March Madness

My friend Lindsay recently told me that her friend Kelly is pregnant with their 2nd girl and is due at the end of March. So to "man it up a bit" Kelly's husband put together a name-guessing March Madness bracket. They got a blank NCAA bracket and added a bunch of girls names to it (one of them is the name they've actually picked). All their friends put in 5 bucks, and each week the names will go head-to-head and whoever guesses the final name wins.

I think this is such a cute idea! That, coupled with the fact that my 2 year-old son refers to my pregnant belly as "Mommy's basketball" led me to thinking of ideas for a March Madness couples baby shower. As I was telling my husband about my ideas for the theme he wanted me to hold off on the post so we could actually host the party ourselves. Umm, hosting a party yourself in honor of your unborn baby girl? What would Emily Post say about that? I thought so, so I opted for the post.

If you are planning a Jack & Jill baby shower in March, I think this would be so cute. And of course you could have the games on in the background.

Here's what I'm thinking for the invite:

 

Of course you could do the baby name brackets. And if it's a "sex unknown" shower, even better, with boy names on one side, girl names on the other. You could either send these out with the invitations and have it lead up to announcing the winner at the shower, or if the couple is keeping the final name hush hush, have people fill them in when they arrive and the winner can be announced when the baby is born.

On to decorations. I love these colorful pennants from Martha Stewart.

I think they would be a great start in laying the groundwork for decorating a sports-themed party. I'm thinking to have them around the room in vases filled with colorful candies, sort or like this seen on Hostess with the Mostess. 

You can read her full post here. You could easily do this with a smaller bud vase though, so the pennants aren't swimming in the candy.

Speaking of candy, what's a sporting event without a concession stand? I love the thought of turning a candy buffet into a "concession stand buffet" with all sorts of colorful candy, candy bars, popcorn, pretzels, colorful soda bottles, and all of that would go great with hot dogs for dinner, right?

I found this pic on hubpages.com— How yummy does this look? I LOVE the colors, too.

I'm not really big on games at baby showers, but it is fun to have something to remember it by as the guest of honor. So why not have everyone autograph a basketball with a fun message for the parents to be? This pink ball would be perfect for a baby girl. And you could stick with the pink and orange color scheme!

 

If the concession buffet didn't cure your sweet tooth, how about a basketball cake? You can find the mold from Wilton here.

And before you send them on there way, how about a "Hope You Had a Ball" tag tied onto this yummy basketball cookie from our friends over at Icing on the Cookie?

Sounds to me like this shower would be a slam dunk! (Sorry, I couldn't resist...)