Basketball First Birthday Party

Ready for this?!? Of all of the creative and cooking projects from 2013 that I worked on, I think I am most proud of this one: My first baby’s first birthday party.  This is a long post – brace yourselves.  Maybe I went a touch overboard on the party, but we loved it, and Davis had a great time!  I can’t believe I have waited this long to post about it.  Todd and I were really happy with how it turned out so I had to share!

My mom made Davis’ shirt!  Loved it!  His shirt was a black and gray raglan tee from Old Navy.  My mom ironed on a basketball with a 1 she made from fabric on the front, and KINGDON with a 1 on the back, like a jersey.  She also made his party hat!  Todd found some Air Jordans for him, and he still wears them regularly.  Perfect for the party, and they turned out to be a great investment.

It took me a while to choose the theme.  I was searching on Pinterest one night when I found a party featured on Hostess with the Mostess.  It was basketball themed, had Carolina blue, featured Air Jordans, and the kid’s name was Todd.  I showed it to my husband (Todd) and of course he loved it!  It just felt very “us.”  That party was the inspiration.

Once we decided on the theme, we found the invitations and paper supplies, and the planning got going.  I ordered this party package from Simone Made It so we could pick and choose what we wanted to use, and printed them at home.  I used matte photo paper, and the printing turned out great, and was very easy.  I used the invitation “tickets,” some of the party signs, banners, basketballs, and the food labels.  I found orange envelopes at Staples.

The invitations made the color scheme decisions simple: orange, turquoise/blue, black, and white. We used that color scheme for everything: the table runners, food containers, balloons, ribbon, Davis’ outfit, and general decor.  All of the table runners were 2 layers of simple cut fabric.  Black and white striped with an overlay of orange with big white polka dots.  We had balloons on the mailbox and at the front door.  Also, my mom made a wreath that was so perfect for the party!

When it comes to party planning, the food is always difficult for me to plan – because I can never narrow down the menu!  I have a background in catering, and most recently baking, so I feel like I should do it all!  My idea was to think of foods typically served at basketball arenas, and make them on a smaller scale.

The menu included:

• Mini Hot Dogs
• Mini Cheeseburgers
• Condiments: Ketchup, Mustard, Pickles
• Nachos with Cheese and Salsa
• Vegetable Tray (because we needed something slightly healthy)
• Cake Pops – Basketballs and Black and White design
• Birthday Cake – a Jersey for the guests and a Basketball Smash Cake for Davis
• Water
• Apple Juice

We served the lunch (the party was from 11-1) on our kitchen table, and the desserts on the counter.  I ordered these paper containers for the hot dogs and hamburgers and cut small squares of parchment to go in them.  My mom found the ketchup and mustard containers at Wal Mart.

I made the basketball goal out of foam board, paint, and the rim and net from the Nerf basketball goal that goes over Davis’ door in his room.  We attached it to a broomstick and anchored it in a paint bucket.

Me decorating the cake the night before.  Quite a messy project!

I wanted a memory area for pictures of Davis’ first year, so we used the mantel.  The jersey was made the same way as the basketball goal – with foam board, an exacto knife, printed letters, and paint.  My mom drew the jersey out, though.  She is a better artist than me! We called it “Rookie Year.”  I printed lots of pictures from his first year, and backed them with card stock and cardboard.

Another favorite of mine was the favor table.  We moved our kitchen island into the doorway of Todd’s office, which is the first room going down the hall into our house.  We had bins with 3 favors: mini basketballs (Target), small red and white striped bags of popcorn, and Cuties tangerines.

For activities we had a drawing station inside, and a basketball court outside.  I looked for printable coloring pages that were basketball theme, and simply printed them at home.  We set up the coloring station with crayons, those coloring pages, sports and letter themed foam stickers, and construction paper.

Outside Todd drew a basketball court with chalk.  He used some pretty exact measurements!  We borrowed one basketball goal from our friends, Luke and Jane, and we gave the other one to Davis as party of his birthday gift.  So far his daddy has more fun playing basketball on it than him, but he’ll grow into it. 😉 Also, please ignore our stained patio.  We have since had it pressure washed! 

Seeing Davis eat his smash cake was definitely the highlight of the party for us!  He had never had any type of dessert.  I made a vanilla sprinkle cake with orange buttercream and orange marshmallow fondant.  It was shaped and decorated to look like a basketball.  He dug right in!  Sorry for the pic with your eyes closed, Todd. 

I want to thank all of our friends and family for coming!  Thank you to our families for their incredible help!  Everyone pitched in that weekend.  Mine and Todd’s parents and my brother all helped with the food and clean up.  Abbie took most of these pictures – at least the better ones! – thank you! Mom and Todd, in particular, thank you thank you for helping my vision for this party come to life!!  I am truly grateful that we were able to celebrate Davis in this way!

Here are even more pictures from the party. Thank you all for reading and being patient through this lengthy post!