Pin 184 and Pin 185

Original pin:

This is not the link I had originally pinned, but the blogger has updated her site and the best post is here http://eclecticallyvintage.com/2013/02/cupid-float-valentine-drink/#

I needed a fun drink for the Kindergarten Valentine's Day party. I thought these were super cute and would be a real treat for the kids at their party. I bought all the supplies (I actually had a leftover jar of unopened cherries from Pin 163) and bought some fun party cups.

In planning my transportation logistics, I was thinking about getting the ice cream up to the school, keeping it frozen, dipping, dripping, sticking, melting. . .   Back to Pinterest I go. I had this pin filed away:

Original pin:

http://www.realsimple.com/holidays-entertaining/birthdays/serving-cake-ice-cream-like-pro-10000001189696/page4.html 

Real Simple suggested pre-dipping ice cream and freezing in paper cups to serve at birthday parties. I modified this suggestion a teensy bit to fit my situation.  The morning of the party, I dipped two scoops into each (clean--I ran them all through the dishwasher the night before) cup.

I packed them into my largest aluminum cake pan (aluminum helps keep things cold).

And then I covered the whole top and sides with aluminum foil. I put it back in the freezer. A few hours later, just before I left the house for the party, I put the whole tray in my large cooler on ice. I left everything in the cooler until just before the kids arrived in the classroom for their party. We set out the cups and, with help from the other mom's, added soda, whipped cream, straws, and, of course, a cherry!

Total cost: I served 22 kids. I used almost two 2-liter bottles of soda and about half a gallon of ice cream. A little over one bottle of whipped cream and a half-jar of cherries. Including the cost of the cups, it was about $12.

Total time: Less than 20 minutes. I think it took around 10 minutes to dip all the cups and maybe 5 to top them off in a team effort.

Final verdict: I love floats! It is such a childhood memory treat for me so I thought it was a fun idea for a classroom party. The pink color was just the icing on the cake for me! Most of the kids seemed to like them--I know mine did! Lucky boy, I have leftovers waiting for him after school today. The predipping trick was awesome. I didn't have to worry about dripping ice cream, forgetting a scoop, or melting leftovers. I just may start doing this for all my parties! And I will probably do floats for school parties again because it was so easy!