We hold our ice cream social the first Friday evening of the school year. A local dairy/ice cream shop donates the first (3)party paks which each contain (3) gallons of ice cream and assorted toppings, bowls & spoons and we purchase (3) more at a discounted rate. We start about an hour before and pre-scoop the ice cream placing the bowls on the large cafeteria trays and store in the freezer. Our school has about 375 students and we served over 350 servings last year and set up a make your own sundae table with parent volunteers assisting with the toppings. We too found that vanilla ice cream and strawberry topping were the most popular and of course sprinkles are a must.

We switched from containers of ice cream to the individual ready-to serve cups. No mess from having to slice the ice cream, no blood (sorry--it did happen) from the blisters received from scooping. Still offered toppings. Much less mess.

We held an ice cream social 1 hour before open house this year, and our turnout was great. We decided to have only vanilla ice cream and bought caramel, strawberry and chocolate toppings, as well as sprinkles and whipped cream. We used 3 (5-gallon) tubs and about 2 gallons out of the 4th tub. We had 2 people dipping the ice cream, one person spraying the whipped cream, and one person overseeing the sprinkles and toppings. We also had 1 parent at the water cooler, and 2 parents bussing/cleaning tables.

I know this is going to sound weird (and I didn't believe it at first), but you will go through twice as much strawberry topping as you will any other. A friend of my DH who has worked numerous ice cream socials at his church told him that, and thankfully we heeded his advice because he was right. Also, if you are going to be dipping, make sure you have a container of hot water close at hand to dip your scoops in. It will make the scooping much, much easier and faster.

We also have an ice cream social on the night of our open house. This year we are doing things a little different at the request of the teachers (too much of a mess left in their class rooms). We will be having our AFTER open house. We have two sessions - lower grades 6:00 - 6:45 and higher grades 6:45 - 7:30. We will start serving at 6:45.

We are lucky that our partner in education is a local grocery store and they donate all the ice cream, toppings, etc. We have enough spoons, bowls, and napkins left over from other activities, so our expense is pretty much nothing.

We use scoops and have at least 2 people at that table, then 3 or 4 people at the toppings table. It helps save on waste and messes.

Unfortunately, we do have to remind parents that this (and our speghetti dinner) is a fundraiser, not an all you can eat buffet.

I remember our primary school doing an Ice Cream Social where they cut the 1/2 gallons of ice cream into slices and served them in a bowl rather than scooping. I thought that looked faster and easier than scooping, and easier to control portion size.

Sprinkles are a big hit with our kids, but it's best if you can buy the jugs that have shaker tops rather than spoon them on. Controls mess and portioning.

Unless your budget is REALLY tight, I wouldn't ask the teachers to donate anything. They have their minds filled with stuff to get their class off to a strong start. This won't be a big expense, but it could leave a sour taste in the teacher's mouths if the first contact they have with the PTO is a request for a donation, no matter how small.

You may want to offer a cold drink, too. Our local McDonald's readily donates their large cooler jugs filled with bug juice, and cups. It's free and easy.

It's not clear from your message if the kids come too. If so, you might want to have volunteers on hand to scoop the toppings and hand out the dishes. Left on their own, kids tend to overdo it at a free ice cream bar (but wouldn't we all??!!).

Good luck!

We bought ice cream from Dairy Queen this year. It was already poured into their sundae type cups and we bought syrup and napkins at Sam's Club. I think the ice cream (and spoons) cost about $.26 each and we spent about $30 at Sam's.