Ultimate Sports Birthday Party for My Baby!

It's that time again! My how time goes. My baby turned 10. Of course my brain was in high gear in January for his party in May! How to outdo last year's birthday party? What a challenge! This year Theron wanted a sports birthday party! Soccer and Football he said. So really two themes in one. Okay - I got this! First thing first is the invitation. As always, this is going to make or break the party attendance and create the atmosphere for the entire event. The invitation sets the stage and what a stage I had to set! I took a couple photos of Theron with black paint below his eyes and then photoshopped the number 10 on the image. I also took one of him in his favorite soccer jersey facing away from the camera for the back of the invitation. Wait, back up. First, is the creation of the save-the-date image that we used on Facebook and Instagram so all his buds and our family and friends knew it was coming. Check it out!

Social media save-the-date

Okay - now on to the invitation. You know my little man needed a logo! I put a soccer ball on top and a football below. He picked out the colors. You can't go wrong with red, white and blue! God bless America!

As soon as I finished the invitation the next step is always getting ready for the school party which I plan out strategically! The invitations go out 2-3 weeks in advance and the last school day before the birthday party is the day I have the party at school and paint the school rock. Or in this case, this year, I wrapped that sucker! For those that have seen the other rocks I've painted; the fish, the military rock, Minecraft, etc., it takes HOURS like 10-12 and I thought about my time vs paying for a big sticker and went for the sticker! His party was weeks ago and I'm still hearing people say "did you do that rock?" Ha! It takes a lot to impress my kid these days. Don't get me wrong, he's thankful and always shows his appreciation, but the shock value is hard to get. His mom is a designer ya know? BUT when he saw this rock, It was worth it! Check out the video. TEAR! I might cry again! So planning the school party and having the rock up at the same time/day create even more hype with the kids and gets them talking about the event after school and ensuring they drive their parents crazy until they arrive at the party that weekend. I had a couple mom's call and say their boys were going to make them crazy and could they come early! Too much fun! Birthday party grassroots marketing at its finest! 

Now to plan the event! I borrowed my mom's big field and my husband borrowed a sports field painting machine from his buddy that works at the local school. We painted the field to look just like a real football/soccer field! How cool! We borrowed two soccer goals from a buddy and $20 at Sports Authority scored us a flag football set for 10. The first hour of the party was flag football and the boys and girls played! It was awesome! Of course, we had to have all the volunteers (my family and friends) in official attire! We found whistles and ref shirts online! Oriental Trading Co had black under eye, whatever you call them, for football, you could write on, so this Momma was sports birthday tournament ready! 

The next hours of the party were the biggy! Bubble Balls also called Soccer Bubble Balls! I rented them from a local company - they came out, blew them up and ran the show. Everyone LOVED them and we laughed until our cheeks were sore! We all played in them! It was a riot! Kids and adults! I'm not sure how the ref's kept score but the kids picked teams and named their teams when the party started and at the end we had cool gifts they could win. My husband says I'm a hoarder but those 75% items throughout the year pay off with great prizes for the kids birthday parties! 

Of course no sports birthday party is complete without an adult tailgating area. Responsibly, of course. 

I didn't go crazy big on decor this year since it was outside but I can tell you the hotdog buffet, candy buffet and nacho stand was a hit! Get the nacho trays and cheese sauce at your local Sam's or BJ's - they loved it! And don't forget the toppings!