How to Host a Baseball Party
In ten years of throwing children’s parties, I’ve never thrown a baseball party! It’s been on my party bucket list since the day my son Hudson was born. To say the least, I was thrilled when he decided he’d like a baseball party to celebrate his 8th birthday.
Classic party themes are my favorite and baseball definitely falls into this category! It’s timeless, all-American, and who doesn’t love baseball? It’s a fairly easy party to host in your own backyard, at a park or even a local ball field.
The first thing you’ll want to do when planning a baseball party is put together your overall concept. I like to outline the basics and then fill in the blanks/details as the party planning continues. With Hudson’s baseball party, my initial ideas included:
Venue: Baseball field
Activities: Baseball game and/or drills, baseball pinata
Food: Hot dogs, chips, soda and concession treats
Dessert: Ice Cream Soda Bar with Dreyer’s Slow Churned Simple Recipes light ice cream.
Take Home Favors: Baseball hats
After putting together the initial concept, it’s time to design an invite! There are thousands and thousands of baseball invites online to choose from and a billion different ways to send them out. I enlisted the help of Erica of Harper Gray Designs to create a baseball invite that we could have printed on an actual baseball. It turned out so adorable! We also included a little card/ticket insert inside each box with the party details.
Depending on how old your crowd is, you’ll want to plan for party activities. We had a wide variety of ages, from as young as 1 to as old as 60. We decided on a few baseball drills and a leisure game of baseball.
The “ticket” card we included in the invite asked guests to wear either red or blue, and to bring their glove. I had a feeling there would be guests who forgot their glove so I picked up extra for just in case. Value Village is a great place to get inexpensive gloves and gear. We found a bunch for around $1.50/each!
Instead of take home goodie bags, I had red and blue hats made at a local sports store for each child and adult with Hudson’s logo (also designed by Harper Gray). We created a “Hudson Astros” logo inspired by the Houston Astros.
No baseball party is complete without a concession stand! Any table or cart will work to display your goodies. I used a vintage wood plant stand as my table. The shape reminded me of old wood bleachers.
To replicate a concession stand, you’ll want to include the obvious…Peanuts and Cracker Jacks, but also the nostalgic baseball treats like Big League Chew, Red Rope and Sunflower Seeds, which are always a hit with kids!
Use vintage boxes, crates and trays to serve your snacks.
With so many treats you can keep desserts to a minimum. I made a couple dozen baseball sugar cookies and a red velvet baseball cake for Hudson.
The cake was covered with a smooth white buttercream icing and decorated with red baseball laces drawn on. I found a vintage trophy at a second hand store for $4 and removed the base, making it the cutest cake topper! Hudson LOVED it. Instead of a cake stand, I used an old green film reel tin. I liked how it gave me a pop of green under the cake.
I think a lot of people would say flowers don’t fit into boy parties but I totally disagree! Yes, pink peonies would be completely out of place. But fresh farm flowers in the right colors add the perfect amount of life to an outdoor baseball party! I placed them in a glass vase and tucked them down into a vintage popcorn tin.
Whenever I host an event away from my house, I try to keep food simple. It’s already a lot of work to drag decorations and display pieces, and food is just one more thing to worry about. For a baseball party, I suggest keeping it easy and serving hot dogs!
I found this adorable hot dog cart from Nostalgia Electrics. It was simple to put together, lightweight, and cooked delicious hot dogs!
If you’re planning on bbq’ing or renting/purchasing a hot dog cart, don’t forget the condiments. You’ll want ketchup, mustard, mayo, relish and sauerkraut!
Decorations were minimal, as in, one banner. Ha! The baseball field setting was plenty of decor. I had a banner made and hung it behind the backstop. It made a cute photo op!
My husband organized the activities and game. It was so much fun watching the little kids play with parents!
My daughter Ally who is more of a volleyball girl gave it a shot. She took a swing and got a hit! Go Ally!!
Even I gave it a try. And if there’s one thing I’m not good at…it’s athletics!
But I got a hit!!
After a few innings, we offered guests an Ice Cream Soda Float Bar. It’s a great alternative and a fun change from your typical dessert table of cakes, cupcakes, cake pops, etc. not to mention very affordable!
To replicate our Ice Cream Soda Bar, you’ll want to pick up a few of your favorite flavors of Dreyer’s Slow Churned Simple Recipes light ice cream. We chose Vanilla, Strawberry and Chocolate. For our soda, we went with strawberry, orange, root beer and cherry cola. The Dreyer’s Slow Churned Simple Recipes light ice cream really added another level of creaminess to our floats, with no added colors or artificial flavors!
I found little plastic baseball hats online that were perfect for serving the floats in.
The kids thought it was so much fun to choose their own soda and ice cream flavors.
Even the adults were experimenting!
You’ll want to make sure you have spoons and straws for your float bar. Our guests utilized both!
After everyone enjoyed their float, the dads took turns at the plate.
For the last activity of the night, we hung a baseball pinata behind home plate. Instead of hitting it with a stick, we lined the kids up and on the count of three, let them throw a ball at it, which doubled as fun for both kids, and dads.
