Play Ball! {Sports Themed Baby Shower}

I was honored to have recently thrown a very close friend of mine a baby shower!

The only catch (I know, cheesy joke-but that's how I roll), was that the happy parents are expecting a baby boy. Being a mom of two little girls, I forced to put the pink tulle down and think a little differently.

Baby Jack will be welcomed home to a beautiful sports-themed nursery, so I went with that (Plus his uber cool parents are both sports nuts).

I didn't get a ton of pics, but here are a few:

To keep the desserts simple, I went with white cupcakes with white frosting and chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting...Wilton's makes some great stuff called Sparkle Gel (I had to get some sparkles in there somewhere). So, I simply snipped the top and using the red gel on the white icing applied a couple of curved lines to each. I then went back over each line with a toothpick, pulling the red gel into the white icing to create the stitches.

(Now, for all of you non-sports gals, here is a little tip if you decide to do the baseballs-the stitches should point one direction on one stitch and the other direction on the other.)

For the footballs, I used a tube of the white sparkle gel to draw the lines. Oh yes, and the mitts/baseball pieces were pre-made. I wasn't sure if I was going to like them, so I just bought one pack and mixed them in.

For this shower I actually accepted help! I know, totally unlike me, but I must tell you...
It was Amazing!
One friend was in charge of games & prizes (thanks Heather).
And baby Jack's auntie headed up the food category (wonderful job Tara).

So, that left me to have fun with the decorating.
I filled an apothecary jar with old baseballs and softballs that my mom had kept from when we were little. If you don't have this luxury, I recommend hitting up your local Goodwill. They always seem to have bags full of old baseballs. I also found the old glove at Goodwill, super cheap and can double as decoration in the nursery after the shower.

**Side note-if you are ever throwing someone a baby shower, it is a great idea to have the shower theme (whether it be specific like "sports" in this case, or even colors), coincide with the baby-to-be's nursery. That way, if the parents like any of the decorations, they can use them in the room later

The centerpiece for the dessert table was a diaper cake I made. These are very quick and easy to make, look fabulous, and again...double as a gift! I wrapped mine in baseball ribbon, topped it with an adorable pair of sneakers, and added some paper pendants (scrap booking paper rolled and glued to skewers) to add some more sports flavor to the mix.

For the gift table, I covered a folding table with a ruffled, burlap tablecloth. I then pinned a paper pendant banner to the skirt.

For some larger decorations, I picked up 3 sheets of foam-core board at the local Dollar Tree. I sketched a simple ball on each with a pencil, then went back over the lines with a craft knife. After scoring the lines and removing excess paper, I went over the lines with black charcoal. The next part is messy, I used my fingers to rub the charcoal down into the scored (haha, another great joke) lines. Lastly, I used craft chalk (yes, it's different than your kiddos sidewalk chalk), and with two different shades of the same color, filled in the white space behind the balls.

Oh and I almost forgot...A GIVEAWAY

You won't believe what Skip to my Lou is giving away! Cricut Imagine! #cricut http://bit.ly/fu1Iam