkins to clean up any drips or spills.
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Ice Cream Sundae Bar
Ingredients
Ice cream:
- 1 pint vanilla ice cream
- 1 pint chocolate ice cream
- 1 pint candy or cookie ice cream
- 1 pint fruit ice cream
- 1 pint dairy-free ice cream
Sauces:
- 1 (20 ounce) bottle caramel syrup
- 1 (20 ounce) bottle chocolate syrup
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter melted in the microwave for 10 seconds (or other nut butter)
- 1 cup strawberry topping
- 1 (6 ounce) can whipped cream
Fruit:
- 3 bananas sliced
- 1 cup blueberries
- 1 cup strawberries stemmed and sliced
- 1 (10 ounce) jar Maraschino cherries
Cookies and candy:
- 2 cups gummy worms
- 2 cups M&M candies or other small candies
- 2 cups mini cookies
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 4 slices cake or bar cookies cut into small squares
Extras:
- 1 cup chopped nuts
- 1 cup toasted coconut
- 1 cup sprinkles
Instructions
- Place ice cream on one side of a table right beside a stack of bowls. If desired, scoop up to 4 hours in advance or simply add an ice cream scoop to each container and invite everyone to help themselves.
- Next to the ice cream, arrange fruit, sauces, and toppings for a self-serve station.
- On the far side of the table, include a basket, jar, or bowl of spoons. Add a stack of napkins, then ask everyone to gather 'round and go wild before the ice cream melts.
Notes
- Ice cream: Rather than investing in 3-gallon tubs, I suggest buying pints or quarts of ice cream in several different flavors to offer variety. Plan for 1 quart or 2 pints of ice cream for every 4 guests, plus an extra pint, just to be safe. I always offer at least one dairy-free option.
- Fruit: From ripe (yet firm) bananas to berries and cherries, fruit is an obvious choice for your Ice Cream Sundae Bar. Maraschino cherries, stemmed and sliced strawberries, blueberries, and banana slices are our family favorites.
- Sauces: Guests will feel like Dairy Queen-level royalty when they can choose from chocolate syrup, hot fudge, strawberry topping, caramel syrup, and melted nut butter. Of course, no ice cream sundae station is complete without whipped cream!
- Toppings: Everyone will feel like a kid again when they can take their pick from sprinkles, gummy worms, chocolate chips, mini cookies, small candies, chopped toasted nuts, toasted coconut, and small squares of cake or bar cookies. For a thoroughly-modern twist, add trendy topping options like honey, olive oil, flaky sea salt, crumbled potato chips, crushed pretzels, cereal, or chili crisp (just be sure to warn the kiddos that this is h-o-t!).
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.