July 18, 2009

Lego Star Wars Party

THEME:
I was working on another theme for Noah this year, but then I saw an ad for End Zone stating that they did birthday parties, so I had to go check it out. I had never even been in the store before, but what a surprise! It's pure male paradise. Plus I loved it because I love playing board games, and they have every game you've ever heard of, and every one you haven't.

When I saw the video game party room, I knew this was the place for Noah's party. All of his friends are as big of fans of video games as Noah, so it was sure to please. And I thought the cost was very reasonable for 3 hours of fun, and not having to put 12 boys in my house!

INVITATIONS:
I'm really proud of these because I think they turned out so cute! I did a Google search for Lego Star Wars and found this cute picture in high quality. It had the "Lego Star Wars The Video Game" on it so I simply added "Birthday Party!" underneath that in Photoshop Elements. Then I typed the lower text, skewed it, added the yellow border, and sized it to print out as a 4"x6" photo. Then I just uploaded them, and picked up my prints a few hours later. I got help on the wording from some of the ideas on Birthday Party Ideas.

Back:
I did the backs in Microsoft Publisher, printed them out, cut them to the same size as the photos, and glued them together. I added a business card from End Zone at the bottom.
ACTIVITIES:
VIDEO GAMES! 6 big screen TV's, 3 with Lego Star Wars (my personal favorite), 1 with Lego Batman, 1 with Lego Indiana Jones, and 1 with another game on it (don't remember what it was) that had a bunch of mini-games.

The kids were SO excited to get into the room and start playing. I tried to make sure they got a chance to switch games if they wanted to, and tried to have Noah play with all of his guests at some point during the party. I used my 14 year-old son Logan as a fill-in when someone needed a partner to play with or help on a game. The owner's son was also in there to make sure everything was working right and to help the kids if they got stuck on part of a level.

FOOD:
Pizza, and green Gatorade bottles that we called "Yoda Soda". Then we had cupcakes and ice cream cups. I have never seen kids eat so fast in my life! As soon as they were done and washed their hands they could head back in to play again.

It was a fun setting to eat in the Lego room of the store. The boys had a good time pointing out to each other what sets they owned.

I brought the blue and green table cloths to put over theirs, so all we had to do was pile up the pizza boxes, gather the table cloths up with everything in them, and shove them in a garbage bag, and we were good to go.

FAVORS:
Because of the cost of this party, I didn't do a whole lot for the treat bags. I made the little topper for the baggies and put in colorful Twizzlers (I thought they looked like light sabers) and Starburst candies.

CAKE:
On Noah's actual birthday, I made this sad looking Lego cake. I used cupcakes on the top, and it would have been easier if I could have frozen them first, decorated them off the cake, then placed them on. I think using Ding Dongs instead might have worked better also. But, I was in a hurry, and Noah liked it, so, oh well. (And thanks to Photoshop it looks much better than it did in real life ;0)

It was a very fun party, and you can't beat not having to clean up anything. But my only problem may be that he will want to go there every year from now on, and I just don't think I could handle repeating a theme - what would I blog?

June 11, 2009

Carnival Birthday

THEME:
For my kid's parties I usually look to their interests for the theme. Evan's personality definitely fit the carnival theme. He's our little funny man, the family jester, the clown. If you ask him where he came from, he'll tell you, "The Funny Farm!" So with inspiration from my favorite party websites, and fun carnival themed treats at Dollar Tree, and one of our Wii games Carnival Games, I started planning. I knew I had to keep it pretty simple for 5 year-olds.

INVITATIONS:
I can't take credit for this because I found inspiration from a Google search, but sorry, I don't remember where. I did the whole thing in Microsoft Publisher, so it was pretty simple. I printed them on parchment paper and scallop-cut the ends so it looked like they had been torn apart.This was a card that my daughter made Evan for his birthday and I thought it would make a really cute invitation also. She made it so the popcorn part lifted out with more on it. A friend did a similar invitation a few years ago to her daughter's movie party. Come to think of it, I did too! I'll have to find those photos for another post.

DECORATIONS:
Not too many. We set up the picnic table on the back lawn with a big colorful patio umbrella over it. My husband pounded in some fence posts and we divided them with string. I tried to hang paper off the edges off the string, but the wind was shredding it as fast as I could hang it, so I tore it all off. The games themselves ended up being the decor.

