The Baseball Themed, Baby Boy, Baby Shower

As I posted a few weeks ago, I hosted a baby shower for my friend who is having her first baby, a boy, in September. I didn't want the usual theme of Baby Boy Blue. Inspired by my southern view of the stadium the White Sox play in, the fact that it's baseball season, and that my friend and her husband are die hard Sox fans, I decided on a black and white baseball theme. I made the decorations myself, mostly just a simple pennant design I created on the computer. I had a large banner of the flags which read "BABY BOY MAS" (short for their last name, and what they are calling him for now). I had welcome pennants on my door so guests knew they were in the right place. Finally, I made small flags to stick in food and to wrap on straws.

I found the perfect plates and napkins at Michaels, plus a cute deck of baseball playing cards. You can see them under the glasses. I scattered them all around like giant confetti. 

After I got home from the big shopping trip for food the night before, I realized I had forgotten to buy flowers, so I made a ballon bouquet. 

We had baseball themed food: nachos, peanuts, homemade soft pretzels, hotdogs, and cupcakes decorated like baseballs. Even the specialty drink shared the theme; it was a lemon chill slushy. 

I used a tall cylinder vase as a stand for the hotdog buns. Can you see the little ducky floating in it? It's a cute baseball themed ducky from the same section of Michaels. I mean it's like my theme was meant to be!

I used Alton Brown's recipe for homemade soft pretzels. I had never done anything like it before. Not necessarily hard, just very different from any other baking I had done. The boiling water part with baking soda sure makes a mess. Here's a link to the recipe.

I used some techniques and ideas I found in the book Hello Cupcake that my friend gave me for Christmas. I softened the frosting in the microwave for like 10 seconds and then dipped the cupcakes face down in it to create a smooth surface. I did give it a layer of icing first before dipping so that there was a good amount on the finished cupcake. For some reason, the nearest cupcake in this picture doesn't look like it got dipped. Then I cut strips of Twizzlers (make sure it's the kind you can peel) to form the red laces. Simple design, but effective.