They got pretty close! We let Hudson get in there and give it a good swing.
It was such a fun party, definitely going down as one of my favorites.
Out of all the fun games, cute favors, delicious desserts and ice cream, my favorite part of any party is getting together with friends and family and creating these special moments we’ll remember for years to come. I treasure the family photo we make sure to capture at each party and love looking back at them through the years.
My very close friend and crazy talented photographer Kelly captured this photo of my little family. I absolutely love it! I’m thrilled to be giving away a $500 family photo session from Dreyer’s. Leave a comment below sharing how you create sweet moments together with your family to be entered to win a photo session in your hometown!
Pin this idea for later!
Photography: Kelly Clare Photography
THIS IS A SPONSORED POST. JENNY COOKIES HAS RECEIVED PAYMENT, TRADE AND/OR PRODUCTS FROM DREYER’S IN EXCHANGE FOR PROMOTING, HOWEVER ALL OPINIONS STATED ARE MY OWN AND I ONLY PROMOTE PRODUCTS/COMPANIES I LOVE. DREYER’S IS ALSO KNOWN AS EDY’S FOR THOSE OF YOU EAST OF THE ROCKIES
What a fun baseball party! Perfect for friends and family in the summer. Love it Jenny! You always do such amazing work. My favorite moments with my own family are taking a picnic lunch or dinner to kayak point or Mukilteo Beach! Being by or on the water is our all time favorite.
That was a great party Jenny! loved it! We love to spend time playing family soccer !
Jenny this turned out so cute! Love all the little details and especially that darling hotdog stand and ice cream bar in the baseball caps. Love how you incorporated flowers and use the natural decor and vintage boxes on your dessert table. Love your work as always!
My family and I also love taking pictures at any party we have. I love how it captures the fun in a way that I want to remember most. My little one is two years old and we haven’t had a family picture done professionally since she’s been born. I’d love to do that and have new photos to hang in our house.?? Thanks Jenny and Dryers!
I meant Dreyers ?
So fun Jenny!! My favorite moments are hosting family and friends in our backyard for celebrations, dinner or just snores by the fire pit!!
Great ideas as always!!
What fun! Although my “boys” are now 16 and 18 years old, we are still able to capture close moments by doing taste tests. What we do is find things that are the same but a little different, like philly cheesesteaks. When we visited Philadelphia a few years ago, we tasted three different cheesesteaks, two at restaurants and one at a cheesesteak truck. At the end of the tasting, we voted on the best cheesesteak. One of the restaurants won! We’ve done it with ginger ale too!
This is one of my favorite’s you have done! Great job and Kelly’s photography is always amazing but this party she captured some awesome shots, my favorite being the balls flying at the pinata! Great job ladies!
Such a cure party! Our life revolves around baseball so thsee ideas will definitely be used in the future for parties and banquets. I just gave birth to our first child and surprise surprise, the nursery is baseball themed!
Our new little family of 3 + our fur baby are enjoying adjusting to the new life style and figuring g out how to tote our son along to do the things we love, particularly being in the outdoors hiking, biking, boating and working in our yard! We would LOVE some family shots with our new little guy!
so fun, jenny! ive anxiously been awaiting your blog on this party – each and every detail is perfect! as a family we love to bike, hike, play on the lake ….. anything to unplug and enjoy an adventure! thanks for sharing all these fun ideas – you hit it outta the park with this theme!
so fun, jenny! ive anxiously been awaiting your blog on this party – each and every detail is perfect! as a family we love to bike, hike, play on the lake ….. anything to unplug and enjoy an adventure! thanks for sharing all these fun ideas – you hit it outta the park with this theme!
I love the nostalgia! Baseball is my favorite ?
Michael and I like to spend time together– we also love traveling. I always make a scrapbook (digital or regular) or a video collage to share our special memories! Time together is the sweetest gift!
What a great party!! My little family of three loves trying new activities together for the first time.
What an awesome party!! thanks for always explaining and laying things out for us to learn from your experiences. Your family is so cute!
Great set-up. Love the theme. Our family loves playing sports and being outside together.
What a great party! We love baseball and have softball players at our house. As a family, we like to spend time at the beach together. Boating, paddle boarding and swimming.
What a party!! We like spending time as a family pretty much doing what the kids want to do ha. So sports, bike riding, beach playing, going to the park. Pretty much anytime we can be together. ??
Such an Awesome Theme!!! I too love taking family photos at our parties too. Creates a fun memory of each party and fun to see the different themes each year.
We like to have a family outing night at least once a month. The kids love deciding where to go and what to do. It almost always ends with a yummy ice cream treat!
Amazing party! All of the details were perfect!
We love spending time at the Oregon coast as a family and of course movie nights are always a hit :).
My toddler (who will be 3 in December) is LITERALLY obsessed with baseball, so you have given me a ton of good ideas for his upcoming party! Thanks! As far as making memories goes, our family loves to travel together and takes a good 2-3 out-of-state trips each year.
Oh good! Love all the traveling. Your kids will always remember those trips!
Such a cute idea! Can’t wait for my grandson (who is 3 months) to be a bit older so we can try this!!
Yes!
