Tips for throwing a tennis-themed birthday party

If you know someone who loves to play tennis, the tips outlined below give you the opportunity to make your friend feel special while celebrating his or her passion.

A great way to bring the court to the party without having to go to the court is to make each table at the party look like a miniature version of one. Choose tablecloths that are dark or lime green, then invest in small ping pong table nets that will reach across the table. You can simply leave the tables as is or use white duct tape to mark off the lines of a tennis court and make it look even more authentic.

When you're serving food at a tennis birthday party, skip the cake and ice cream and opt for tennis ball cupcakes, which are easy to make and great for adding to the theme and decor. Simply bake vanilla cupcakes, then use yellow icing to frost the top. You can even use shredded coconut to add a layer of texture to your cakes. Finally, use white icing or a thin white icing pen to draw the lines of the tennis ball on the top of the cupcake. Seeing these cupcakes on top of the court tables will make the area feel even more like a tennis centre.

Every birthday party needs entertainment, and you have many entertainment ideas built-in when you're throwing a party that revolves around tennis. Bring a hopper of balls to the party to organize some games that have people on their feet and competing. Even if you don't have room to use rackets, have people do egg-in-spoon races using a tennis ball on a wooden spoon, or you can mark targets on a fence or wall and try to get people to hit targets and rack up points.

Everyone loves leaving the party with goody bags, so let people bring the tennis theme home with them by filling bags with little gifts related to tennis. Give everyone a brand new tennis ball, a coloured overgrip, a sweatband and any other fun tennis memorabilia you can find. Tennis-themed goody bags are also a great idea for a birthday party with lots of guests who also love the sport.