My daughter and two of her friends that came to help made a ticket both under the swing set. They handed out the tickets that were on a necklace for each guest. That way we could tear off the ticket after they completed the activity to keep track of what the kids had done and if they had gotten the prize for it. They could do the activities more than once, but only got one prize for it.

My two older sons also got to invite a friend over to help. They worked as my 'Carnies' to run the games. My Mom was up also to help out. I couldn't have done this without all their help. While they ran everything, I had time to wander around and take photos. You really need to have someone running each activity.

ACTIVITIES:
After each guest got their tickets, my helpers took them to a table where they each decorated a handled bag to put all of their prizes in. We had markers, die-cuts, stickers and foam letters and shapes to decorate with. As soon as they had a bag made they could wander to whatever game they wanted to.

I had a sign at each game station with a picture that said "1 Ticket". The signs corresponded with the pictures on the ticket necklaces for each game. They also got a ticket for a balloon, cotton candy, popcorn, and a drink. This was really fun for the little kids because they felt like they were buying them. I made the tickets in Microsoft Publisher also with each of the guests names on them.



Beanbag Toss. Made from a cardboard box and cute wrapping paper for the hat.

Ball Toss. Had to try and get the whiffle balls to land in the plastic cups.

Tin Can Alley. Had to knock tin cans over with foam balls.

Penny Toss. Had to stand behind a line and toss pennies onto a Twister mat trying to get them to land on the colored circles.

Fish Pond. Under our hay barn. My daughter made the cute fish.

Frog Toss. This one was a favorite. They had to stand on the base and toss plastic frogs to try and get them to land on the 'lily pads'.

Football Toss. Not pictured, but next to this we had a hula hoop hanging from the swingset that they had to throw a football through.

Ring toss. I couldn't figure out what to use for the rings, but then I found an inexpensive pack of bracelets at Michael's that worked great. I was going to give the Crush out as drinks, but since they were glass I changed my mind and did screw-top Sprite bottles instead.
My Carnies got the Crush after the party.

Double Shot. Logan's friend had fun playing against the kids on our little basketball game that we hauled into the back yard.

FOOD:
My friend's sister loaned us her awesome cotton candy machine and this really made the party. My husband David ran it for us and made enough to nearly make us all sick! What fun! All the neighbors commented on how they could smell it, and our dog Chloe went wild after the party licking up all the loose candy that had floated all over the patio. Definitely an outdoor thing.

Can you say "sugar rush"!

CAKE:
The birthday boy with his cupcakes. My daughter and her friends decorated the Funfetti cupcakes with sprinkles and candies we found at the dollar store. The thought was to make them look like a carousel. After they opened the candy sticks and gummy animals we discovered the animals weren't attached to the sticks in various heights like we thought they were. Without time to find a way to attach them, this is what we got, and the kids didn't care.

FAVORS:
As mentioned above, they decorated their bags to take with them to fill with prizes. By the time they left they were filled with animal crackers, gummy carnival food, marshmallow circus animals, bubbles that look little plastic pop bottles, play dough, spinning tops, mazes, mini whiffle balls, bags of popped popcorn, soda, and extraa baggies full of more cotton candy to take home!

A very fun party. It could work for any age if you change the games a little too. It took a lot of helpers, but my Carnies also had a ball and one friend said it was the funnest party she had ever been to (even though she was working!) I bought them pizza afterward so they wouldn't be running on pure sugar the rest of the day.

June 10, 2009

Flip-Flop Luau Party

THEME:
As soon as my husband and I knew we were going to Hawaii, the theme for my daughter's next birthday party was set. So my daughter and I planned for this party for about six months. I had done several Luaus before, so I already had a lot of decorations. We just had to pray for good weather (end of Sept. party) and come up with the final plan.

INVITATIONS:
Stauney knew she wanted flip-flop invitations, so we searched the internet for ideas. We found some really cute ideas, but ended up liking wide chunky flip-flops the best. I found some cute ribbon first then got craft foam to match. I drew a pattern on some paper in the size I wanted, then scanned it and used that image to fit my text into. I printed them on cardstock with some hibiscus flowers in light pink rotated different directions in the background.
Then I made the foam pattern just a little bigger and ran it through my paper crimper so the foam had a wavy 'tread' to it. You can't see that in the photo, but it made them so cute. They turned out to be about the same size as real flip-flops. (Yes, Stauney tried putting them on her feet, but they were all left-footed.)


DECORATIONS:
I had so much fun decorating. I pulled out all my supplies and went wild. My sister even had some palm tree cutouts that she had made for a Primary activity that we used outside to tie a towel line between, and inside around the table along the walls. I hung a parrot and paper lanterns from the chandelier over the dining room table.

