Sunday, October 6, 2013

{Real Party} All Wisconsin Boy Sports Party - Football and Baseball Decor and More

The last post from Ethan's party.  I'm exhausted just looking back at these pictures!  Just a few more to post!
 
For the tables, I wanted to incorporate the three teams and two sports.  At first I thought I'd make the tables look like fields.  Then I thought I'd do black and white striped to look like referees.  But I wasn't in love with any of those ideas.  I had ordered wrapping paper for the background of the press conference area and when it arrived, it hit me - my table coverings. 
 
I had never used wrapping paper to cover tables before.  I was concerned it would not hold up well.  However, this was really high quality wrapping paper and it worked great!  I would definitely use wrapping paper again!
 
 
I made three centerpieces for each team.  I found the megaphones from the dollar store.  I used the team spirit printables collection from Amanda Parker at Amanda's Parties to Go for the megaphones as well as the pennants and signs.  I found pom poms from Shindigz.  The turned out pretty cute - and the price was right!
 
 


If you live in Wisconsin, you are likely familiar with the Badger, Brewer and Packer mash up logo.  I don't know where it originated from, but it's been around for a few years.  I remember it coming into being the year that the Brewers made the playoffs for the first time in my lifetime and the Packers and Badgers were pretty hot and had a game that same weekend.  It's stuck around and is pretty well recognized.  I had wanted to get a big logo for the party, but couldn't find one.  So I made a few myself using my overhead projector and a transparency I printed the logo on.  The kids helped me paint the logos.  My husband is now proudly displaying them in his garage!






Finally, I used a number of items already owned by my sports fanatic.  The baseball diamond came from Ethan's baseball guys.  I used the football field he has from his football guys to cover the table for the drinks.  Easy and cheap!

 
The best part of this party was all the thought and ideas put together by Ethan.  It was so fun to see his imagination at work.  Several times he would tell me what a good job I was doing on his party.  That's priceless as a mom.  Thanks for visiting out blog!

{Real Party} All Wisconsin Boy Sports Party - Football and Baseball Activities

Not too  many 6 year old boys are party planners.  My Ethan is definitely my son - he's got lots of party planning ideas when it came to his All Wisconsin Boy 6th Birthday Party.  He had ideas of decorations, and most certainly the activities.  While not the most flashy part of the party, it's the most important.  Most 6 year old don't care what sweets tables look like or if the centerpieces match the theme.  They just want to have fun.  And fun we had!

We incorporated the "Lambeau Leap" and infamous "Jump Around" from Camp Randall with a bouncy house that we rented.  It's about the third time I've rented a bouncy house for Ethan's birthday party and it has not gotten old for him.  He loves them!  I used the team spirit printables collection from Amanda Parker at Amanda's Parties to Go for the signs. 


Ethan absolutely wanted a football field and a baseball field.  Luckily my husband has had some experience in chalking lines for fields and was able to make Ethan's wish come true.  He even cut the lawn lower for every other yard line to make it stick out like the pros.  It may not have been the hallowed Frozen Tundra, but it was great in Ethan's eyes!  We used the field to have our own "Sausage Races" - using potato sacks for the "sausages."  The kids had a blast!!!!

 
 
 

 
Not only did Ethan get his own football field, but a baseball field as well!  The kids had a great time playing wiffle ball on the field.  Even the littlest little ones got into the game.
 

 
 
 
For those of you who are familiar with the Milwaukee Brewers, the team mascot - Bernie Brewer - slides down a slide in the outfield when a Brewer player hits a home run.  I put a sign by our own slide (which was even the same color) and we had our own Bernie's Slide.
 

Another request from Ethan was a press conference area.  Really, he truly thought of this idea.  I used wrapping paper from each team to simulate the background of a true press conference.  Easy and cheap.  (I used the same wrapping paper for the table coverings.)

To make the press conference microphone stand, I found microphones at the dollar store and a tin pan from the dollar store.  My husband took a cardboard ring and cut out spaces for each microphone  A little hot glue and some black paint and you have yourself a microphone cradle for a press conference!


