Batter’s up! Shying away from the traditional baseball theme, Tara of One Stylish Party threw an extra cute curveball with this amazing Vintage Baseball Party for her little slugger’s 3rd birthday! Burlap, houndstooth and hunter green decor create a rustic & masculine vibe, while the ballpark inspired sweet treats round out the bases and bring this party in for a home run!

PARTY HIGHLIGHTS to look out for:

• Vintage “concessions” dessert table with rustic wooden backdrop & rag-tie bunting
• Awesome baseball jersey inspired birthday cake with baseball hat topper
• Mini apple pies, baseball cake pops, “hamburger” cupcakes & “french fry” cookies!

PARTY DETAILS, as told by Tara…

When it came time to decide on a theme for my son Mason’s 3rd birthday, the answer was clear. Each week he looks forward to his t-ball classes at our local YMCA and spends most of his evenings and weekends practicing his swing and playing catch with his daddy in our front yard. He told me numerous times that he wanted a baseball party, so naturally I decided to throw him a Vintage Baseball Party at the Y!

Although it is a traditional boy party theme, I did my best to put a new spin on it with a non-traditional color pallet of hunter green, burlap and ivory paired with a vintage houndstooth pattern. The decor and elements were all warm, rustic and masculine, yet playful enough to still be appropriate for a little boy’s birthday party.

Dessert Display

As a lover of all things sweet, I always get giddy when bringing a party theme to life through a dessert display. I worked with Divine Cakes, Inc., to create a fondant baseball jersey cake topped with a fondant baseball hat which was used as the focal point of the dessert table. The detail of this cake was so spectacular and I knew it needed an equally spectacular cake stand to sit on. Sticking with the rustic feel of the party, I was able to find the perfect galvanized tin cake stand through Jilly Bean Kids, which was placed at the center of the table on top of an old rustic wooden box.

I had my heart set on including personalized baseball cookies, but never could have imagined the edible works of art that Say it With Heart created for my son’s special day. Set on top of a rustic wooden tray, there were personalized jerseys, hats, gloves and little baseballs all in the form of delicious little sugar cookies.

Next up, I enlisted Linda of Frog Prince Cake & Cookie Design to create baseball cake pops. Seriously, these things looked like replicas of the real thing and tasted even better than they looked! The cake pops were displayed in a DIY grassy field made out of Styrofoam, crinkle shred and mini white picket fences, complete with a printable sign that read “swing for the fences”.

One of my favorite parts of creating a dessert table is getting in the kitchen and whipping up some of my own sweets. For this table, I made hamburger cupcakes that sat on top of green houdstooth cupcake wrappers, sugar cookie french fries that were displayed in real french fry boxes and mini apple pies that each included a mini baseball pennant. These sweets made up the “concessions” stand portion of the table which was a huge hit with the kids!

To tie together the party theme, I made a banner backdrop that prominently displayed my son’s name and picked up the rustic wood elements seen throughout the dessert table. I incorporated custom pinwheels from Peckled on either side of my son’s name, a real vintage 1920’s baseball glove, a bucket of old baseballs, a painted paper mache number three, sour apple candy sticks, and a baseball book from my son’s room. I kept the party printables simple and did my best to bring in pops of color through handmade details, such as the fabric ribbon garland that was hung on the front of the table.

Kid’s Table & Decor

The kids table included a natural burlap table cloth paired with a DIY table runner made out of vintage houdstooth fabric by Got Spring Fever. The table centerpieces were hand-painted paper mache letters that spelled out my son’s name and two baseball balloons adorned with coordinating tissue tassels. Each place setting included a hunter green plate, a mini kraft bag with a napkin and a striped wooden fork, a plastic milk bottle with a paper straw (a must for any kid’s party these days!), and a mini gable favor box.

My son wore a personalized baseball jersey birthday shirt by Cuddleboo, which incorporated the same vintage houndstooth fabric used throughout the party. Other details of the party included a DIY baseball ragamuffin welcome wreath, tissue tassel garlands that were hung on either side of the food table, and a vintage baseball card garland that was hung on the front of the food table.

Activities

At the beginning of the party, the kids enjoyed a variety of different sports at the Y including a parachute game, gymnastics obstacle course, soccer, and of course, t-ball. After working up an appetite, they chowed down on pizza followed by sweets from the dessert display. Then the party guests jumped around to some themed music and had the option to create a personalized sports pennant craft hosted by the staff at the Y.

Before heading home, the kids filled up their favor boxes with some of the remaining sweets from the dessert table and each got a bouncy baseball to take home too. All in all, it was a memorable way to celebrate a my son Mason’s 3^rd  birthday and the smile on his face made every little bit of planning (and late nights) worth it!