You know how it is: some days you want a sundae, but not a meal in sugar. Or you’re like me and you really want to eat at 3-4 ice cream shops in a row and not fill up at the first place you visit. And you also don’t want to pay the price for a full sundae, which can get kind of ridiculous.

The goal: get a tiny hot fudge sundae with sprinkles or a cherry on top, for $5 or less. (I’m sure you non-Seattle peeps are all confused at $5, but you haven’t seen our food prices.) Read on to find out more.

I’m including prices without tax or tip. It’s just easier to compare this way.

Bluebird – $5

Apparently they’ve upped their servingware game: I’m used to mugs from Bluebird, not fancy sundae glasses. Super cute!

The only sad thing (for me) is that their hot fudge is Hershey’s. Some of you are going to totally rejoice at this – it’s the classic! It’s so dense! – and others will wonder why Bluebird isn’t modding it, since they mod everything to tasty goodness. Maybe we can all ask for a hot fudge with Theo chocolate mixed in and it will happen?

Cupcake Royale – $4

I’ll call this version the Petite Double Gay. I got The Gay back in June, which was vanilla with sprinkles for Pride month. No cherries, but adding rainbow sprinkles doubles the silly.

Also, I really love the cute bowl (saucer?) that the sundae was served in. So dainty! I felt like I could have this sundae with high tea – with extra sprinkles, of course.

Molly Moon’s – $4.5

I felt like their vanilla bean was the weakest of the bunch, because that’s not where Molly Moon’s shines. Molly Moon’s is all about awesome flavors. So if you’re getting a tiny sundae there, I’d actually go for the li’l sundae version of Molly’s Favorite, which has melted chocolate and salted caramel ice creams, hot fudge, candied hazelnuts, whipped cream, and a cherry. It’s amazing – and not impossible to finish.

Old School Frozen Custard – $3.50

Compared to their regular sundaes, this is downright doable. And cute, especially with the (very old school) maraschino cherry on top. I wish they had a smaller bowl to serve them in, because it would be beyond precious, but it’s compostable and that’s fine with me.

Parfait – $5.25

Everything is clearly handmade, down to the crumbly-sweet pink sprinkles and bittersweet hot fudge.

It’s also deceptively substantial vanilla ice cream. Like, I would be totally fine with a smaller scoop.

Sweet Alchemy – $5.75

At first I was sad about the price point, but then the sprinkles came out.

You see those curls? The sprinkles are grated on top. In fact, the person running the grater will tell you to say “when,” so I could have had the best sprinkles cloud ever. This felt like plenty, but if my spouse ever gets there I’m pretty sure all he’ll order are sprinkles.

Ignoring my general excitement over my Pile of Pastel, the vanilla ice cream is lovely (and small, thank goodness) and there’s plenty of hot fudge.

Tiny, not ice cream, still tasty: Pie

At ~$1.50, you can get super teeny tiny pies. Given that the Fremont Pie is next to a Bluebird, you can have pie and ice cream!

Have you visited any of these places and ordered a tiny sundae? Know other places I need to try? Let me know in the comments!