Basketball Parties
Host an NCAA Party This Year
An Entire Month of Possibilities!

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Men's Division I Basketball Tournament is held over a 3 week period mainly in March (thus the familiar name "March Madness").

This important tournament features 65 college basketball teams competing at sites across the United States and has become one of the nation's most prominent sporting events. For anything you could possibly want to know about the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, click on this link to the Official NCAA web site.

After Sunday, March 28, 2010 print a free Final Four NCAA Tournament Bracket showing all teams participating, and if you are planning to party on the road, look here for NCAA Basketball Tournament Tickets.

So Many Opportunities To Party!

Check out all the dates in the schedule above. This is the perfect sporting event to host some great basketball parties.

There are so many dates to choose from, you ought to be able to find at least one that will fit into everybody's busy schedule.

For us, this tournament usually falls when we are on Spring Break. We usually travel to the same resort in Orlando, Florida called Orange Lake Country Club and Resort and are with the same group of friends.

Here we are a couple of years ago when our team, the Michigan State Spartans, was in the tournament.

For at least a couple of the games, we hang out at somebody's condo, make some foo-fee drinks and munch on some great appetizers.

This basketball tournament is a great excuse to host a basketball party and get together with some friends.

Party Supplies Start Here

BuyCostumes.com sells basketball party packages that include matching plates, napkins and cutlery.

This particular Party Pack also includes a plastic table cover, an 18-inch foil balloon, 8 invitations, streamers and a basketball centerpiece.

You will find this Party Pack at this link as well as an ala carte menu of basketball party supplies that you can purchase separately.

Below are a few more of my favorite basketball party supplies. Click on the images or links for more information.

From $5.99 Basketball Cake Toppers	From $14.99 Basketball T-Shirts	From $7.95 Basketball Board Games
$4.99 Basketball Centerpieces	$3.99 Basketball Cutouts	From $5.99 Basketball Jewelry

Click here for more Party Supplies.

Basketball Party Recipes

Here are some of our favorite recipes for Basketball Parties:

Appetizers

Desserts

Click here for more party recipes including some special cocktails and party punches that would be great at any theme party.

Click here to share your favorite Party Recipes and Ideas and see what other Theme Party Queen visitors have submitted.

Basketball Invitations Start Here

There are three choices available if you want to mail your own party invitations:

• Search around in your local stores for invitations and fill them out by hand
• Order blank invitation stock on line and then fill them out by hand, or my personal favorite
• Use an on line service to design your own invitations that you receive in the mail

If you decide to use an on line service, I highly recommend using VistaPrints.com. I recently ordered some personal items and was very impressed with how easy it was to completely design them myself.

Everything was easy to follow and navigation from screen to screen was very straightforward so I didn't feel lost halfway through the process.

Each step was clearly marked from beginning to end, unlike some other services I have used.

If you don't want to completely design everything yourself, you can use one of their templates (like the one above) and just fill in the wording, like "Time of Party" "Date" and so forth. Steps are as follows:

• Select Invitations from NavBar
• Select a Category like "Birthday" (tons under "General Party")
• Select a template
• Add your content--front of the invitation and inside
• Proof your invitation and initial
• Specify quantity
• Billing and shipping information
• Shipment arrives, you address and mail

Special Limited Time Offer at VistaPrint.com

• 50% Off Custom Printed Invitations & Announcements

Once you arrive on this screen, choose the category you prefer ("Birthday" "Sports" or whatever), choose the template and then proceed with the other steps.

I especially love the ease of creating mass amounts of free invitations very easily using Microsoft Powerpoint.

When I am in a pinch, I can not afford to waste time hand addressing invitations or waiting for them to come in the mail. I taught myself how to create very basic free invitations in Powerpoint and I use this method at least once a year.

To learn how to create free invitations in Powerpoint, click here to go to my Design Powerpoint Invitations page. You will find detailed instructions with screen shots to help you along.

If you plan on sending your invitations through the mail, the easiest way to get them addressed is to create address labels in Microsoft Word.

Go to this page to learn how to Create Address Labels in Microsoft Word. Look for the link at the top of the page to go directly to that section.

Once you get your invitations in the envelopes with the address labels attached, make sure you have a return address in the upper left corner of every envelope. Each year I get a few holiday letters and Christmas party invitations back in the mail because, for whatever reason, they were undeliverable.

Choose either Return Address Labels like the one above or use a Self Inking Stamp to make your return address labeling chore a breeze.