HOW TO SET UP A DIY ICE CREAM FLOAT + SUNDAE BAR CART - DECORATED FOR THE 4TH OF JULY

Here’s to summer hues of red, white, and blue.

With the Fourth of July just around the corner, most of us will be calling our friends and family, and get the grill going to celebrate this special holiday. But what’s for dessert? While you can serve berry pies or trifle, why not have your guests create their own ice cream float or sundae? Who can resist a cold treat after a hot day? It’s a great way to enjoy a summer evening!

Today, I’m sharing how I put together this festive 4th of July DIY ice cream sundae bar cart. It’s filled with everything you need for guests to make their own ice cream float or sundae.

How to set up a DIY Ice Cream Float + Sundae Bar – decorated for any Patriotic holiday…

The Decor:

Whether it’s indoors or outdoors, find a location to set up your DIY ice cream station. You can use a table or a bar cart.
Decorate your interior or exterior wall with stars and stripes party fans, like these or these.
For more festive decor, tie red, white, and blue balloons to your bar cart or create a balloon arrangement for your table using a balloon weight. For tabletop decor, I used this fun Sundae Bar Tabletop sign.

The DIY Ice Cream Bar essentials:

Use a beverage container or a large ice bucket to house your ice cream, sodas, and whipped cream. Depending on the size of your party, offer your guests 2-3 ice cream flavors to choose from.
I found a 4-pack of Raspberry flavored Coca-Cola bottles and Cream soda from HomeGoods that would make great tasting ice cream floats.
Don’t forget your ice cream scoopers. For smaller crowds of four, one ice cream scooper should suffice, for a party more than four, perhaps two ice cream scoopers would be best so your guests are not waiting in a line. For those messy spills, I used a clear glass cylinder vase for guests to place the ice scooper – to catch all the drips.
Add your ice cream float glasses, sundae bowls and spoons.
Use small bowls to hold all your favorite ice cream condiments like maraschino cherries and sprinkles. For other favs, you can add hot fudge and caramel sauce.
We will need straws for the ice cream soda floats – so house your festive patriotic straws in a small vessel.
For those messy spills, don’t forget to add your festive beverage napkins.
If you would like, you can add baked treats decorated for the holiday. You can save time and buy a couple of sweet treats from your local supermarket. Their bakery sections normally put out holiday decorated desserts. Walmart had white chocolate dipped Oreo cookies and pretzels you see in these pics.