We found some flip-flop napkins and cups at a party store and used the colors in them for the rest of the tableware - plates, tablecloth, and placemats. We sprinkled goldfish crackers in the fishnet on the table and put a seashell necklace that I bought in Hawaii next to each plate. We were going to give them to the girls when they first showed up, but decided to wait so they wouldn't get broken during the games. We handed out plastic leis instead. The centerpiece flowers were from the dollar store.

FOOD:
We kept seeing the word 'pupu' all over Hawaii, but didn't know what it meant. So on our way to the airport we asked our chatty shuttle driver and he told us it meant finger food. So we had pupu to eat at the party. My amazing and wonderful niece Laci came and helped me out with the party. I gave her a ton of directions and she saved me by getting all the food ready while I was outside running the games. (I sent my husband away with the boys.) Thanks Laci!!! She cut and assembled the food for me. We served fruit kebabs (pineapple, grapes, apples, bananas, melon) with fruit dip, pineapple with plum powder, mini eggrolls, cheese cubes, chicken nuggets with three sauces, Hawaiian kettle chips, Hawaiian coleslaw, and Hawaii's Own fruit juice to drink. I made fruit shaped ice cubes out of more of the juice and the girls died over them!

I covered the bar with some floral fabric, and used cake pans underneath to add height. (I blurred out my messy sink full of dishes in the background.) We had mellow Hawaiian music playing in the background. Stauney was limited to inviting only 11 guests because I could only fit 12 at my table. This was really hard for her, she started with a list of about 18 girls!

ACTIVITIES:
I made a CD of upbeat Hawaiian songs for the games. First we had a hula hoop contest. Some of the girls were really good, so we had them walking around, crouching, etc. to make it harder for them. The second game we played was musical beach towels. This was so fun! The girls were diving onto their towels when the music stopped and I got a little worried about injuries, but they survived. Then we split into two teams for hula hoop passing relays. They had to link hands and pass the hoops around the circle without breaking apart.

You can see the palm tree towel line in the background of this photo. And finally we did the limbo. The winners of each of the games got bags of Swedish fish to take home, but then we gave handfuls to everyone else later.

MUSIC:
I invested in Drew's Famous Luau Dance Party Favorites CD years ago, so some of these songs are on there. I also have the Beach Boys Greatest Hits CD, and the 50 First Dates soundtrack.

Other songs I either had, or downloaded.
I Can't Help Fallin in Love, I Can See Clearly Now, Kokomo, Good Vibrations, Caribbean Blue, Wouldn't it Be Nice, Don't Worry Be Happy, New Soul, This is What Dreams Are Made Of, I'm Yours, Upside Down (A*Teens and Jack Johnson versions), Pocket Full of Sunshine, Humuhumunukunuku..., Mambo #5, The Sweet Escape, Tiki Room, Hawaiian War Chant, Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride, Me Helo No Lilo, Walkin' On the Sun, Copacabana, The Tide Is High, Aloha Oe, Wipe Out, Escape, Hawaii Five-O, Surfin' U.S.A., Over the Rainbow (by Iz), Hands Up - and many many more!

CAKE:
We found many cute flip-flop cake ideas on the internet, but this one was my daughter's favorite. I made two rectangle cakes, one for the base and one for the flip-flops (but you only use half of it). I used yellow cake mixes, but used pineapple juice in place of the water for a great flavor. The sand is crushed vanilla creme cookies, which should have been ground in the food processor, but were just smashed with a rolling pin in a bag since I was short on time. The straps are red Fruit Roll-Ups and the candies on the sides are sprinkles from Wilton. I think the candles really made it cute and were found at the party store. The only problem we had with the cake was that all the girls wanted to eat part of a flip-flop and some had to settle for beach and ocean pieces. They LOVED the cake design.

FAVORS:
I got the idea for treat leis when I was in Hawaii. I saw some in a store like this with taffy inside. Stauney and I had a lot of fun finding little things to put in them. We had tropical gum, fruity Tootsie Rolls, tropical Smarties, hair ponytails with jewel flowers on them, lip gloss, powdered candy in plastic fruit shapes, and flip-flop erasers. I bought two flower leis that we cut apart for the flowers. Then we just spread out a long piece of plastic wrap, put the treats on, rolled it up, and tied between with yarn and the flowers. We gave one to each of the girls as they left along with the Hawaiian seashell necklaces that were on the table.


