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Baseball Party -8yr-Baseball Cupcakes

June 2006

Diane in Redondo Beach, CA

Honorable Mention

Our son is obsessed with baseball, and we attend lots of Angels games. So for his eighth birthday,a baseball theme it was. Invites were done on the computer, with a baseball background, announcing that David is rounding third and headed toward his eighth birthday, please help him celebrate, etc, and requesting "baseball attire" (team shirts, gloves, hats, bats, etc.)

Everyone met at our elementary school's baseball field, and the kids warmed up throwing, hitting, and catching balls until all the kids had arrived.

Then they played several different games: the first was a pitching contest. I tied a hula hoop to the backstop, and the kid who got the pitch inside  most often won.

Then we had a sunflower seed spitting contest, which was a huge hit. Next was a timed run from home plate, around the bases, and back home, with the best time the winner.

Finally, we had a contest to see who could hit a wiffle ball the farthest, except instead of a bat, they had to use a pool noodle (Dollar Tree, $1) I forgot to have another throwing accuracy game, where the kids have to throw a baseball into a laundry basket, which is what I used to transport all the stuff. I was going to give out baseball card packs for prizes, but Dollar Tree had baseball water balls (for summer) 2/$1. The kids wanted to play an actual baseball game, but since we were playing for 90 minutes, and had more activities planned, we all walked back to our home.

For decorations, we had red and blue balloons (Angels colors); the party store had run out of the mylar baseball balloons. We had a red tablecloth with baseball platters (Party City), baseball bowls (PC) and Angels batting helmet for the centerpiece. We also had a miniature (table top) popcorn popper on the table, but we wound up using microwave popcorn since it would have been too hard to keep up with the demands of 13 kids!

The kids made pinata bags with sports foamies and markers, and as the glue dried, dinner was set out. Hot dogs, fried chicken , and a veggie platter (more for the 4 or 5 adults who stayed)(ok, not necessarily ball park fare), sunflower seeds, peanuts, water, lemonade never got around to buying the cracker jacks! 

Next, was the baseball pinata, and then the opening of presents. I baked cupcakes with baseball wrappers, used white frosting and piped red stitching to resemble a baseball.We have a large projection screen that we set outside in the summer for movies under the stars, and luckily for us, the weather here (Southern Califonia) was hot and clear that night, enabling viewing in comfort. Chairs and end tables were set up theatre style so the kids could watch "Rookie of the Year" (My son also likes the Cubs, otherwise it would have been "Angels in the Outfield." We served popcorn in souvenir cups that we scavenged (is that a word?!)from Angel Stadium that week--16 ounce or larger, with Angels 2005 ALS Champions, etc all over. The kids got so excited with the cups, all wanting to take them home.

The goodie bags contained clean cups, with rubber baseballs (Dollar Tree), baseball stickers, Angels tattoos (thanks to Guest Relations), and small souvenir Angels batting helmets, which we also found around the stadium that night (Weinerschnitzel (sp?) sells them out here with ice cream, as does Angel Stadium)…the party started at 4:30, and the last kid left at 10 PM.

This party was so much fun to plan, and I actually had a great time, without feeling ANY stress! It was very inexpensive, and I keep thinking of ways to improve what I did, but everyone, especially my son, had a blast.

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