CT Mommy Blog

Andrew turned one earlier this month. We celebrated by throwing a baseball themed Rookie of the Year 1st birthday party. The party was a HIT and today I’m sharing all of the details.

We decided to have the party at our town’s park & rec building. Our house is too small to accommodate all of our guests, including 15 rambunctious toddlers. The rental space was great. It has a full kitchen and plenty of room for tables and entertainment.

My best friend got Andrew a baseball bat engraved with his name on it as his birthday present. We brought it to the party to have everyone sign as a guest book. It will hang in his room as a reminder of his first birthday party.

Invitation

The invitation set the theme for the whole party. I designed a baseball ticket with a picture of Andrew as the focal point. I asked everyone to wear their favorite baseball gear.

Shirts

We decided to get matching shirts for the party. I had a friend design a team logo using our last name. We each had our age on the back as our number. The twins were 3A and 3B – which was cute because they were referred to as Baby A and Baby B before they were born.

Andrew’s shirt had a number “1” and said “Rookie of the Year.” He had on matching baseball pants that said “Little Slugger.” He also had on knee-high socks and baseball shoes.

All our friends and family came decked out in their favorite baseball outfits too. It was a lot of fun to see the different teams represented and everyone having fun with the theme.

Food

We stuck to classic baseball food for the party — hot dogs, pretzels, nachos, macaroni & cheese(for the kids). We had a concession stand with a mini popcorn machine, sunflower seeds, Big League Chew and baseball lollipops. (I would have had peanuts and Cracker Jacks too but we have a few people with peanut allergies.)

I wanted the feel for the whole party to be casual and fun. People could help themselves to snacks and drinks as they pleased. We even had specialty hot dogs named after Andrew’s nicknames.

Smash Cake

We had a Smash Cake Photo Session a week before the big party so Andrew knew exactly what to do when he saw his birthday cake. He had on a special baseball bib and the birthday hat I had made for him. His cake was decorated like a baseball with cupcakes to match.

Ice Cream

Along with the cupcakes we served ice cream with all of the fixings for a perfect sundae. We thought it would be a really cute idea to get miniature baseball helmets to eat the ice cream from – just like at a real baseball game. The helmets also served as a take-home favor. We got Yankees, Red Sox, and Mets — the most popular teams of our guests.

 Activities

With a room full of busy toddlers I knew that I needed to come prepared with plenty of things to keep them busy. We bought a bounce house that seemed to keep everyone happy. We also had a ball pit – that was originally meant for the little babies but was used by the big kids too. There was an inflatable baseball catcher with blow-up baseballs. I also brought along Andrew’s Thomas the Train Power Wheels that we gave him for a birthday present.

Arts & Crafts

My girls love arts & crafts and are always drawn to them at parties. I had a table set up where the kids could decorate their own baseball hats. It was a nice quiet space where the kids could rest in between jumping in the bounce house. There were markers, fabric paint, and stickers.

Favors

We gave away plastic balls an bats to the older kids as favors. I was able to find all the bat sets at the dollar store. I had a separate ball/rattle to give to all the babies.

I really enjoyed celebrating Andrew’s 1st birthday with our closest friends and family. I think the party was a huge success and I hope everyone had a BALL!