It was a very fun party to plan. The invitations were a bit time consuming, but since I already had a lot of decorations, lots of time to plan, and Laci to help, it went pretty smoothly. Hope you enjoyed it!

June 7, 2009

Mall Scavenger Hunt

THEME:
My daughter went to a friend's party last year that was really fun and creative. All the guests met at the birthday girl's house then were driven to the local mall. They divided into two teams of about 5 girls each and an adult. Each team was then given $20.00 to spend to help purchase the items on their list.

3D Triangle Handbag Lip Balm Holder

INVITATIONS:
It would be really cute to do the invitations like a credit card and put it in a little paper purse.
This one is an SVG cutting file from the digiplayground.com website. But there are tons of other ways to do paper purses. Just do a search on Google or Pinterest.

ACTIVITIES:
The Lists (this is what my daughter can remember, but there were 20 items on each list.)
Find...
...a candy that doesn't break.
...something that dangles.
...something that bounces that isn't a ball.
...something that smells like fruit.
...socks that have purple and orange on them, but not red or yellow.
...something brown with pink polka-dots.
...something furry.
...something red.
...something Christmasy.
...something you could use for school.

A single item could fit multiple categories. So they went to the candy store and explained that they were on a scavenger hunt and needed to find a candy that couldn't break. The girl working there gave them a bag of multiple candies (for free) that they started throwing on the floor. One of the candies didn't break, and also bounced, so they got to cross 2 items off the list!

My daughter's group had a hard time finding something brown with pink polka-dots, but the other group had someone put pink sprinkles on a chocolate cupcake. My daughter and her friends had a blast acting silly, and got really creative.

FAVORS:
Each girl got a Symphony bar and a bottle of candy-smelling lotion. Then they put all the items they got in the scavenger hunt into a pile and the girls took turns picking items until they were all gone.
Some of the items they found: Webkinz (they were buy 1 get 1 free), candy, cookies, silly putty, lip gloss, socks, jewelry, charms, hair accessories, notebooks, and lots of food items.

Pink Purse Cake

CAKE:
At this party they served ice cream between chocolate chip cookies. But I was thinking, how cute would it be to have this purse cake from Wilton or one like it! Just do a Google image search.
We found some other fun scavenger hunt party ideas on Birthday Party Ideas in their teen party section. You could also do one by taking photos instead of purchasing items. This is a great party for pre-teens and teens, or a boy/girl party. It's also a great theme during months when it's not good weather outdoors.

May 26, 2009

Super-Sized Birthday Party

THEME:
It really gets harder for me to plan parties as my kids get older. Especially for my oldest son Logan. He's my only child that doesn't plan his next party theme a year ahead. My daughter had already picked a 'Tiny Party' for her theme and since their birthdays are 2 days apart, it was going to be held the day after Logan's party. So we thought, why not do the opposite and go SUPER-SIZED! What growing 13 year-old boy wouldn't jump at the chance to have jumbo-sized party foods. So the theme was set.

INVITATIONS:
Now, I know the invitations (below) don't look that exciting. But what made them fun was that they were each printed on a full 8 1/2"x 11" piece of cardstock and delivered in 9"x 12" envelopes. What was really fun was that my son and daughter delivered big and tiny birthday invitations at the same time to friends that are a brother and sister .

DECORATIONS:
We didn't really decorate, besides these huge balloons for Logan, and primary colors for the tablecloth and big napkins. But if you wanted to, just think BIG, JUMBO, anything super-sized. Logan thought the huge balloons were completely awesome, and I agree, but wow, try driving with those puppies in your car sometime! Luckily the party store where I got them is close to my house and we didn't have any kids in the car.

ACTIVITIES:
Logan mostly wanted to play video games with his friends, but as we were waiting for everyone to come we sent them to the back yard where they played jumbo kick-ball with a huge ball that Noah got for his baseball party that year. You can see my husband running to tag Logan in the photo below.

For additional game ideas, check out my favorite party sites. But really, all you need to do is think of a normal party game and then think of how you can play it big.

FOOD:
We bought pre-baked pizzas from Sam's Club for the dinner. I also had my husband get some big cups and straws there too. Then we had 2-liter bottles of soda that we filled them with. I made a salad too, but I don't think any of the boys ate any of it except my son.

