This young man will be turning 6 next month.
He's also starting T-Ball and is super excited about it. He's even been wearing his new cleats around the house. So, when discussing it, we decided that a baseball themed party might be the perfect fit.
This may or may not have been insisted upon by his father, who was once a little obsessed with the game in his younger years.
He's never had a large party before because we just haven't known that many kids to invite to a big party. All of our parties before have been centered around family with maybe 2 friends. However, this year he is in school and REALLY wants to have a party so he can invite all of his classmates.
I did a little research online and found out that Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros, leases their party suites for birthday parties and events.Sweet..SUITE! har har.
Talking my husband into going this route was super simple. Major League Ballpark ... they get to run the bases? He was sold.
Me... You provide the cake? You provide the entertainment? You provide goodie bags for the kids? What, AND a gift from the Astros to my child? Wow, this is like a no brainer. haha. Here I was considering the local jumpy place- which is still super cool, but they're almost as much rental wise, and they provide NOTHING extra. That stuff really adds up.
So, yep. I was sold too.
We decided to go on one of the tours offered by the ballpark last Satbecause I have control issues and needed to see what we were committing to for a day of family fun.
If you're in the Houston area, and you have a free afternoon, it is definitely something to look into. In fact, everyone on our tour lived in the Houston area. Awesome being a tourist in your own town.
I've since looked and Reliant, the local NFL stadium, and the Toyota Center, NBA, host tours also, in case you're interested.
Anyhoo, stay tuned for more birthday party planning posts over the next month. Meanwhile, here are some photos from our tour of the ballpark.
Minute Maid Park is located in downtown Houston.
Although there are several entrances, we entered into the park via the old Union Station. In fact, the field itself was built over the old train yard.
Our guide told us that after it was a Train station, it was converted into office buildings, and when the Astros took it over, the ceilings in the station had been dropped down to 8 feet. In their remodeling, they discovered some of these amazing plaster designs and the arches, which they then restored.
Baseballs as finials..
Baseballs as lights! (this was in the owner's luxury suite.. oh lala)
And Rylan.. he had lots to say in his press conference. :)
The boys (all three of the big ones) thought the warm up batting cages were pretty cool.
I was surprised that they use a manual scoreboard. Our guide said they actually have staff behind the board during games changing out the numbers.
And this is what I did for most of the tour.. ha!
He's also starting T-Ball and is super excited about it. He's even been wearing his new cleats around the house. So, when discussing it, we decided that a baseball themed party might be the perfect fit.
This may or may not have been insisted upon by his father, who was once a little obsessed with the game in his younger years.
He's never had a large party before because we just haven't known that many kids to invite to a big party. All of our parties before have been centered around family with maybe 2 friends. However, this year he is in school and REALLY wants to have a party so he can invite all of his classmates.
I did a little research online and found out that Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros, leases their party suites for birthday parties and events.
Talking my husband into going this route was super simple. Major League Ballpark ... they get to run the bases? He was sold.
Me... You provide the cake? You provide the entertainment? You provide goodie bags for the kids? What, AND a gift from the Astros to my child? Wow, this is like a no brainer. haha. Here I was considering the local jumpy place- which is still super cool, but they're almost as much rental wise, and they provide NOTHING extra. That stuff really adds up.
So, yep. I was sold too.
We decided to go on one of the tours offered by the ballpark last Sat
If you're in the Houston area, and you have a free afternoon, it is definitely something to look into. In fact, everyone on our tour lived in the Houston area. Awesome being a tourist in your own town.
I've since looked and Reliant, the local NFL stadium, and the Toyota Center, NBA, host tours also, in case you're interested.
Anyhoo, stay tuned for more birthday party planning posts over the next month. Meanwhile, here are some photos from our tour of the ballpark.
Minute Maid Park is located in downtown Houston.
Although there are several entrances, we entered into the park via the old Union Station. In fact, the field itself was built over the old train yard.
Our guide told us that after it was a Train station, it was converted into office buildings, and when the Astros took it over, the ceilings in the station had been dropped down to 8 feet. In their remodeling, they discovered some of these amazing plaster designs and the arches, which they then restored.
You then enter into this concourse area where if you look back, you can see the old restored brick, and into Union Station.
This area also has beautiful exposed beaming. Don't you just love the color of the brick in contrast to the steel? Love it.
Looking back the other way, you can see peeks of the field.
What we found great is that there was actually a birthday party going on while we were there. They're small, but if you look closely, you can actually see these kids out on the field running the bases.
I believe (don't quote me) that this was one of the first baseball fields to have a retractable roof. While we were there, it was closed.
To the left, you can see a stone wall under the huge wall of windows (which also retract). On the wall is a train rail, on which, sits a train. :)
This was constructed in honor of the field's history, and the association with Union Station. The train does actually run, and it makes it's way across the wall for three occasions - Prior to a game to wish the Astros luck (tacky comment alert.. I think they need more than just luck.. ha!), when an Astro hits a homerun, or after an Astro's win.
I realize this is a ballpark, and baseball themes are bound to be prominent, but I was surprised at how many baseballs I saw everywhere. How fun it must have been to be the designer/decorator for this place. Look- baseballs hidden in the carpet pattern!
Baseballs as lights! (this was in the owner's luxury suite.. oh lala)
We also made a stop at the press room. Here is Brodie pretending to be famous.
I'm working on the birthday invitations currently, and I'll have a post about those. I'm also planning on making a baseball themed bunting to hang in the party suite. Is it okay to get more excited about a birthday party than your child?
:) Courtney
