Sports Birthday Party

It's been pitifully long since I posted, but I'm going to catch up today!  For my son's 8th birthday, we had a sports themed party at the local trampoline place.  He had a blast with his friends!

Invitation: I ordered the cutest invitation from Etsy!  Order them HERE

Decorations: I made a pennant banner with my Silhouette.  I used sports scrapbook paper for the pennants and Team MT font for the letters.

For table decorations, I filled mason jars with orange and white gumballs and attached balloons.

For a fun keepsake, I had everyone at the party sign a baseball using a sharpie.  Love!

Food: I went very simple on the food!  Pizza, cheese balls, & cookie cake!  Publix made the cookie cake to resemble a football field.  Sorry I don't have a great picture but you get the idea.

Goodie Bags:  For the bag itself, I cut football and basketball outlines with my Silhouette and glued them to a plain white bag.  I added a "Thanks for being an all-star friend!" tag.  You can download the tags HERE.  We filled the bags with Big League chew, sports toys, balls, and more candy!  We also took a poll of everyone's favorite sports team and ordered cups to match.  They loved that!  Most of the goodie bag items came from Party City.

School Treats:  I sent icing filled cookies for the school treat.  These are simply place and bake sugar cookies that I rolled in orange sprinkles before baking.  Once cooled, I spread funfetti icing in the middle to make cookie sandwiches!  I printed these "8 is Great!" labels on sticker paper, used a 2" circle punch to cut them out, and then stuck them on ziploc snack bags.  You can print the labels HERE.

Thank You Notes:  We used these sports thank you notes.  You can download them HERE (page 1) and HERE (page 2).

It was a great birthday!!

"Cool" Coach Gifts

I wanted to get our swim team coaches a little something for all of their hard work over the summer!  I found these pocket fans at Academy for $3 each.  Using my Silhouette, I cut out the vinyl letters (Cafe Rojo font for the "H" & Pharmacy font for the "K", "A", & "T").  I then attached a tag that said "Thanks for being a cool coach!" with baker's twine.  You can download the tags HERE.  I love how these fans can fit in your pocket and know they will come in handy at a swim meet!

Baseball Banner

I made a team banner for our baseball party that was so cute!

I cut navy cardstock into pennant shapes with my Silhouette using "6 banner set" pennant shape.  I added 2 small circles to the shape to thread the ribbon through.  Then, I cut white and red cardstock for the letters with my Silhouette using "Allstar" font.  I glued the inner red letter onto the whole white letter & glued the letters to the pennants.  I printed out Nationals clip art on white cardstock to use at the beginning and end of the banner and glued that on.  I laminated each pennant and thread with red ribbon.  Banners are so easy to make and we took a cute team picture underneath it!

Soccer Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for our End of Season Soccer Party!  I found the soccer cupcake liners at Walmart.

For cakes, I always use Duncan Hines butter cake mix.  To the dry mix, I add one small instant french vanilla pudding dry mix then make as directed (3 eggs, water, 1 stick butter).  Next, bake as directed for cupcakes and let cool.

For icing, I use Wilton's buttercream recipe.  I change it up some when I am making white icing (see step 4 on the Wilton link) but for any colored icing, I follow this recipe.  I made 24 cupcakes and 1 recipe of icing, which I tinted "leaf green".

I spread a thin layer of icing on the cooled cupcakes.  Next, I added green icing with Ateco tip #133 to make grass all over the cupcakes (instructions for grass technique HERE).

Top with Soccer Cupcake Toppers if desired (available for download HERE ).  Print toppers on cardstock, punch with 2" circle punch, attach to halved coffee stirrers with tape, & insert into cupcake!  Yummy!

End of Season Baseball Gifts

I gave these treat bags to my son's team for an End of Season favor.  I got the ziploc bags at Michael's, the Big League Chew at Academy, and the return baseballs at Dollar Tree.  I re-used the same tag from last season that can be downloaded HERE.  So fun!

Then, I made this baseball for the kids to sign for their coach.  I made it on my Silhouette and used "Harlow Solid Italic" font.  It was easy!

I made these cupcakes for the party too.  The kids loved them!

Basketball Bags & Baseball Tags

We are nearing the end of basketball season and starting baseball season, so I "had" to do some fun stuff for that!

I did these snack bags for the last basketball game of the season.  The basketball ziploc bags came from Michaels, to which I added a mini Fanta, orange gum, an orange Airhead, and orange crackers.  It's not at all healthy but since it's the last game, I thought it would be a fun treat!

My 5 year old is playing baseball, so I made these tags to clip to the chain link fence in the dugout.  It's hard to keep up with ten 5 year olds and make sure they all bat in the right order, so now the coach should be able to find them - if they sit under their name!

I printed these tags on white cardstock, cut them out, and hole punched them.  Then I laminated them, cut them out again, and hole punched the laminated part.  I added the clips that I got at Walmart.  You can download the tags HERE.  Play ball!

Displaying Sports Items

To display my son's game baseballs, I use wooden furniture casters and simply place the ball on top.  No rolling around and super cheap!

To display my son's swimming ribbons, I tied some string to each side of a shelf and used matching decoupage clothespins to clip them on.  A great way to display them all & again easy & cheap!

Baseball Favors

I wanted to do a little something for my boys' baseball teams for their last game.  So, I got Cracker Jacks (at Walmart), Big League Chew (at Academy), & baseball party blowers (at Walmart).  I put everything in clear plastic bags, tied it up with red tulle, and attached cute "I had a ball playing with you!" tags.  You can download the free printable tags HERE and sign your child's name.  Too cute!

Football Cheese Ball

You can use any cheese ball recipe you love or this one:

Blue Cheese Ball (adapted from allrecipes.com)
     16 ounces cream cheese, softened
     1 cup crumbled blue cheese
     1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
     1/4 cup chopped onion
     1 teaspoon minced garlic
     1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
     1 cup chopped pecans

In a medium bowl, stir together all cheeses, onion, garlic, and Worcestershire.  Divide cheese mixture in half to make 2 cheese balls.  Wrap each cheese ball in plastic wrap and mold into football shape.  Refrigerate overnight.  Shape as needed in plastic wrap.  Put on serving dish.  Use pecans to make a border around the edge of the football and to make football laces.  Pat remaining pecans into sides of football.  Serve with crackers.  (also could shape into 2 balls and roll in pecans).