Ice Cream Sundae

In New Zealand, cities have anniversaries which are the perfect excuse to have another holiday. This weekend is Auckland Anniversary, so that means no school on Monday, fireworks on Sunday night, a big See Port Festival all weekend long, and an Ice Cream Sundae on Sunday market at Silo Park. Guess which one was a hit with our kids? Easy - the ice cream!

What made this event so great? First off, there was real food nearby at Wynyard Quarter. We were able to sit down and have an actual meal of “nutritious” food before overloading on the sugar, and the Wynyard Quarter is a great place for families to visit. It is lively. There are amazing boats to check out. There’s lots of food options (we ended up at Pescado, a tapas bar. The kids devoured their calamari and albondigas, so I’ll count that as a win.) and there’s the fun of Silo Park and its whimsical, nautical-themed playground. We noticed later that there were a few savory food options at the ice cream festival, but they were tucked away and not obvious when we entered. Speaking of the entrance, the spiky inflatable walkway was a hit with the kids:

Secondly, the ice cream choices! All of the mobile units were unique. The vendors each have their niche, and it was fun to explore the different options. Some were delicious, like the strawberry cone we got from Coyo Organics, some were a bit mad-science-esque, like the liquid nitrogen concoctions from Flossy’s, and some were honestly kind of gross, like that pink milkshake. There were also some amazing halved pineapple and coconut treats that looked out of this world good. Unfortunately, I was never able to snap a photo of those beauties.

Fortunately, the event promoters and organizers had warning signs like this posted about, just in case someone felt like indulging a little too much:

Finally, there were several other family and kid friendly activities. A DJ played upbeat, Jamaican influenced music at the perfect decibel level. There was a small bounce house for younger kids and a giant Connect Four game for big kids. And there was the most amazing balloon twister I have ever seen. I’ve been on the kid party circuit for several years now, so I’ve seen all sorts of balloon twisters. This guy, JP, was amazing. His balloon creations were glorious and are still entertaining the kids the day after. He charged NZ$10 per creation, but I almost think it is a fair price given how intricate and large his balloons are.

He was definitely a big highlight for the whole family and had a huge line by the time we walked away with our pink and purple unicorn bracelet and scary looking shark.

This was the second annual Ice Cream Sundae, and I hope it is a tradition that continues. I think it will be popular until the kids are tweens and no longer interested in spending time with their parents.