 

Ethan's imagination was in overdrive for this party.  He also asked for a locker.  Not sure how I was going to do that.  When I stumbled on this empty box at work, I instantly thought of Ethan's locker.  The box was so sturdy, my husband literally had to use a saw to cut the one side out. We used the side he cut out for the shelves.  I had hooks left from our ice cream party that we screwed into the box.  The paint was left over from Ethan's bedroom.  All of the locker props were already owned by Ethan.  Not a bad locker for being free!

 

What's party without a photo area?  I love photo areas.  I found the foam fingers and pom poms from Shindigz as well as the backdrop.  Although, I have to say, I do think differently about foam fingers these days....



Ethan's shirt from This Pretty on Etsy.






Thanks for visiting our blog!



 

{Real Party} All Wisconsin Boy Sports Party - Football and Baseball Sweets Table

It seems a party is not complete these days without a sweets table.  We've all seen very elaborate, intricate, works of arts sweets tables.  Don't get me wrong, I love a beautiful sweets table.  However, we were working on a budget this time and I wasn't going to be able to have works of art for cookies or designer cakes.  Instead, I made all the treats my self for Ethan's table (except the Packer chocolates). Nothing fancy.  Sometimes I think the less pretty, the more yummy.  Who really likes fondant frosting anyway?  And really, do painted cookies taste good?
 
For this table, I used the same concept for the table backdrop as I did for the favor table - using the the fan/crowd backdrop from Shindigz as well as some more DIY elements tying the baseball and football theme together.   It was actually Ethan's idea for the lineup and schedule.  As I said in an earlier post, he was quite the party planner with his ideas :)  I used black foam boards from the dollar store, white tape from the back to school section and then put my Silhouette to work!  The names for the lineup were all Ethan's friends and cousins.  They loved seeing their names on the board. 
 
The decor for the table was budget friendly as well.  All of the helmets were already in Ethan's chest of sports items.  And a Wisconsin party would not be completed without a cheesehead.  No, we don't wear them in Wisconsin contrary to the stereotype (but most people do own one for fun.)  The pennants and printables were from the team spirit printables collection from Amanda Parker at Amanda's Parties to Go.  They were fabulous!  I found the foam fingers at Shindigz party supply store.  And, the wire baskets were found at the dollar store.  As with the table skirt on the favor table, I also made this skirt using dollar store craft paper and some work from my Silhouette.  The green lines were hand painted (don't look too close!)
 
One thing that I confirmed in doing these sweets is that I detest making cakes.  I am happy to do time intense crafts.  But making a cake is torture for me.  That will be well worth the price for the next party to have someone make it.  And, as you can see, I'm no pro!
 
 
 
 

 
 



 















{Real Party} All Wisconsin Boy Sports Party - Football and Baseball Favor Table

Favor ideas are endless with a sports party theme.  The hard part is narrowing down what favors to give and not spend a million dollars.  If only we had endless budgets for our kids' parties :)  For Ethan's favors, we gave football and/or baseball cards, Big League Chew, Cracker Jacks, Football ornaments (that I found at our local Shopko for 80% off after Christmas!), and personalized water bottles that I found from Very Jane. 

Because this party combined three teams and two sports into one, I wanted to give favors that represented all of Ethan's selections. 

In addition, for the backdrop for the table, I wanted to make sure I had all themes represented.  I was able to find the fan/crowd backdrop from Shindigz.  It was very reasonable!  I purchased the upper deck and lower deck background roll for less than $30.  It covered both sides of our garage. 

My Silhouette machine worked overdrive for this party for favors and decorations!  I wanted to make a scoreboard for the backdrop.  I would have loved to have purchased something permanent from Etsy or even Pottery Barn Kids, but the budget did not provide for that.  So, I purchased to black foam boards from the dollar store, found white tape in the back-to-school aisle and put my Silhouette machine to work.  I found lots of inspiration on Pinterest.  Here is my inspiration board for the party.

The table skirt was my DIY version of using craft paper from the dollar store in lieu of artificial turf.  The $1 was much more economical than about $30 of astro turf. 

 






 







 
Thanks for looking!  I'll have a few more posts from Ethan's party!