We just started our family and my son is 11 months old. I love creating memories with vlogging! Then I love to go back and watch the videos. It hasn’t been long but I’m sure In years to come the baby videos will be that much more special!
Good for you for taking video! I have to remind myself to take more.
Awesome baseball party! Favorite idea- ice cream floats in the mini baseball hats…
Our family loves to spend time together every night at the dinner table and playing board games. Something I did as a child and carrying on my parents tradition.
Yes!! They reminded me of when I was a kid and Dairy Queen (or Baskin Robbins..I can’t remember) used to serve ice cream sundaes in them.
As always Jenny, your party was a home run!!
We love creating special moments by going down to Brackets Landing in Edmonds for evening walks on the beach and capturing some candid photos of the kids having a blast on the beach!
You’re so sweet Misha. Thank you!
I love this party and hope to recreate it for our twins one day! ??
We love to spend our Saturday mornings on a walk for coffee/donuts and hitting the park on our way home.
Sounds like a perfect Saturday morning to me!
I love to bake with my kids. They are little now but they just love it and I hope it’s something we can do every year together. I know it will be a special memory for them.
It will! I have very special memories baking with my grandma or in my Aunt’s kitchen!
We go to this grubby breakfast place where we love for special occasions. It is so silly, but we love going in our PJs then go and get ready for a special day! The kids love it.
Ha! Love a good hole in the wall.
Love all these ideas! Going to keep them in mind when my 16 month old is older! Always look forward to seeing all the details you put together in your parties ??
Our little guy is only 16 months so our special ways we create moments is by making sure we are present for all daycare events (like Halloween party & christmas concert). I know he won’t remember this young but it’s a special moment for us to be present for him.
You are a great mom!
Thank you Jessica!
Got to have yummy food at any family get together… it’s a must.
Agree!
This is the cutest party ever!! We celebrate family by renting bikes in Newport Beach and riding the board walk!!
That sounds AMAZING. I love Newport Beach.
Party looks amazing!! My husband would be all over that hot dog cart! We spend time at our property playing in the barn, on the 4 wheelers, picking fresh fruit, etc.
Ha! The hot dog cart was such a hit. I’m excited to use it again!
I love throwing parties for my kids when they have a birthday. Thanks for sharing all your creative ideas!
Yes! It only happens once a year 😉
Great post! We also love to create special moments by taking a photo together at every family event or trip. It provides a good memory to look back on and is something even my Mom who is in a wheelchair, and my toddler nephew can easily participate in! Thanks for all the party tips ; )
Thank you! Love a good family photo 😉
Love the party! We love to go on walks to the park or to eat near our house. We do a movie night at home as a family once a week.
Fun!
Such an adorable party! We love creating special moments outdoors. Whether it be hiking, climbing mountains, or skiing, we love to be outdoors together.
My son would love that! I think I could be a little more outdoorsy..
Wow this party looks amazing, what great detail and ideas! Love the theme and with 3 boys of my own I’ll have to keep this in mind for a family summer get together.
As a family we enjoy taking our boys to explore our beautiful state of Washington whether it be our beaches, trails or local playgrounds. This summer we’ve been having fun celebrating “donut thursday” at local donut shops and little things like this are things I hope my kids remember!
One last week before school starts around this area, and I hope your family enjoys it as much as I hope to enjoy it with mine.
I like the idea of donut Thursday!!
Love having family and friends over for backyard fun and barbeques.
Party looks amazing????
Thanks Jan!
Such a fun party!! Your ideas are amazing! I look forward to visiting the new shop!!
Thank you! We look forward to seeing you at the bake shop!
What an amazing birthday party! Can’t wait to put this on my Pinterest to use for my sons birthday party in the near future. We love having parties like this that make family memories! Thanks for the great ideas.
I love this post! We make sure that we have Sunday as our family day. We go on mini-adventures in between my daughter morning and afternoon nap. A favorite is to throw rocks in the water along Alki Beach.
Such a darling party!!
Perfect details.
Love this party! We make a family bucket list with fun family dates for every season (summer,fall,winter,spring). We mix in some simple things like picking apples in the fall or a diy hot cocoa bar and movie night in the winter, to more exciting adventures like a road trip or family vacation in the summer.
Our happy place is our beach house on Camano Island. Give us some sand, water and a boat ride and we’re good 🙂
We love playing games together as a family and lately we’ve been playing chopped, which is a lot of fun!! We also love going to Lake Chelan every summer!! I love your creative parties!! You are the cutest!!
Such a sweet party! Love it when the celebration becomes fun for all ages! Great job!
this is all adorable, but so extreme. I just can’t imagine all the time it took collecting and setting everything up (not to mention money. I would love to see some party ideas that most could pull off
Hi Fran! The majority of the decor from this party was made up of items I already owned and was actually one of the easiest parties I’ve ever put together. The table for the desserts was an old plant stand, and display pieces on the table were random containers also pre-owned. The goal of the blog post was to demonstrate how you too can throw together a party using items you may already own, challenging you to look around your own house to see what could work. The party set up took about an hour!
What cake and icing flavor did you use ?
Where did you get the old crates for the baseball party?