Three Cheers for Softball

We are in the midst of softball (and baseball) season in our house.  Love watching my kids play sports, but I can never get those gosh darn softball cheers out of my head!  If you've never been to a softball game, the girls are constantly chanting to pump up their team. They really are catchy, and I find myself using the chants in our daily lives throughout softball season because they are just stuck in my head!  Like "1-2-3-4 what do you think that fork is for? EATING. EATING" is how I've changed the words in one chant when my kids use their fingers instead of a fork at the dinner table.   Or "2-4-6-8 who do I appreciate...Cleaners. Cleaners" when the kids actually stop playing their devices long enough to help me clean the house.  Since I can't get them out of my head, I decided to make them my theme for the monthly dinner!  So here goes Three Cheers for Softball, and all I did to make a fun dinner party out of this theme.

Invite:  I made the invite with a softball field background and a giant clipart softball.  I used sporty fonts and incorporate a softball cheer as well as softball lingo into the text of the invite.

Party Details:  I always have fun creating wine labels for my monthly dinners.  For these labels, I wanted to come up with a softball cheer to fit my theme, but somehow tweak it to be about wine.

For the white wine, I used a cheer that the girls to for a batter from their team when she comes up to bat.  They chant, "Ella is a friend of mine (rip rip), she can RIP it anytime!"  I simply switched a few words up to apply to wine!  I also photoshopped a heart-shaped softball to be the white wine inside of the glass.

For the red wine, I used a team chant.  I made Wine Drinkers a team name and just changed the last line from "if you can't hear us, we'll shout a little louder " to "if you can't hear us, drinking'll sure make us louder."  I photoshopped a softball jersey with the new team name on it as well.

I made a simple softball napkin by folding a yellow napkin in half and adding softball laces I cut out with my Cricut machine.

Menu: I am hosting my monthly dinners virtually still because of COVID-19, so all parts of the meal have to be packed up to go.  I used a round container for this meal, so I cut the menu into a circle to fit on the lid.  If you don't know softball, you probably won't get the softball cheers I used, but I'll explain them a bit for those that aren't blessed with hearing these cheers over and over every game for not only one daughter and her games, but two!

The main dish was St. Louis Ribs that I smoked on my Traeger smoker.  I bought them already seasoned from Costco, so all I had to do was place them on the smoker.  Five hours later, they were delicious.  One of the cheers the girls chant often is "R-I-P  I-T Rip it for me baby, Rip it!"  I just swapped the P for a B to spell out R-I-B and make it RIB it!

I also served a bases "LOADED" baked potato with shredded cheese, bacon, chives, and a ramekin of sour cream on the side.  This went with the cheer, "Bases loaded. Pitcher's Nightmare. Bases loaded. Batter's Dream" which the girls chant when they have runners on every base and they want to encourage their next batter to knock them in.

Along with these, I also made a melon BALL salad with watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew.  I shaped them into balls to go with the chant, "1-2-3-4 What do you think our feet are for? WALKING. WALKING."  The girls chant this after their teammate is walked by the pitcher and gets a free base.

For dessert, I decided to make a pie that could go with the chant softball players use when a batter on their team doesn't swing at a bad pitch "G-double o-D  E-Y-E. Good eye. Good eye. Good eye."  I simply swapped the good "eye" for good "pie."  I served a Snickerdoodle Cream Cheese Apple Pie.  This was easy to make and delicious.  I will totally make it again as I got a lot of compliments on it. 

Favor:  For the party favor, I made softball sugar cookies.  I made them big like softballs, so they were about 3.5".  I frosted them in bright yellow and piped on the red stitches.

For the tag, I used the standard after game cheer, "2-4-6-8 Who do we appreciate?" The "team" for this dinner was of course, my Monthly Dinner Girls!  I made the tag to match the invite and the menu so everything looked similar.

This dinner was fun to put on, and it would be a fun one to have for a softball end-of-the-season party.  I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed coming up with these dinner cheers! Now, if I can just get them out of my head for a bit, I'd be set!