Stella’s second birthday party was this past Sunday and even though we got rained out and had to pull the whole thing inside last minute, it still turned out pretty beautiful. The theme was floral citrus with a bit of vintage flair and while it was no where near the scale of her first birthday party, I still tried to fill it out with some pretty little details and this citrus ice bucket may have been one of my favorites.
It’s a really fancy looking and gorgeous element that is actually super easy to put together. Much easier than going to the store for a bag of ice! This DIY is just perfect for all your summer get-togethers, showers, receptions, etc. And I know what you’re thinking “but won’t it just melt right away?” You will want to keep an eye on the area and not put it next to anything paper, but the bucket itself will not wither away quickly. I set this out at about 5 PM and it was still sitting on my lawn in almost its whole entirety the next morning! Granted this is Utah and its barely June, so our nights aren’t super warm yet. But still. This is thick ice and it lasts!
You can make the opening for your drink/s as big or as small as you want so this could potentially fit much more than just one {very pretty} bottle of sparkling lemonade. And if your drinks are not cold yet, fill the remaining space with some more ice cubes to do that job for you. Basically, the bucket is super versatile in addition to being useful and it can match any party! If citrus just doesn’t go, throw in some berries or flowers! Or fill the whole thing with greenery. You really can’t go wrong and you really can’t mess this one up. Its easy!
- Materials
- Water
- Citrus
- Leaves
- Bucket
- Smaller bucket
- Duct tape
- Freezer
- First gather some leaves (I just went around my yard!) and cut up your citrus. I used one medium size orange, one lemon and two limes.
- Get two buckets. DO NOT USE A PLASTIC ONE LIKE I DID. Ok, it’s not life or death, you could use one if you wanted, cus it worked out alright for me. But, it was pretty stupid…and the bucket definitely broke. So if I were doing it again, I’d definitely strive for a metal one. Also get one for the inside opening that fits within the big one and will leave a big enough space for whatever you’re putting in the bucket at your party.
- Fill your bucket about halfway with water.
- Throw in your decorations (citrus and such)
- Put in the smaller bucket and press it all the way down till the top is level with the top of the other bucket. Tape this bucket in place there or it will just float right out! Duct tape is best cus it’s strong and pretty water resistant.
- Fill the bucket with more water as needed, leaving about an inch at the top
When you’re ready to remove it (after its froze for at least 24 hours), just set it in your sink and let it thaw a little. You can speed the process by running warm-hot water around the outside of the bucket. You can also even out the top that may have froze slightly wonky with warm water. So my bucket broke at the bottom because the ice expanded and so it didn’t stand flat either. But as I was getting the ice out, the bottom evened out and if I had needed to, I could’ve just used warm water to even it out. So no worries! There is very little you could do to ruin this project. Almost all imperfections can definitely be fixed with some warm water at the end!
If I did it again, I’d probably try to push some of the fruit and leaves down lower into the water, but it’s hard to tell when you’re filling it and really, its beautiful anyway right? I love how it turned out!
