All-star sports party: Benjamin is 6!

This all-star sports birthday party will have you ready to play ball! It was put together by my sweet friend and customer Karen, for her son Benjamin’s 6th birthday. Karen has a history of throwing amazing parties (check out her under the sea and carnival parties), and this year’s sports party was no exception!

Karen says, “This was a really easy party. We had a yummy lunch, a bounce house, a candy table with toys and sweets, and a souvenir table, all while the kids played sports under the supervision of ‘coaches.'”

Karen displayed Benjamin’s invitation from Chickabug on the party table next to a jar of miniature sports balls from Oriental Trading.

Printable signs from Chickabug led guests to the party.

The party pavilion was decorated with a printable banner from Chickabug and pompoms from Oriental Trading.

The sweets table was stocked with candy and small toys, and Benjamin’s amazing birthday cake. Candy included Big League Chew gumballs from Candy Warehouse, chocolate sports balls from Candy Warehouse, and sport ball frosted ring suckers from Oriental Trading. The toys included mini foam fingers from Oriental Trading and mini sports ball missiles from Oriental Trading.

Party guests scooped chocolate sports balls from Candy Warehouse into paper bags decorated with stickers from Chickabug, to eat during the party or take home as favors.

The sport ball frosted ring suckers are from Oriental Trading, decorated with a printable cupcake topper from Chickabug.

These are adorable!! The mini foam fingers are from Oriental Trading.

The mini sports ball missiles are from Oriental Trading.

The mini foam fingers are from Oriental Trading.

Karen purchased mixed sets of sports ball whistles from Party City, sorted them by sport, and displayed them in glass containers.

Sports balloons from Party City and framed pictures of Benjamin (in Ikea frames) decorate the gift table.

Sports lanterns from Party City were hung in the party pavilion.

Pompoms from Oriental Trading are a great touch for the decor.

Thirsty little players grabbed bottled water with personalized water labels from Chickabug.

This is one of my favorite ideas from the party! Karen set up a souvenir stand where each guest could have their choice of a water/snack bottle decorated just for them.

Karen says, “I really like to try to come up with party favors that people will actually use and enjoy – not just candy or random stuff that will just get thrown away. I came up with the idea of giving a water bottle with a snack container at the bottom and ravaged all of the local Dollar Tree stores to find enough for all of the kids. There were four colors to choose from. Each child came up to the table, selected what color bottle they wanted, and then selected one of eight different designs that would be painted on the bottle along with their name. I hired a girl I met at a local toy store to do the artwork. The designs were fairly simple, but they were super cute. It was interactive and fun for the kids, and hopefully the bottles are being put to good use. These favors go to show that creativity doesn’t have to be expensive!”

Printable favor tags from Chickabug were attached to the water/snack bottles from Dollar Tree.

Benjamin’s showstopping three-tier cake featured a baseball, football, and soccer ball. It was made by Sylvia Cakes of Tampa, FL.

I love the grass details on the cake, and the perfect little “6” on top!

That’s one happy birthday boy! : ) Benjamin is wearing a personalized Red Sox t-shirt from MLB.com. Karen’s shirt from Zazzle says “Captain” and the back says “Team Benjamin” – how fun is that!

Karen says, “I first came up with the idea of shirts for the Coaches (the older kids helping to supervise the younger kids). Then, I decide to get shirts for me (Captain), my husband (Referee), and Benjamin’s little brother (Rookie), too. It was such a fun thing to do – and so easy on Zazzle.com!”

There was a wide variety of toys for the kids to play with – plus a bounce house!

The “Coaches” supervised the younger kids’ games while the adults relaxed (pretty sweet). : ) Karen says, “So what I’ve figured out is that kids’ parties are much more fun when the kids are occupied and supervised so that the parents can socialize without worrying about what the kids are up to. I asked four ‘youngins’ who are close to me to serve as coaches at the party – one 8th grader second cousin, one sophomore second cousin, one junior family friend, and a second cousin who is an assistant football coach at a local high school. They watched the kids, played with them, and helped them in playing kick ball, baseball, soccer, and relay races. They all had so much fun themselves, and the kids loved playing with them!”

Karen is so sweet, she took a picture of a bunch of her all-star sports party products from my shop all together, just so I could see! (Thanks Karen!!)

Time to cut the cake! Six sports ball candles from Dollar Tree were just right for Benjamin’s birthday cake.

Thank you so much, Karen!! Happy 6th birthday to Benjamin! : )