CAKE:
I really wanted to make the cake with that cute new giant cupcake cake-pan from Wilton, but it wasn't available at the time in stores. I still think it's adorable, but can't bring myself to pay $30 for it. So instead I made cupcakes in my big muffin pans and sprinkled them with these jumbo Wilton sprinkles. (WARNING: The boys said these sprinkles nearly broke a few of their teeth out.)

There it is again. That reoccurring blue tray! I swear it's in nearly every party theme on here. I really must invest in more trays I suppose. I really tried to find some more just like it for this party so the boys could use them as plates to eat off of, but I couldn't.

FAVORS:
I found some big favor bags at the dollar store that we used and filled them with King-Sized Kit Kat candy bars, movie theater sized-candies in boxes, big Blow-Pop suckers, and big party blowers, also from the dollar store. My son and his friends really enjoyed getting huge candies as favors and since he only invited four boys it didn't cost that much.

Overall, the party was a BIG hit and the boys had HUGE amounts of fun. Okay, I'll stop now. But if you're looking for an easy party theme, SUPER-SIZE it!

May 14, 2009

Bug Party

THEME:
For Evan's 4th birthday we had a Bug Party. I have to admit that the whole party was inspired by the cute party favors that I found at Dollar Tree that were bug-themed. I'll explain more about them later, but it was a very fun theme to plan around, and great for a 4-year old and his playgroup friends.
Years ago I helped my friend plan a Ladybug party for her daughter's birthday and I will also tell about some of the ideas from that party here.

INVITATIONS:
Front. I cut the jars out of vellum from a die-cut. The bugs were 3-D stickers that I actually just had laying around, but they were super cute!


Back. I'm pretty sure I got the idea for the wording from birthdaypartyideas.com.

DECORATIONS:
The back yard served as our decor for this party. But it would be fun to decorate with oversize flowers and things to make it seem like you are a small bug. You could hang pictures of bugs, flowers, or decorate with butterfly nets. We have a small bee tent that we set up to put the gifts in.


ACTIVITIES:
As the kids showed up my daughter painted the bug of their choice on their faces. In the photo below you can see the centipede she painted on my son's forehead (not a big ugly scar as you might think)! You can also see the cute bee pinata we had. It was such a shame to beat it up! No blindfolds for this age, it was a hard little sucker to break open.


We gave each of the kids a bug mask (leftovers from a Pack Meeting - purchased at OTC), taped 8 pipe cleaners on each of their backs and had a bug leg grab. They had to try and grab the legs off of the other bugs while trying to protect their own.

In our sandbox we buried a bunch of plastic bugs and each child had 30 seconds to dig for as many as they could. Then we washed the sand off and dried them in the sun before putting them into their bug-catchers I found at Dollar Tree (photo below).

At the ladybug party my friend hid the plastic bugs around her backyard and told each of the kids how many they could each find. They also played pin the spots on the ladybug.

At the end of our bug party my husband gave the kids rides in the wagon behind the lawn tractor while we waited for parents to come pick them up.


MUSIC:
Another One Bites the Dust, Butterfly Kisses, Firefly (A*Teens), Fly On the Wall, Come Fly with Me, The Ants Go Marching, Flight of the Bumblebee, The Bird and the Worm, Glow Worm.

FOOD:
You can add clean plastic bugs into red or green Kool-Aid in a clear pitcher for bug juice. We purchased individual bottles of Bug Juice at the local convenience store. We didn't have a meal at this party, but some ideas are picnic foods, sandwiches cut in flower shapes, ants on a log, or a big sub sandwich made to look like a caterpillar. I always label their drinks or drink cups so you don't get them mixed up. It's important to keep the kiddos hydrated on hot days!


THE CAKE:
These cups are layered with crushed Oreo 'dirt' then a small chocolate cupcake, chocolate pudding, more Oreos and filled with gummy bugs and worms. The gummy bugs were awesome because the were Fruit Gushers and had liquid in them that squirted out when you bit into them.


This was the family party cake covered in Oreo 'dirt' and awesome bugs from a local store called Dilly Dally's that carries all sorts of plastic animals and bugs for a great price.


I have a better photo of this cake somewhere but I can't find it! So you can get the gist of it from this little one off a proof sheet. For my friend's daughter's ladybug party I made this daisy cake. The center is a rounded cake baked in a glass bowl and frosted yellow with yellow star-tip dots all over it to make it textured. The white petals are actually Twinkies frosted with white frosting. And one ladybug cupcake for the center because black and red frosting always tastes disgusting whenever I make it. There are black licorice pieces for the antenna and chocolate chips for the spots.


