If you find yourself waking in the middle of the night with a little voice whispering in your ear "If you host it, they will come...", don't be frightened. You're not going mad. No, it simply means that it's time to begin planning your World Series Party.
Major League Baseball's World Series is a sports tradition laden with nostalgia. Unlike the Super Bowl that is more about the hype than the game, the World Series brings to mind memories of great players, plays and coaches over the past century.
So celebrate one of baseball's greatest traditions by bringing a little taste of the ballpark into your home.
Setting the Stage
- Prepare scorecards and rosters for all of your guests.
- Create a large scoreboard for your party, and assign someone as the official scorekeeper.
- Ask everyone to come dressed in their favorite team's tee shirts and caps.
- Post your favorite beer posters around the buffet table.
- Decorate with any sports memorabilia you own. Do you have a collection of baseball cards? Put them in a place your guests can respectfully review them.
- Choose party supplies in team colors. Either pick your favorite team, or provide supplies for cheering both sides and let your guests choose.
Activities
- Prepare a special prize for anyone dressed in a baseball uniform (prize can be a baseball or a baseball cap.)
- Set up a betting pool for one or more of these: how many innings the starting pitchers will last; how many home runs will be hit and by whom; final game score; who will win the game; or any category of your choice.
- Test your knowledge of famous Baseball Quotations with this quiz.
- During the Seventh Inning Stretch, hand out copies of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and lead everyone in song.
- Organize a little Seventh Inning Stretch clean-up crew. If you have grade school age children attending the party, pass out trash bags to them and while everyone is singing, have them quickly gather the trash (including peanut shells!). The child who collects the most trash wins a prize.
- Organize a pitching contest. Set up a wastebasket in the middle of the room and pass out ten scrunched up paper balls to each contestant. Have a different number written in marker on each contestant's set. At the signal, everyone should begin tossing his or her balls into the wastebasket. The player with the most balls in the basket wins.
Food and Drink
- Peanuts, Popcorn, Cracker Jack
- Hot Dogs, Mustard, Ketchup, Relish
- Hot Soft Pretzels
- Hamburgers, Ketchup, Pickles, Onions, Tomatoes, Lettuce
- French Fries
- Nachos
- Beer, Soft Drinks, Lemonade
