Basketball Birthday Party Theme

Fun Ideas for a Basketball Theme Birthday Party

Decorations
Choose your teams favorite colors and decorate the birthday party with balloons and streamers.  Buy or make pompoms and place them on the tables or hang them from the walls.  Decorate the walls with posters of your team or favorite players.  

Decorate the food table to look like a basketball court.  Use a light brown tablecloth and some pin striping tape to create the lines on the court. 

Place a small net on the table and give each guest a Nerf type basketball at their place so they can make practice shots.  

Fun Ideas
Have the adults or older helpers dress up in a referee shirt and wear a whistle and stopwatch. 
Buy a new basketball and have all the guests sign it for the Birthday child to keep as a memento of the party.

Activities
Team Jerseys - buy tank tops and let the guests decorate them with fabric paint.  Write their favorite players number on the front and their name on the back.  If you buy two different colors the guests can use these to determine teams for a basketball game at the end of the party.  (These would be great party favors!)

Piñata - Have a basketball shaped piñata filled with candy and basketball theme toys.  Hang it from a basketball goal during the end of the party. 

Games
H.O.R.S.E
HORSE is a fun game that is great to play at parties.  To play:
Have everyone line up (or pick numbers) to determine who will shoot first.  The first player chooses a spot on the basketball court and tries to shoot a basket from that spot.  If he makes the basket then the next person in line must try and make a basket from the spot where the first player shot the ball.  If he misses the basket then the next player in line chooses a spot and tries to shoot a basket.  If the first player makes the basket, but the second player misses the basket then the second player gets a letter in the word HORSE.  Then it is the next persons turn to try and make the shot.  When a player misses enough shots that they have spelled HORSE, they are out of the game. 

Basketball Contests
Try these fun contests at your Basketball Party.  Award prizes to the winners of each event. 
1.  Free Throws - how many free throws each guest can make in 2 minutes. 
2.  Dribbling - have a contest to find which child can dribble the basketball the longest without stopping.
3.  Fastest Dribbler - use a stopwatch to see who can dribble the basketball from one end of the court and
     back with the fastest time.  (You can also give away funny prizes for the slowest dribbler. )
4.  Backwards Dribbler - Same as above only instruct the players they must dribble while walking/running
     backwards.
5.  Granny shots - who can make the longest granny shot. 
6.  Who can spin a basketball on their finger the longest. 

Food
Fun concession style food is always a big hit.  Serve:
Hotdogs w/ buns wrapped in foil
Nachos
Popcorn
Cupcakes decorated to look like basketballs
Set out tubs filled with ice and Gatorade.   

Party Favors
Nerf type basketballs and hoops
Whistles
Stopwatches
Basketballs
NBA pencils, pens, trading cards
Jersey tank (mentioned above in activities)
Sweat bands

Goody Bags
Orange bags with black basketball lines (or bags in your favorite teams color)
Bandanas to wrap up the party favors