FAVORS:
I think treat bags and party favors are my favorite thing to do for a theme party. And as I mentioned before I got some cool stuff from the dollar store. The first thing I found were some little plastic jars with glow bug suckers attached to the lid. When you pushed a button on the top the candy lit up like a firefly in a jar. We also got some really cool gummy bugs that were big and squishy in bright colors. Then they also got a mini magnifying glass, a personalized bug catcher, candy from the pinata, their plastic bugs and their masks.


I made labels for the yellow bags that said, "We're so glad you could 'bee' here for my party. Thanks so much for coming. Love Evan." I always recommend labeling treat bags with the kids' names. No doubt someone will set it back down somewhere, and then you know who it belongs to.

These are just a few ideas, but it was a great hit for my little 4 year-old and his friends!


March 18, 2009

Baseball Birthday Party

THEME:
Our little slugger Noah is very into baseball and was just starting up his next T-Ball season, along with most of his friends. So the baseball theme was a big hit! With the season in full-swing we got ready to make this party a home run hit. (See how many baseball cliches there are to work with!) I got most of my ideas from birthdaypartyideas.com so be sure to check it out for more baseball related ideas.

This post contains affiliate links. You can read my disclosure by clicking here.


INVITATIONS:
I bought some baseball die-cuts at the party store, then printed out the party info. in Microsoft Publisher and just glued them to the die-cuts. Or you could make a simple baseball card of the birthday child like the one above. You could include the party information like stats. My plan was to make one of these for each of the guests as a thank you. I did take a photo of each guest posing like this, but never got them made. It would have been cute though! I made this one in Photoshop Elements but you could really do it with any program.


DECORATIONS:
We didn't do much for decorations, just put up a practice net behind home plate and bases around that I purchased. With three boys of my own, I know I'll get plenty of use out of both. If you are fans of a local baseball team you could decorate with pennants, banners, and baseball items from that team or another favorite team. We have plenty of old Little League t-shirts and hats that could have been used as decorations also.

We used red, white and blue as our main colors. We had a red plastic tablecloth and baseball plates for the cupcakes.

ACTIVITIES:
As the guests showed up, my oldest son led them in spring training doing sit-ups, push-ups, stretching and warm-up drills until everyone arrived. Then we played musical bases. This was really fun and a great activity for energetic little boys. We played music while the kids ran around the bases and when it stopped they had to hurry and get on a base. More than one person could be on a base at a time. Then we drew a card with either home plate, 1st base, 2nd base or 3rd base out of a hat and whoever was on that one was out and had to sit out until the next round.


While they were waiting for the next game to start they took turns throwing three baseballs to try and knock over a pyramid of soda cans for pitching practice.



Other activities we did were a baseball pinata for batting practice, and a sunflower seed-spitting contest. This was really gross, but the boys liked it! After everything else was done we played a game of baseball while waiting for parents to come pick up their kids.


Another great idea I found was to have each of the guests sign a special baseball for the birthday child as a reminder of the party.

MUSIC:
Think of any sports movie, and there are plenty, and what music they used in it. There are lots of choices out there. I just used a CD of some of my son's favorite songs for musical bases, but here is a list of a few song ideas: We Are the Champions, Chariots of Fire, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, Another One Bites the Dust, We Will Rock You, Eye of the Tiger, Y.M.C.A., Mony Mony, Born to be Wild, and the Star Spangled Banner.

FOOD: We served hot dogs, of course, along with chips and bottles of blue Gatorade. Anything with a concession stand theme would work. I put name labels on the drinks so they wouldn't get them mixed up. It was great to have drinks with screw on lids so they could be closed up again to prevent spills and to send home with the guests if they didn't finish.


CAKE:
I made enough small baseball cupcakes for the guests and saved the bigger one to put candles in and for Noah to share with the family. They were just frosted with white icing and then little V's added with red decorator gel. I drew an arch in the icing with a toothpick first for guidelines. The big ball was baked in a glass bowl. I found lots of cute ideas when I was looking though, baseball fields with plastic players, pennants, mitts, balls and bats. Just do a Google Images search for 'baseball cakes' and you'll get plenty of ideas.


FAVORS:
Our treat bags were popcorn bags filled with popcorn, peanuts, Cracker Jacks, mini Baby Ruth and Butterfinger candybars, several baseball cards, spongy baseballs, baseball erasers and the candy they got from the pinata.

Official First Post

More to come soon!