Ice Cream Sundae Bar
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.
Servings 8 servings
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
Serving: 1g