A Summer Dreamsicle Party!

I would like to officially announce my protest against the end of summer. And I would like to announce it with POPSICLES! Dreamsicles, really. A summer dreamsicle party. Move on over Shakespeare, this midnight summer’s dream(sicle) has ARRIVED! We partnered with Truvia® Sweetener to put together some really fun ideas for SIX (!) creamsicle recipes, popsicle BALLOONS (!) and some pretty pretty printables too. Gang’s all here! Let’s do this!

Truth be told, I had a meeting with a nutritionist last week and she told me I needed to cut my sugar down and recommended Truvia Natural Sweetener. For real!! It was funny how perfect the timing was. It’s a natural, zero calorie sweetener for those of us sweet tooth folks looking to reduce sugar in our diets! *hand raised emoji* One packet of Truvia® Natural Sweetener provides the same sweetness as two teaspoons of sugar. Ba bam! We bought the jar because, you know, we wanted a lot of popsicles at this party! We made a whole BUNCH of fruity creamsicle recipes and they are GOOD you guys.

Pick your favorite fruit and follow the ingredient and directions for each below, then skip ahead to get the final directions for filling and freezing your pops!

1 1/2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice (not from concentrate)
1 1/2 cups coconut milk (or milk/cream or your choice)
2 tablespoons Truvia Natural Sweetener
1 teaspoon vanilla
Orange food coloring (optional)

Whisk together the juice, milk, Truvia Natural Sweetener, vanilla, and desired amount of food coloring. Let sit for a minute or so. With a spoon, remove any foam that has settled on top.

3/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (not from concentrate)
2 and 1/4 cups coconut milk (or milk/cream or your choice)
3 tablespoons Truvia Natural Sweetener
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Green food coloring (optional)

Whisk together the juice, milk, Truvia Natural Sweetener, vanilla, and desired amount of food coloring. Let sit for a minute or so. With a spoon, remove any foam that has settled on top.

2 cups chopped fresh pineapple
1 cup coconut milk (or milk/cream or your choice)
2 tablespoons Truvia Natural Sweetener
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Yellow food coloring (optional)

Combine the pineapple and coconut milk in a blender. Mix till smooth. Transfer to  bowl and stir in the Truvia Natural Sweetener, vanilla, and desired amount of food coloring. With a spoon, remove any foam that has settled on top.

1 cup mixed berries (raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, etc.)
2 cups coconut milk (or milk/cream or your choice)
3 tablespoons Truvia Natural Sweetener
1 teaspoon vanilla
Purple food coloring (optional)

Combine the berries and the coconut milk in a blender. Mix till smooth. Strain through a sieve to remove seeds. Stir in the Truvia Natural Sweetener, vanilla, and desired amount of food coloring. With a spoon, remove any foam that has settled on top.

3 cups coconut milk
3 tablespoons Truvia Natural Sweetener
2 teaspoons blue raspberry extract
1 teaspoon coconut extract
Blue food coloring (optional)

Whisk together the milk, Truvia Natural Sweetener, extracts and desired amount of food coloring.

1 1/2 cups strawberries
1 1/2 cups coconut milk (or milk/cream or your choice)
2 tablespoons Truvia Natural Sweetener
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Red/pink food coloring (optional)

Combine the strawberries and coconut milk in a blender. Mix till smooth. Strain through a sieve to remove seeds. Stir in the Truvia Natural Sweetener, vanilla, and desired amount of food coloring. With a spoon, remove any foam that has settled on top.

Fill the molds and tap gently on the counter to help remove any bubbles. Freeze for about 45 minutes till slushy. Insert popsicle sticks into the popsicles. Freeze overnight. When ready, run under hot water for a few seconds to help release the popsicles.

And if you’re going to throw a popsicle party, you need popsicle balloons!!!! Uh, duh!? Been wanting to make these for EVA and they fit right in with this dreamsicle bash. It’s like balloon animals BUT BETTER!

Twisting Balloons (I used 350 size and 260 size)
Balloon Pump
Popsicle Sticks
Hot Glue Gun
Scissors

1. Inflate the balloon leaving about a six inch tail on the bigger balloons and a 10 inch tail on the skinnier ones and tie a knot.
2. Twist the balloon one full turn in the center of the balloon, creating two equal pieces.
3. Heat your hot glue gun on the low setting. Run a line of hot glue down the side of one half of your balloon. (Yes, you can hot glue balloons! Just be sure the actual metal tip of the glue gun does not touch the balloon.)
4. Fold the other half of the balloon over on top of the glue, gluing the two sides together and hold until set.
5. Tie a knot in the tail of the balloon. It will seem at first like you can’t get the knot tight enough but if you keep pulling on the tail, the knot will eventually tighten in place. Trim the excess tail off.
6. Hot glue popiscle sticks to the back (either side can be the back!) of both balloon sections.

And for our final trick… printables! Always love a good printable. We thought it would be fun to line the trays we were serving our popsicles on with a watercolor pattern!

Click HERE to download the free printable tray liner!

To do this, download the printable (like right above!) and print onto 11×17 paper (You could also print it on regular 8.5 x 11 paper if you tray is small, but 11×17 is what it’s sized to!). Lay the paper on your tray (we used this one!) and cut down as necessary. Then cut a piece of wax paper the same size. You can just set the paper, followed by the wax paper on your tray or you can use a removable adhesive (like removable glue dots) to secure it to the tray. Place your popsicles on top and serve! If you aren’t serving right away, you can also pre-load your tray with pops and but back in the freezer until party time.

Photos by Jeff Mindell | Watercolor Printable by Violet Tinder | Recipes by Theresa Rountree | Creative Direction by Kelly Mindell

Are you planning any final summer hurrahs? Perhaps over Labor Day? Always feels like the unofficial official end to summer for me. Guess I’ll take the news a little more easily since popsicles will be involved! 😉 Better yet, all in favor of protesting the end of summer say “I!”

This post was created in partnership with Truvia® Sweetener. You can click here to get a free sample and try it out! All content and opinions are that of my own! Thank you for supporting the sponsors that keep the Studio DIY party going! Read more about my editorial policies here.