Invitations: A winning invite for this party is to design your invitation in the shape of a soccer ball. Cut circle soccer ball shapes out of white poster board. Use traditional black and white or your favorite team's colors to decorate in a soccer ball pattern. Include all soccer birthday party details on the back side of your invitations. Tell your party goers to come dressed to participate in active games in their favorite team colors.
Decorations: Base your decorating scheme for this party on your favorite team's colors. If you want to take your theme to another dimension, add pennants from various teams and posters of soccer players to the party room. Attach a bouquet of helium filled soccer ball balloons to a light post or mailbox outside, so there will be no mistaking where the fun will be on party day.
Cover the party table with a grass green tablecloth. Use white tape to mark the lines on the field. Arrange soccer-themed paper plates and cups. Use your soccer ball cake or cup cakes as the centerpiece. Several on-line vendors have soccer-themed supplies. Among them are Birthday in a Box, Birthday Direct, Oriental Trading Company and Kids Soccer World.
Activities: Have guests sign a new soccer ball for the birthday child to keep as a remembrance of the party.
Take pictures of each guest and print them off using All-Star Soccer frames from HP. While you are at it take a group picture as well.
Games: Soccer bowling is a version of lawn bowling that will score big with soccer fans. You will need ten clean empty tw0-liter plastic bottles and a soccer ball to play. You may want to partially fill the bottles with water to add sufficient stability to them. Set up the bottles on a level section of your yard. Each player get three kicks or attempts to knock down as many pins as possible by kicking the ball from 20 feet away. If all the "pins" fall before the third attempt, set them up again so the player has a chance to add to his or her score. The player with the most points wins.
Super-sized croquet is a great way for soccer players to show-off their skills. You will need to make nine wickets. Use pliers to untwist nine wire clothes hangers. Then bend each into a square wicket big enough for balls to fit through. Cover the wire with colored tape. Cut circles from card stock, use a marker to number them One to Nine, then tape them to the wickets. Set up the wickets in the formation of your choice, spacing them at least six feet apart. You will need two soccer balls for this game.
To play divide the kids into two teams. Teams will alternate play. First player of Team A will get one kick to try to send the ball through the first wicket. If he or she gets it through a wicket, he or she will get a bonus kick. Then the first player of Team B will get one kick, etc. Teams will alternate play until one team gets their ball through all nine wickets. The first team to get their ball through all nine wickets wins.
To play air ball give each player a deflated balloon. The first challenge is to see who can blow up and tie off their balloon first. When everyone has a balloon, the second challenge is for all to stand in a circle and try to keep their balloon in the air using their feet, head and other parts of the body (except arms and hands). If a balloon hits the ground, that player is out. The last kid remaining in the competition wins. If your kids are too good at this and the game seems to be going on too long, up the challenge. Have the remaining players control two balloons at once increasing the degree of difficulty.
Crafts: A wonderful way to wind down before you begin your food service is to trace each child on a large sheet of craft paper. Then let the kids color or paint their outlines as soccer players. This activity requires a lot of space - perhaps in a basement or outside on a sidewalk. If space is limited, as an alternative provide your party guests with coloring pages. Then give them crayons or markers so they can color. Download free soccer coloring pages here.
Food: If you are having a meal, a logical way to go is to serve a typical sports stadium concession stand food - hot dogs, nachos, soft pretzels, pizza, chips, popcorn and snow cones. Or consider serving a sample of foods from World Cup teams. According to Wikipedia, fans in the United Kingdom love meat pies; in Brazil a popular meal after a match is sanduiche de calabresa (pepperoni sandwich); in Germany fans prefer bratwurst; and in Argentina, common football fare includes chorpan (a sandwich with grilled chorizo with crusty bread) and grilled hamburgers. The Guardian (a British national daily newspaper) relates that South African football fans will eat beef sausages on a bread roll, meat pies and donuts during the World Cup. Try these recipes to mimic favorite football fare from the highlighted international teams: Soccer Sliders, Mini Sausage Rolls, Football Foldovers, and Cinnamon Kicks.
An excellent munchy for this party is World Cup Crunch. Mix together 5 cups of cheese puff balls, 4 cups of Corn Chex cereal and 6 cups of lightly salted popcorn in a large bowl. This mix can be stored in a tin container with a tight lid for several weeks. Add some sliced apples and grapes to round out the menu. Serve your guests Power Soccer Punch to wash it all down.
Cake: There are several options for this party's dessert. You will score big with a Soccer Ball Cake made easy with Wilton's Sports Ball Pan set.
Soccer Goal Mini Cakes can be made with mini loaf pans and mint-flavored soccer ball decorating icing.
A soccer-inspired cupcake can be crafted with a generous amount of green icing and nonpareil sprinkles topped with mint-flavored soccer ball icing decorations.
With a Wilton Soccer Set (2113-9002) a decorated sheet cake is just minutes away. Simply ice your sheet cake in green, apply white frosting to make field lines and place cake topper in place. Each set comes with seven players and two nets.
Another way to go is to have party goers decorate cupcakes iced in white frosting as soccer balls. Supply black decorating frosting tubes for the traditional look or frosting colors to match your team's favorite colors.
Favors: Have white party bags, black markers and soccer stickers available for guests as they arrive. Get the kids to write their names on the bags and decorate them with available materials. Children can fill their bags with treats and prizes throughout the party.
Party favors that score with soccer fans include bouncy balls, whistles, stickers, key chains, pencils and miniature stuffed soccer balls (like hacky sacks).
The All Star Soccer photo cards can be sent home as favors or mailed as thank you notes after the party.
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