A Dodger Birthday Party for the Birthday Boy

Yup we Love our Dodgers. I'm talking: Dodger beach chairs, Dodger blankets, Dodger attire, Dodger SNUGGY....everything Dodgers. Including our baby's first birthday party. I originally didn't want to do anything big, like maybe just a little BBQ with the families or something. However, I felt that i should invite his friends we met in our baby classes (since it's kind of his party, right?), our families, and our close friends. It escalated quickly! I then got an amazing idea to give the party a theme....DODGERSS. It was so appropriate since he was born right before the season and you better believe i had him at his first game at a month old. He even went to two play off games! What a good little Dodger fan he is :) My mom is a preschool teacher so I know she is crafty, but I never knew how great of a party thrower she is! My mom, my sister (Miles' Godmother) and I put together some really great ideas for this party. And just like that, it came together so perfectly.

This was his invite.....LOVE that it looks like a real ticket.

We got them from an etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/jayarmada

The birthday boy woke up ready to party!

Luckily for me, my mom and aunt went over early to do set up so I didn't have to worry about having Miles there aaalllll day long. There was A LOT to set up.

We made sure to include all of the baseball game favorites at our "concessions stand".

We even had Dodger napkins with utensils inside!

I am allergic to nuts so we got creative and put the little marshmallow candy nuts in personalized baggies alongside cotton candy, sunflower seeds, pretzels and big chew.

On the waters and juice boxes we put a personalized label on them for a little added touch.

Since there were going to be five babies under one there I thought it would be cute to give "the rookies" something to snack on as well! I had the baby rice puffs, baby yogurt melts and snapeas (Miles' favorite snack).

We put the gift table inside so they weren't in the way of the games or food. I also put his newborn through 12 months pictures up behind the table. (Which the last two months are missing because the hubby was running a little behind with bringing me those pictures....)

 I had the cutest chalkboard sign made for Miles that had all about him at 12 months. The things that you will forget over the years. Something else I got made to order off etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SweetBeeCreates

We had Miles' Field hung up for people at the entryway.

We had our welcome table set up right inside of the gate so people couldn't miss it (though of course some people still had to be redirected back outside).

We had Dodger pens for people to fill out their addresses on the thank you cards. One less thing to have to do later!

We got a Dodger bat and ball for people to sign as a great keepsake which both hang on a bat and ball holder in Miles' room. Love it!

The last thing at this table (yes it was a busy table!) was a Dodger piggy bank for people to "guess the rookie's salary". I counted out 951 pennies because when Miles was born it was 9:51pm! Tricky, tricky.

The rest of the outside area was designated for eating....and the smash cake to come!

We had it somewhat structured because we only had two hours so after the initial mingling and getting through the welcome table and some food, we brought everyone in for some singing (Miles' class instructor is good friends with my mom so she was more than happy to run a little mini class time for the babies! She is just too sweet.)

We then did "musical bases" which was a lot of fun and just so happened that all of the dads that were there were holding the babies which made it even cuter!

Then we went to the craft table which were fingerprint baseballs.

We also had a ball table and ball pit for the babies because we all know how much babies love those things!

For the older kids we had a pin the ball on the field which was a crack up because we cut out the actual players and put them in their actual positions they play. We had a ball toss too for them to "practice their pitching". All i know is the older kids were having a blast throwing the balls as hard as they could.

And then it was cake time!!

They call this part the cake smash for a reason right? Because a baby doesn't know any better than to just dig in with their hands right? That is exactly why I pictured Miles hulking into this cake with two hands, cake in his hair, behind his ears and of course just mouthfuls. Which is why I was freaked about giving him a "normal" cake full of sugar, sugar and more sugar. Psshhh, I somehow forgot that my son doesn't like new textures, nor does he like to be messy. So he ended up barely touching the cake. In the end I had to give him a spoon which he then ate a little of, but needless to say he was NOT hopped up on sugar later. Instead, I was :).

Definitely brought a change of clothes for the birthday boy (mommy doesn't like messy either!).

For party favors we gave the kids a Dodger mini hat (the one the ice cream comes in at the games), bubbles, fruit snacks and my mom ordered these m&ms with a personal message....and his face on them! I had never seen such a thing.

All in all it was a perfect day! Miles made it through the party despite missing his nap. And he even fell asleep on the car ride home and took a two hour nap! Which I was able to open all of the gifts and get all of the thank you's done. Whew!!