Take Me Out to the Ballgame

We took our children to their very first baseball game. Here's how it went.

Now, I will start this off by saying that I am not a big sports fan and you will never catch me watching any type of sport on the television at home unless someone (aka my dad) has changed the channel from the Food Network or Disney Junior to "the game." 

We decided to do a big family day out at the ballgame as a birthday present to my dad (the kids call him Papa). I took a look at our local baseball team's schedule. Most of the games were at night, starting at 7pm. That didn't work for us since that's practically bed time for my two year old. There were a few games afternoon games. We chose a 12:30pm game on a Sunday afternoon. This time of year is tricky for Southern California; you never know what the temperature will be next week. One week, it will be rainy with a high of 60 degrees and the next week it will be scorching with a high of 95 degrees. Because of this, I played it safe and looked for seats that would be in the shade for the entire game, which are the Terrace level seats for this particular stadium. They were pricier than I had wanted, but I didn't want to chance being in the sweltering heat with the kids.

We now knew what game we wanted and where we wanted to sit. All I had to do now was to buy the tickets. Of course, I wanted to find the best deal. Costco sells tickets vouchers for this team's games for $63 for two tickets, two hot dogs, and two sodas. The seating options are terrace (close to third base and farther) or one level above that (in the sun), but you have to go down to the stadium to redeem your vouchers and see what seats are available. When I looked at buying the tickets off of the team's site, there weren't a lot left in the terrace level and I needed 8 tickets; plus, they ran about $38 a ticket. Because there wasn't a lot of terrace level seats left on the site's website, my best bet for finding 8 tickets together in the terrace section was a third party website like Stubhub. And I lucked out and found 8 terrace seats for $34 each. 

We arrived 45 minutes prior to the start time. We were able to make a bathroom stop, find our seats, and grab some food before the "National Anthem." Speaking of food, my brother's girlfriend had researched food choices at the stadium; and I'm so grateful she had because if she hadn't, I would've been walking around like a lost puppy looking for its mother. If you're not familiar with the stadium, I would suggest doing a little research on the different food venues that are in the stadium before you go especially if you have a picky eater. Our stadium also allowed outside food to be brought in so I packed snacks to help save money.

Of course, I didn't expect the kids to sit through nine innings of a game they didn't even know existed until that day. You can only tell a two year old "the guy in blue is going to throw the ball to the guy in red, and he's going to try to hit it" so many times before he starts to go stir-crazy. We walked around and found a team merchandise store. I found some cheap $7.99 shirts for the kids. I'm so glad I didn't buy team shirts at Target for $20. When my son became exhausted, we got up again, this time for ice cream. His eyes were so droopy but the idea of that frosty treat was just enough to motivate him to stay awake.

Soft serve in a helmet. A treat and a souvenir!

Overall, I would say that our first baseball game was a success. The kids may not have paid much attention to the game, but they had a great time and even got to see the fireworks after a home run. As I was tucking my daughter in that night, she said that the best part of her day was being at the game and she wanted to hit a ball over the fence too.

Here are a few tips for taking your young children to their first baseball game:

1. Check if your seats are in the sun or shade and pack accordingly. There's plenty of websites that give you an idea if your seats are in the sun or not. If you aren't sure, you can always call the stadium and ask.   
2. Bring snacks and water bottles (if allowed). You'll be glad you did once you see how much the food is. I spent less on the shirts for the kids than I did on one order of chicken fingers and carne asada fries.
3. Don't expect them to watch the game. Go for the experience of being at the game instead of actually watching the game, which includes fried food, sweet treats, music, dancing, and hopefully fireworks for home runs.
4. Walk around often. Those stadium seats are so close to each other that the kids really need to get up and walk around the stadium to avoid making your neighboring fans hate you. R accidentally kicked the lady's head in front of us while playing on my brother's lap. Ooopsies. Luckily, she understood as she has a toddler herself.
5. Have fun and be silly. While it might be tempting to try to explain everything that is going on, most young children don't have the attention span for that. Instead, teach them the songs, dance with them, and have a grand ol' time.