Ball Birthday

My youngest son loved balls (it was his first word, it was all he played with) so it was easy to come up with a ball birthday party for his 1st. This was a large party (all our family & friends were invited, as with all our 1st birthday parties).

The Decorations:

I found every ball I could... I bought a bag of play balls (the ones that go in ball pits) at Toys R Us and filled a clear bucket for the centerpiece. Then basically put balls wherever I could. I got kick ball- size playground balls at the dollar store that doubled as decorations and favors (this was a huge party...my husband's family is very large...there were a lot of balls around).

I found the "paper lanterns" at a party store, they actually had graduation caps hanging off of them (which I cut off) and no colorful ribbons to hang them from (which I added), don't be afraid to alter something to make it work for you. His banner was just letters I printed out on the computer, cut out, matted with colorful paper, and strung together with paper ribbon.

The Cake:

This cake I actually didn't bake, just decorated. I ordered a pre-made cake from Sam's Club, and had them just frost it white, smooth, with no borders (I think they thought I was a little crazy). This made it really easy to just add the bouncing balls and dash marks (thanks to Martha Stewart for this design) and it tasted great.

The Menu:

We don't do meals for big parties, so we plan it for mid-afternoon and serve snacks. This party was very laid back.

Veggies & Dip

Cowboy Caviar & Tortilla Chips

Lil' Smokies in a blanket & Barbecue Sauce

Fruit & Cream Cheese Dip

Ice Cream & Cake

Baseball Birthday

This was our first "sit down" birthday party. It was for my oldest son's 5th birthday...he was able to invite 7 of his closest friends and they all had a great time...there was a lot of laughter.

I was inspired by these baseball Easter eggs that I found on clearance. I "signed an autograph" of the kids' name on each & filled them with candy, these doubled as place markers and favors.

For the table I made pennants out of stiff felt. First I cut elongated triangles out of the felt, used ribbon to trim one edge and make ties. Next I printed out Happy 5th Birthday, Play Ball, and Home Run in "Team Spirit" font in appropriate sizes on the computer, and traced the words onto the felt; use a light box (or your window), then I colored them in with markers. I tied them to dowels and stuck them in a bucket of sand...super easy!

I set the table with matching plates and cups and baseball printed table cloth, and of course, cracker jacks.

We also had the usual streamers and balloons, and a giant blow-up baseball for everyone to play with later.

For a fun activity the kids decorated fun foam visors with foam stickers in sports designs.

Fun. Easy. Inexpensive.

The Menu:

(typical ball park food)

Hot dogs

Chips

Jello salad (just because my son likes it)

Cracker jacks

Soda

Ice Cream & Cake

The Cake:

The cake was super easy...I baked a cake in a glass bowl, turned it out and froze it (to make it easier to frost) Then simply decorated it to look like a baseball, white with red gel icing stitches (if I did it again I would use regular frosting for the stitches...I don't like the gel too much). I died shredded coconut green (for the grass) and placed the cake on it.

Paper Airplane Party

For my oldest son's eighth birthday he wanted a paper airplane party... somehow I didn't get any really great pictures, but I thought it was still worth sharing. It looked great in person :)

The decorations for this party were so inexpensive and easy, a little time consuming, but easy. I made about 25-30 (maybe more) paper airplanes out of coordinating scrapbook paper, and hung them from the beams in our dining room with invisible thread, at varying heights and directions- so it looked like they were flying. I used a great book about paper airplanes by Klutz to get some more complicated plane designs (which doubled as a birthday gift). For the cake, I did two layers, one smaller than the other, frosted blue. For the airplanes on the cake I went to the florist shop and bought some plant stakes that they use to hold up cards, they worked perfect to hold the planes up and flying over the cake - just be careful with the candles. :) For the favors we had foam airplanes and Airheads candies.

The menu for this party was also simple... for kid's party I think the simpler the better. I just made all his favorite foods in appetizer form (although we did cheat and ordered a $5 pizza).
*Mini pig in a blankets
*Mini sliders (homemade meatballs and homemade mini buns made them extra yummy)
*Fruit salad and dip
*Ants on a log
*Peanut butter, banana, and honey pinwheel sandwiches