A Baseball Birthday

With all of the baseball that Cody and Jaden played this spring, it was no big surprise when the boys requested a baseball-themed party for their 7th birthday.

My mom and sister helped me decorate the cakes and prep some of the party supplies. It's sooo nice living close to family! 

I used a red, blue, and white color scheme and some great Pinterest ideas for the decorations.

To continue with our "birthday book" tradition, I ordered two Ballpark Mysteries chapter books that Jaden and Cody's friends could sign when they arrived at the party. The boys and I recently discovered this book series and really enjoy the stories. It was a perfect fit for their party theme!

I had showed Cody and Jaden a few baseball cake ideas from Pinterest, and these were the designs they chose. Both boys were really happy with their cakes. I was too!

Inside the treat bags, I included a MLB punching balloon and hacky sack, a Baby Ruth candy bar, a box of Cracker Jack, and a copy of the tabletop baseball game that we'd be playing at the party.

These boys could hardly wait for their friends to arrive on the big day!

We started the party with a little "filler" game activity, since we knew the guests would be arriving at different times. The kids could choose from three activities-- Tic Tac Toe, baseball edition (baseballs for the "O" and crossed bats for the "X");

a baseball word search;

and a baseball Mad Libs story.

When most of the guests had arrived, we went outside for a relay game. We divided the kids into two teams and placed various baseball attire (pants, belt, hat, cleats) at the opposite end of the yard.

One at a time, the kids raced to the clothing pile and picked out an item to put on.

Here are the teams at the end of the relay. The kids were a bit hot, but happy! :)

Then, I took half of the kids inside while Jason kept the other half outside for a few activities. Jason had several stations which practiced some baseball skills in a bit of a silly way. His first station involved pitching a ball to try to knock over a stack of cones.

Even Adley, and another younger sibling, had a chance to try this one!

  

Jason's second activity was base-running, but only after the kids had spun around the bat several times. Jason demonstrated this one and made himself quite dizzy!

Papa helped guide the kids so their dizziness wouldn't make them fall onto our rocks!

Jason's last outdoor station was catching practice... but as a team with a large blanket. The kids had a little learning curve with this game, but they worked together well.

  

The kids were REALLY warm after these outdoor stations, so we paused for a water break. You may notice that we gained a few more kids since the relay team photos!

Meanwhile, I led a few games for the kids inside. First, we played a silly version of one-on-one baseball. One child pitched a "ball" (balloon) to his opponent. The second player hit the balloon as hard as he could with his "bat" (pool noodle).

While the first player was retrieving the balloon, the batter had to do as many jumping jacks as she could before being tagged with the balloon. This active game got a lot of giggles!

  

Then, the kids hid Easter egg baseballs for one another upstairs. Surprisingly, several kids said this hide-and-seek game was their favorite activity of the party!

When both groups had completed the outdoor and indoor activities, we brought everyone inside for our last pre-dinner activity-- Tabletop baseball, a fun dice game that I found on Pinterest.

We LOVED having family helpers join us for the boys' party. Uncle Andrew and Uncle Matt took all of the wonderful pictures that you have just seen. Mom and Dad were amazing too-- helping entertain Adley the whole time, grilling hot dogs, and assembling our food platters for dinner. Have I mentioned how wonderful it is living close to family?! Mom and Dad even came dressed in their Cardinals baseball shirts in honor of our party theme.

After a dinner of hot dogs, baked beans, chips, fruit, and veggies, we sang to the birthday boys-- Jaden first this year!

Then our birthday boy, Cody!

Our final activity was playing a real game of baseball outside. Even though not all the kids are as into baseball as Jaden and Cody, everyone was a good sport about playing and seemed to have fun.

All in all, it was a great way to celebrate our baseball-loving 7-year-olds!