My daughter's 3rd birthday fell on a Sunday in April -which eliminated so many wonderful outdoor party ideas.  We celebrated with a Sundaes on Sunday Party.  I bought the paper goods at the local dollar store. They also had bubbles in a container shaped like an ice cream cone that I bought to use as favors for the kids to take home. We did a 3-D ice cream craft project. The kids painted Styrofoam balls with washable paint. They pasted the balls into Styrofoam bowls.  (for older kids, you can I pre-cut brown construction paper in the shape of the cone - use a paper party hat as a template). The kids decorated the bowls with stickers and glitter glue. Finally, a red pom-pom is the cherry on top.   For a game, we did the ice cream version of pin the tail on the donkey.  I cut a giant bowl shape and a round scoop of ice cream out of poster board. We attached this to the wall and the kids stuck cherries (made out of red construction paper) to the top.   Finally, the kids made their ice cream sundaes. We only bought quart size containers since the ages were from 3 - 5 years old. The topping that was the biggest hit was the cookie crumbles....the parents loved it as much as the kids.   The birthday cake was actually cup cakes made in flat bottom ice cream cones.  The recipe is on the back of the Keebler Ice Cream Cone box.    After opening presents, those children that remained opened their favor and blew soap bubbles on the porch.  It turned out to be a nice day afterall!  I took pictures w/ our digital camera and posted them to the web. (I used snapfish.com but there are a ton of sites) Parents and others could view the photos and purchase photos if they wished.   This party was tons of fun and a fraction of the cost of one of the children mega centers.