Baseball, banquet, bratz, & balloons?

We usually have a potluck, but this year, it is cake and punch--a little more relaxed, less parent labor, and hopefully will spark some goodwill among everyone. Its been a rough year for us. I'm still not sure if Catcher #1 is going to go, his summer team has its first practice on the same night. I hope he will. But, I am going, I am in charge of the cake.

Ours was always at a local swim/tennis club courtesy of a parent who was a member; we all brought food or drinks to share, but the main part of the dinner (barbecue/chicken/etc.) was catered and there was usually a big cake if memory serves.

We all socialized through the late afternoon (it was a very close-knit group of parents and players) and then had dinner together in a large room by the pool. At the end of the dinner the coach would really give a speech about the season and about each individual player. The seniors would present the coaches and trainer with special gifts (I think it was restaurant gift certificates and signed baseballs?).

There might have been a few special awards but I honestly don't remember. What I remember was the family feeling with that group. It was a wonderful bunch of people all the way around.

Thanks gals!
I was kinda hoping to have the boys gather around the pool and have pizza,..or pot luck etc.
Kind of a casual end of the season recreational evening, where they could chill, socialize, and let their buzzed hair down ( so-to-speak ) after the awards and speeches.

In the past years, our banquets have been pretty formal,..seniors wearing suites, fancy table decor, catered, etc. ( stress stress stress,..work work work!! Fundraise fundraise )

This year its just pizza at the field. Was looking for an idea to kinda spice it up.

Momof2catchers,....what kind of cake?

Ours is coming up - a BBQ affair at the school.

We are having a "homemade dessert" table - asked people to sign up to bring their family favorite dessert - (with emphasis on the "homemade" - don't sign up if the homemade is going by the grocery store and picking up a cake! ) - this was a big hit last year.

We average over 250 at our banquets so we have to be somewhere that can accommodate that many. We have 11 Seniors. This year we are purchasing digital files from a local freelance photographer who has been at a lot of our games. I selected one full length shot of each Senior - batting, pitching, running, or fielding. We will take the CD to a local printer who will blow them up to life size. Then we will mount them onto foam board and cut out. The seniors will each have a life sized cutout of themselves. Girl's BB team has done this and they were economical. I think it will be fun. These will be the focal point of our decorations.

This year we had an Athletic Awards Ceremony instead of a banquet. We tried to have a baseball banquet but were shot down. No one sport was allowed to have a separate banquet, it was all done together in the high school gym. Every sport at my son’s high school (boys and girls) made it to the state playoffs this year, so you can imagine the awards that were given out. Anyway, the awards ceremony lasted over 3 hours because of the success. I can’t imagine how long it would have been had we had a banquet. Our 7 senior baseball players were given their jersey framed in a shadow box. All in all, it was a very nice night, gym was decorated beautifully and the coaches were thrilled to give out so many awards. By the way, I love the idea of a cook out or bbq. We usually do cook or bbq for our boys and the opposing team after some home games (which I think is great). Oh, and I love the idea of the life sized cutout.

Well, ours was this evening, it turned out really nice. The coaches wife (another dear hardworking silent type)had taken pictures all season long and made it into a slideshow which was very nice. The FFA donated flowers to decorate the tables, another mom brought some baseball decorations, and it looked real nice. The cake was 1/2 chocolate and 1/2 white and was supposed to be decorated with a picture (edible) of the team, but the decorator FORGOT about it (grrrrr). I contacted the local grocery store (HY-VEE) at noon and they had a decorated cake ready for me at 5:00 (I love them!)The coach's wife made punch and voila, it was a celebration! (this is my first attempt at a graemlin?--hope it works!

Redhead--250 people? Wow! We had 24 on our team and including parents, there was about 65 or 70 people at ours and we thought it was a good crowd.

Catcher #1 (attempt #2!) did come but was late because of his practice. I was glad to see him there.

Our freshman , JV, and Varsity teams all attend - that is about 60 players. Five coaches plus their wives. Nearly every player has 3 or 4 family members - some have more. This year we are including the Diamond Darlings so I look for a bigger crowd at th ebanquet. We are still in playoffs and because of that there is baseball fever racing through our little town. One of my friends said a lady knocked on her door Tuesday night asking to buy advance tickets for tomorrow's game. There is no such thing!! We play tonight up in the Dallas area. We play tomorrow at 2PM (at home - will get there 2 hours early to get a spot) and then we graduate at 7:30PM. Project Graduation after that - if we have to play a third game the boys can only stay a little while. I all be there all night. If a third game is needed we will play it on Saturday. Oh - and a good chance of rain for the next couple of days! Giddy up!!

I remember that one year, a dad put together a DVD composite of pictures and video from the year and gave one to each player.

quote:

a dad put together a DVD composite of pictures and video from the year and gave one to each player.

A dad did that the last two years of son's HS career. I watched them both over and over. As a matter of fact, may have pull them out this long weekend, dust off, and have a smile!

Also, one of the greatest gifts he received was from that same dad. The guy had an aerial shot taken of our field and facilities. He presented the coach a very large framed one and each senior a small one in a frame. It's awesome and sits right here by our computer! Brings back many wonderful memories!

I logged on just to ask this very question. I ended up being a booster club VP in charge of the sports banquets. This will be a very large (first year open) school, so lucky me gets to start from scratch on everything. We normally have (I think) 6 combined banquets during the year with hundreds in attendance at each. I am needing to get started on getting decorations for the tables, that will be used at all of the 6 banquets. I have done catering/decorating for weddings and such before, but I am trying to make it more gender neutral which is not my strong suit!

It sounds like a lot of y'all are more low-key than our schools.....sounds nice! We have BBQ fully catered, dress up dinners that go on and on and on! The food is always fine, but dessert is this sad basket of food service grade cookies, and I am definitely doing away with that nonsense! Not sure what, haven't gotten that far yet.

Anyone have more input on what you use for non-girlie table decorations?????

I would suggest something that uses the school/team mascot and colors. Our son's high school ... the Esperanza Aztecs ... had a male and female chief/warrior looking logo with both figures in it. Something along those lines might work. Maybe you could do something with silks in the school colors with replicas of the mascots atop sticks that are placed amidst the silks. A lot of school colors alone ... gold and blue, cardinal and white, etc. ... can make the decor seem more masculine as well, so that is another thing to keep in mind.

Good luck on your endeavors. Makes me wish I could relive those days all over again ... NOT !!! There are sooooo many benefits to being a part of that environment but I can attest to the fact that I really don't miss it a bit ... just love to sit and be waited on instead.