Joyfully Prudent

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1st Birthday: Baseball Theme – Beckham Hits a HomeONE

I wanted to share some details and pictures of Beckham’s 1st birthday party!  He turned ONE November 19 and has completely morphed into this Tasmanian devil ever since.  It’s crazy!

A couple of months before his birthday, I finally decided on a BASEBALL theme.  Ryan played minor league ball for several years after college and it’s a big part of our dating relationship, so I thought it would be cool.  Plus a baseball theme had more decoration ideas than our other idea (soccer).

I gathered a lot of ideas from Pintrest, mixed with some of my own, to create this baseball party!  My favorite idea was the monthly timeline, which says “Beckham Hits A HomeONE!”  I was so proud of myself for coming up with at least one thing for his party!

So let’s get to it!

Most of the decor/stuff for the party came from Hobby Lobby and Walmart!  I thought I would get a lot at Party City, but surprisingly the other two stores had what I wanted for cheaper!

These were the invites we sent out! It was front and back (stats on back of ticket). My friend Jennie from Sweet Southern Paper created these for me. I absolutely LOVE them. I simply took a picture of Beckham in our backyard, sent it to her with his info, and she sent this back to me. I took them to FedEx to print double sided! Total cost for invites and printing was $30 (24 tickets).

 

This was Beckham the morning of his party!  He was SOOO excited to see balloons.  He walked around with them all morning!
As you walked up, this is what you saw.  We actually took this picture after the party.  Here’s Beckham with his gift from mommy and daddy!
Baseball wreath – Simply wrap a styrofoam wreath with burlap (several long pieces about 4 inches wide) and glue a baseball on it!  Roughly $5 to make the wreath!
This was the “sign-in/favor” table right when you walked in.  Close-ups below!
Guest list with a baseball!  I just made the sign in Microsoft Word, printed it in color, and glued it on blue card stock.
Party Favors – Popcorn, Fun Dip, Twizzlers, Double Bubble gum, and a Blow Pop!  All my candy concession memories of being at the ballpark watching my brother play as a kid!  Big Chew gum and Ring Pops were too expensive!
I bought small popcorn holders at Hobby Lobby for $2 a bag (8 ct.).  Filled a mini clear plastic bag with bagged popcorn and placed it in the popcorn holder upside down so you could see popcorn.  Then I just dropped some candy in the big favor bag, which I got at Walmart.  I ordered these personalized stickers from Zazzle.  I just had to have them.  They were $15 for 24 of them!  Oh and I got the candy on sale since I bought all of it right after Halloween!
I had a collage of some baseball photos I took of Beckham that I used for his invitation.  I wanted to display these cute photos on the wall until I received a tip about Walgreens FREE 8×10 collage.  No purchase at all.  I literally walked in and took this collage.  It’s normally $4.50.  And this was much easier than printing photos and putting them up!  The book on the right is an assortment of pictures, Bible verses, and words from us that I made for his dedication a week prior to this party.  So I just had it out to display for people to look through!
8×10 Collage
This was the Nacho bar for guests to enjoy before “lunch.”
Nacho Bar:
~Food – Chips, Nacho cheese (which to my surprise you can buy at Walmart in a can next to the Velveeta, just fyi), Taco meat, Olives, Jalepenos, Pico, and Sour cream.
~”Nacho Bar” sign – Cut red card stock in triangles, traced some letters, cut ’em out, and glued them on.  I taped a white ribbon to the back.  I did not have to weave it in and out of each triangle.  It worked great!
~This was a hit and if I had to go back and do it again, I would have just done a nacho bar…on steroids!  Lots more meat and more toppings!  Ryan’s dad works for Texas Twist Pretzel company so he thoughtfully brought a ton of soft pretzels too.  Nachos and pretzels would have been plenty!  I always over-do it on food!
Beckham’s monthly picture timeline!  It was neat to see how much he grew.
I found the baseball paper at Hobby Lobby as is.  It was 50% off when I got it.  I simply traced the numbers using blue card stock and glued it on the paper, along with his picture.  To make the sign, I just traced and cut the letters out and glued them on white card stock.  Super easy!
This was the main food table with the cakes also (which I made).  I had to wrap the curtain rod in garland because the window is actually off center with the dining room, so the rod is off too (I stretched it out to make it look like it was centered).  Made this sign the same as the others.
We had hot dogs, potato salad, and beans (not pictured).  I forgot to get close-ups of the details, but I had glass Coke bottles in ice (top left of table), napkin holders made from baseball construction paper, and a triple layer, raspberry filled cake.  The cake was super hard to make, but it was delicious!  Next time, I’m buying it!
Beckham’s throne!  I free-handed the baseballs and the “1.”  It’s actually white, glitter paper, but you can’t tell.
My favorite part!  Our shirts!
I knew I wanted shirts and Zazzle sent me an email with 40% off personalized shirts, so that day I hopped on and order shirts for Ryan and I.  Beckham’s was harder to find, but my friend Dedra from Sew Blessed was able to order us this shirt and personally sew his name, number, and “Rookie of the Year” (on front)!  It turned out great!  Total cost of all shirts was $49, tax, shipping, and all!  Most places I could only get as low as $60, without tax or shipping.
Update: Many have asked where I got his shirt from.  We ordered it from HERE!  I bought the 12-18 mo. size.
Beckham’s shirt, front and back!  Thank you Dedra!
Overall, his 1st birthday party was a success and I’m glad I put all the effort into it as I did.  We invited both our families and my two closest friends.  We have a big family, so it was perfect.  I’m so glad both our families live close!
Here are some more pictures from his party!
Clearly I’m more excited about this day than he is 🙂
Present time!
Opening presents…Elmo book!  I officially know every song in this book.
He LOVES Elmo!
Gift from mommy and daddy!  We ride this every night!
Cake smash!
He loved hearing everyone singing “Happy Birthday”
I’m blessed to hang out with this guy every day!  He has taught me so much!
Best of friends!
My favorite picture of Ryan and Beckham!
We did it!
The “look”
These are Beckham’s thank you cards for the presents he received.  I took a picture with all his presents and edited it to say “Thank You.”  On the back, “Beckham” wrote a letter to each guest thanking them for his present.  I already had white envelopes, so this was pretty cheap to do and way CUTER!

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Comments

  7. 7

    These are soooo freaking awesome. My son is 4.5 months, and I am already planning his 1 year old b'day. All of the themes are the same and I really want something different. My husband is more of a football fan and December is still football season, so maybe I'll just switch the sport.. And very handsome baby.

    Reply
  9. 9

    Let me just say I absolutely loved looking through your post! I’m trying to figure out what to do for my boy’s birthday and I might do the baseball theme! (I’m not even a huge baseball fan but my husband and brothers really enjoy it) I love that the decorations are simple but so cute too. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

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