Slam Dunk

 With March Madness going strong, it seems only right to include a basketball tablescape among the many beautiful tablescapes at Susan's "Between Naps on the Porch."

A couple of days ago I wrote about my son turning our kitchen table into a basketball court.

Well we couldn't have a basketball court in the kitchen and not have a tablescape to go with it!

Everyone loves watching college basketball in March whether your team is playing or not. (Mine isn't!!) 

I already had some of the items I used on my tablescape..  But I knew not everyone has a house full of boys that could supply them with "decor".  Keeping that in mind, I went looking for the cheapest basketball decorations I could find, so that everyone could afford a March Madness party and tablescape.  For instance, the net and ball pictures above were purchased at Wal-Mart in the Easter toy section.  They have all kinds of toys under $5.  The basket and net were $2. And as you can see, the goal has suction cups and could be put up on something.  I plan to use the goal over a dip bowl.  That way everyone is "dunking" their chip into the goal!

If you want to, you can give everyone an assigned seat.  I used luggage tags.  I inserted a piece of plain paper over the information tag that came with it.  That way we can still use the luggage tags for their real use later.

This is the other side of the luggage tag.  Aren't they great?  These happened to be on the clearance aisle at Wal-Mart. They had three of four other sports as well.  And to make things even more clever, the luggage tags could also be used for napkin rings.

Another idea I had was to use numbers to represent basketball numbers.  We always have lots of the boys friends over.  This is a cute idea to get their basketball numbers and hang them from the chairs too. As you can see I paired the numbers with a basketball luggage tag too.

The silverware 'ball' on the right, is really an Easter basket.  I happened to get these several years ago after Easter for under a dollar.  I did check and I found 'basketball' Easter baskets at every store I went to. 

I used basketball ribbon to tie the silverware bundle together.

For a couple of my serving bowls I actually used a basketball...........that I had Luke cut into two pieces.  I bought the cheapest basketball I could find at Wal-Mart.  This one was $4.  Luke used a pair of scissors and cut it right on the middle seam. As you can see that makes one of the "bowls" have the letters right side up and one of the "bowls" have the letters upside down.  You can either line the "bowl" with a napkin as I did, or put a smaller bowl inside your basketball "bowl".

The "basketball court bowl" in front of the basketball bowls is from Hobby Lobby. Aren't they cute?  They come two to a package.  The small bowl (about cereal bowl size) I also purchased at Hobby Lobby.  The larger basketball basket behind that is another Easter basket.  This one I got at the Dollar Tree...for $1.  I just tucked the handles inside all the Easter baskets.  Obviously you could just cut the handles off as well.

I displayed my menu on the table right beside the plates and eating utensils.  This was a $1 magnetic frame that I just put paper behind and sat on the table.  You can use any basketball metaphors for your own personal menu.

The plates that look like a court are melamine.  I bought them at Target in the dollar section several years ago.  They have had a lot of use during our sports parties!

The bag behind the cups is holding the napkins.  It is actually a paper gift bag.  Notice all the different size basketballs that are 'dribbled' all over the court?

Cupcake toppers were actual cupcake toppers from Hobby Lobby and also basketball candy.  I purchased it at Dollar Tree in the Easter candy section.

Speaking of candy, I found a couple of other candies that went with the party theme.  I figured they could also be used for decoration or party favors.  I thought I would include them for the idea.  Both of the candies below are from the Dollar Tree.

These little basketballs are actually erasers.  I found a whole bag of them in the party favor section at Wal-Mart.

These basketballs were a whole bag of swim pool toys also found at Dollar Tree.

These were in the craft section at Wal-Mart.  These were also in a big bag.  They have an adhesive on the back as well.  Imagine what could be done!

So there you have it.  My March Madness basketball tablescape; full of affordable ideas, great for an evening of basketball games.  All you need now is the big screen! 

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