I look forward to summers because I actually have time to write blog entries and to read (no tutoring in the summer means evenings are free to have some fun).  But first I have to get over that big hump at the beginning of the summer, the Ice Cream Social, AND take a couple of days to recover from it. 

So the Ice Cream Social was last week, and thanks to an army of volunteers who helped out on the day of the event, we managed to pull it off.  Even with a record number of attendees.  Wow.  But let me tell you, it’s a Herculean effort to plan, organize, and run the Ice Cream Social.  I’m not complaining – it’s only once a year, and it’s a total buzz to run it – I’m just saying that it takes a lot to get this event off the ground.  Judy, bless her soul, volunteered to go to BJ’s to buy the toppings and paper goods: check that box on the list.  Jennifer made a million little bubble wands out of pipe cleaners: check that box off.  Lots of teens and moms volunteered to help out with the activities and ice cream scooping (twelve of them in total): check.  Baskin Robbins agreed to sell us the ice cream at their cost:  big, big check (it was still $120 for that ice cream!).  Renee reminded me of one essential ingredient to changing to our Wednesday rain date – notifying Constance to alter the website before Constance left on vacation: whew, another big checkmark.  You get the idea.

I changed the format of the Ice Cream Social this year, skipping a performer and substituting multiple activities for that performer.  It IS a “social,” after all.  So there was a paper airplane making station, run by Ben and Sarah, a face painting station with Alyson and Liz (and me), the ice cream scooping station with the intrepid team of Amy, Deb, Andrea, Jenny, and Vicki, and the bubble blowing/sidewalk chalk drawing station with Jennifer, Erica, and Lizzie.  (Not to forget Marie, who helped with cleanup.) 

Once kids got their ice cream sundaes, they could run around the large expanse of the library lawn and have fun at the activity station of their choice.  I wasn’t sure how well this would work, but it was fantastic.  Instead of ending at 4 PM, things were still going strong at 4:45.  I actually had to wrest the last bucket of bubble blowing solution from an eager crowd of five or six kids, and Alyson and Liz only finished face painting at 5, when the library closes.

I learned a few key things from this particular Ice Cream Social:

1. No longer can I depend on my prior formula for allowing for fifty extra attendees above those who preregistered.  This year we had TWO HUNDRED extra attendees, and actually ran out of bowls.  And the whipped cream ran out within ten minutes.
2. I suck at face painting.  I figured I’d do well with it, because I’m pretty artistic, but truth is I’m terrible at it.  You want WHAT on your face?  A unicorn????  A soccer ball flying through the air into a goal????  A flaming baseball????  Any chance I can sell you on a flower or a butterfly?
3. Next year we need way more volunteers.  Why didn’t I think to ask the Friends for help on that front?  Duh.
4. Cheap fun is the best fun.  The feedback after this “bargain” Ice Cream Social was the best I’ve ever gotten.  So the change of format from performer to activities was incredibly smart, thank you very much. 
5. When you host a party for over 400 people, you’re bound to be ridiculously tired afterwards.

I still have bruises all over my hips from hauling chairs and tables, but I’m not tired anymore.  And it’s going to be a full year before I’m that exhausted again.  Until then, I can just enjoy the memories of an event that was a success despite a few small glitches.