Home Run Party -1yr- Red Sox Trtivia

My son was turning one year old and since he was born in October we decided to use the Major League Baseball playoffs as a theme for the party.  We had 30 adults (from 30 to 91 years old) and 10 kids (two 7 year olds, four 3-year olds, two 2 year olds, and 2 under the age of one.)  We were also planning a completely indoor party since the weather in Boston is unpredictable and would most likely be too cool to be outside. 

The first step was to look at the Major League Baseball playoff schedule, which 45 days before the party it wasn't determined what times the games would be on, or who was playing, but at least we knew several National and American League Conference Series games would be played on Sunday October 7 so we had a good chance of a ball game going on our home TV during the party (good for adults.)  We ordered red tickets for admission to the party from party411.com, using words like Red Sox Fans Only"  "It's a Home Run Birthday"  "Damian Rounds the Bases of His First Year"  "Ball Park Fare Served" etc.  The tickets were a big hit. 

All members of our family wore Red Sox t-shirts to the party red and blue helium balloons we had Red Sox pennants pictures of several of the Red Sox players (that came as free inserts to our Sunday newspaper over the course of several weeks) and a few "K" signs that they were giving out for free at Fenway Park the week prior. 

For food we stuck with ballpark fare so we served only things you could buy at Fenway Park:  homemade clam chowder sweet and hot sausage with peppers and onions hot dogs cesear salad (yes they have salad at Fenway).  And as guests arrived I had a steady supply of hot pretzels popcorn and 30+ boxes of cracker jacks for everyone to pick on.  For the popcorn we provded red and white striped disposable popcorn bags that you would see at the ballpark circus or other sporting event.  For beverages we had had bottles of water cans of soda juice boxes for the kids. 

For dessert we had a cake shaped like Fenway Park (with Twinkie filling) and ice cream sandwiches which we cut in half and served on a platter.  I also had bowls of "Baby Ruth" candies for people to pick at since people think Baby Ruths are named after Red Sox/Yankee player Babe Ruth.  The table was decorated with a green vinyl Major League Baseball tablecloth from the local party store and all the platters and bowls were red to match the Red Sox theme. 

For games we tried the "Schillings Pitch" game with the covered Pringle containers as suggested in the October 2005 winning entry with a similar theme but it didn't go over too well with the younger kids. We tried to convince the kids to play the game knock over a pin and then they would get a Red Sox temporary tattoo but we ended up just doing tattoos over the course of the night. 

We also had the standard "count the cheerios in the container" game where we gave our first and second place prizes and to keep with the theme we said since Damian's favorite food is not sold at the concession stands in Fenway Park we needed to stock up for the party so whoever guessed closest would win a prize. 

I also had trivia for the adults (chose 18 questions from http://www.redsoxdiehard.com/quiz/ since my son was born on the 18th.)  Plus the Red Sox game was going on in the background so there was plenty for everyone to do. 

In a separate room where it would be little quieter I had a small table and chairs set up for kids who wanted to color or eat there. I printed out dozens of pictures of Wally the Green Monster (Red Sox mascot) from the kid fane zone section of MLB.com and provided plenty of crayons.  It was a good place for kids to go if they needed some downtime. 

For prizes I used Red Sox notebooks I found at TJ Maxx Red Sox sticky notes I found at the local party store a whiffle bat + ball a Red Sox lollipop I found at a local party store and a Red Sox balloon on a stick that wont deflate easily. 

The kids received gift bags containing baseball pencils baseball erasers baseballs filled with M&Ms Baby Ruth candy bars baseball stickers a baseball whistle and bubble gum. And they each took home several balloons.  The party went from 3-10p with the highest concentration of people from 4-8p.

All in all I think it was a success and the guys really appreciated being able to watch the big game and get fed ball park fare while being at a kids birthday party.  Worked out well for everyone involved and it was definitely the more creative birthday party we've thrown!"