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Sports |
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| Both boys and girls play organized sports, making this a good theme for everyone. This was written with baseball in mind, but can be adapted to other sports too. | ||
 The Invitations |
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Make
your invitations following the format of sports paraphernalia.
Here are some ideas: |
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It’s Going To Be a Hit! |
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You get the idea. You might want to tell the guests to dress in uniform if appropriate and if they all have one. If you and your adult helpers are in the spirit, dress as a referee. Depending on the crowd, the whistle and authority might come in handy. |
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 Decorations |
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| Instead
of using balloons to identify the your house, make a bouquet of team
pennants. Cover the walls of the party room with sports souvenirs such as posters, pennants, caps, helmets, and jerseys. You can cut out pages from the sports page with stories and pictures of the favorite team and glue them to poster board to hang on the wall. Place balls – real or imitation - around the party room. Other decorations include trophies or a scoreboard. You can hang red, white and blue, or gold, silver and bronze streamers from the ceiling to create an “Olympic” theme. For an historic touch, play in the background a recording of a radio broadcast of a famous game. Or, you might play the “Rocky” theme music or other sports related music. For your table, buy a tablecloth with a picture of a sports field – baseball diamond, football field, hockey rink, etc. The centerpiece could be balls, sports cards or other sports items. |
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 Entertainment and Activities |
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Trivia
Baseball
– This game follows the roles of real baseball except that the players
answer questions instead of hit baseballs.
It can be played indoors or in the backyard.
Divide the guests into two teams and let them choose their team
name. One team is
“at-bat” and the other “takes the field”.
The team “in the field” asks the first opposing team player a
trivia question. Prepare the
questions in advance from the sports section of the newspaper or a sports
trivia book from the library or bookstore.
If the player gets the question right, he/she advances to first
base. If not, its strike one.
Three strikes for each batter and three outs per inning. You can play for a set number of innings or time
period.
The winning team can get a prize, or you might prefer to give both
teams a prize. |
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 Food |
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| If
you have a baseball theme, hot dogs, peanuts, Crackerjacks®
and pretzels would fit the bill.
For an outdoor party, a helper could dress as a hot dog vendor and
“sell” hot dogs to the guests.
Not everyone likes hot dogs so be sure to have something else on
the menu.
You might serve drinks in “sports bottles” which the guests can
take home with them. You can serve food in the shape of a sports equipment. For instance, Rice Krispie® baseballs (Rice Krispies® bars in the shape of a baseball) and carrot or bread stick bats, or Jell-O® hockey pucks. |
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The Cake |
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| Bake
the cake in the shape of a playing field.
For baseball, bake a cake in the shape of a diamond and cover it in
green icing.
For football or hockey, bake a rectangular cake and cover it in
green or white icing respectively.
Draw grid lines, bases, goals, etc. as appropriate.
Place sports figures on the field to complete the look of an
athletic field. Instead of serving on plates, consider using plastic team hats or batting helmets (good idea if you are serving ice cream) or other plastic item that can be taken home. However, remember to clean them before putting in the goody bags. |
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Goody Bags |
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| Some items you can put in the goody bags include baseball cards, team headbands, copies of official rules, and statistics books. Other favors include posters, pennants, yearbooks, and baseball caps or batting helmets from your child’s favorite team. For a swimming party you might give goggles or caps. | ||
| Partying Words | ||
| Parties, like sports, are fun, so make sure you have some too. With a little planning you’ll be ready to “Play Ball!” | ||