Soccer Party

Recently my son turned fourteen and requested a soccer themed birthday party at home. Here is what we did using simple supplies, little expense, and time. I also made some free printables that are available to download below. Many of these ideas could be used for a game day watch party or end of the season team party as well.

Decorations:

I used this balloon tape and strung up a mix of green, black, white, and gold balloons. I found the wonderful soccer foil balloons here. I also cut long fringes out of a plastic green tablecloth to create grass and taped it to my kitchen island. My youngest painted a jersey with the number fourteen for her brother so I framed and displayed that as well.

My kids really enjoy helping me to decorate for our home parties and I always welcome the help. I made these pennant banners like I had made previously for his baseball party years ago. The template is free to download above for personal use and can be given to kids to decorate and tape to wooden dowels or straws. I used my projector to enlarge them onto white poster board and my kids decorated them with a mix of watercolor and acrylic paint, as well as gold glitter.

They had so much fun decorating these for their big brother’s birthday party and were so proud to see them on display throughout our house.

On another wall in our kitchen, I taped up some gold paper plates to create a giant trophy. We have used this same idea to decorate for Father’s Day as well as to decorate for our derby parties in the past. I added another soccer foil balloon, cut out a large number 14 out of black poster board and taped up another pennant banner that my daughter painted. This all really is so simple and inexpensive but made the space festive. I also scored some cool soccer napkins and soccer field paper plates that were on clearance at Walmart from the recent World Cup games.

I cut out trophy silhouettes out of gold poster board and made some soccer jerseys out of black poster board and white cardstock. I added more foil balloons and art my daughters painted for their brother. I love making large cut outs from poster board as it is a quick and inexpensive way to decorate a large space.

I used more black poster board with painter’s tape to make larger than life cleats.

We also displayed some soccer books on our shelves.

In our dining room, where we usually serve the birthday cake, I used two black poster board to cut out the silhouette of a large soccer player kicking. I added another ballon garland, the pennant banners my daughters painted, and taped up some crepe paper streamers to show the trajectory of the ball. I used this similar idea last year when decorating for my son’s Star Wars Birthday. I made cutouts of TIE fighters and X-wing starfighters then and used strips of red plastic tablecloth to show the trajectory of the starfighter beams.

Party Activities

I found free coloring pages here and projected them onto white poster board to create a large coloring wall for kids.

I purchase the white poster board from Walmart for less than fifty cents a piece, and pin cups of crayons to the walls for kids to color.

This poster encouraged my youngest to paint her own world cup trophy.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that a lot of his eighth grade friends still enjoyed coloring.

This is such an easy, quick, and inexpensive activity to set up.

Many of the boys actually spent a lot of time here.

I added this simple sign to our giant Lego stash to invite kids to build their own Lego soccer trophies. Sometimes kids just need a little nudge to create something new from what they already have. The activity sign I made is available above for personal use.

We made soccer shaped sugar cookies for the kids to decorate. I used this recipe from Allrecipes. I purchased the soccer cookie cutter here.

Decorating cookies is always a hit (even for this group of eighth grade boys) and setting up this activity was as easy as setting out vanilla buttercream frosting, these soccer shaped sugar cookies, along with some paper plates, plastic knives, and a few sprinkles, and letting the kids have at it. My favorite recipe for vanilla buttercream frosting is this one from Two Sisters. I found the soccer sprinkles here.

I purchased soccer tattoos here. Including a little area dedicated to temporary tattoos is a super inexpensive and low prep activity that is always well loved by kids of all ages.

I purchased this watercolor paper from the Dollar Tree and used a Sharpie to outline a soccer ball on them for kids to paint with watercolors.

The boys really enjoyed this activity and many asked for more. Some even spent close to an hour here.

We popped popcorn and showed the soccer movie, Kicking and Screaming starring Will Ferrell. I found the popcorn buckets at the Dollar Tree and just added some soccer stickers to them.

We made a ginormous soccer pinata together from cardboard. This is an easy and wonderful way to make larger, sturdier pinatas, that can fit into any party theme. You just need to cut out the shape of your piñata twice, add four inch cardboard strips to the sides, and tape everything with masking tape. We use masking tape as it can be painted or easily covered up with tissue paper and won’t show through.

We covered our soccer pinata with white crepe paper streamer and glued on some black construction paper for the details.

My kids always enjoy helping me to make and fill these pinatas. As the cost of making these are minimal, we get to splurge on filling them. We filled ours with a few giant bags of mixed Halloween candy from Costco.

Here is the birthday boy taking the first swing at the pinata. My husband taught him to bat left even though he is right-handed. I miss his years of little league. He always had such good form. For this group of varying age kids, we had them line up shortest to tallest with the exception of the birthday boy who gets first swing. Also since there were many eighth grade boys, they got only one chance to hit, while younger kids were given three swings. Another safety tip is to always make sure all the kids are standing way far back to avoid being hit by the bat.

Food:

The birthday boy requested a nacho bar which was a hit with all the teenage boys. I followed this recipe from The Cookie Rookie to make the queso in my crockpot. We kept it on a warmer to serve with tortilla chips but it also tasted great drizzled over potatoes (see below).

We enjoyed these twice baked potatoes. I slice the potatoes into two, rub with olive oil, salt and pepper, and bake for an hour at 400 then scoop out the filling, adding melted butter, parmesan cheese, mexican cheese, and sour cream. I then refill the potatoes, topping them with crushed cooked bacon, some green onions, and more mexican cheese, putting them back into the oven for another 10-15 minutes for the cheese to melt. Also this is your gentle reminder that teenage boys can really eat! I prepared ten pounds of potatoes and there was not one left by the end of the party.

We had a bowl of shrimp chips that I labelled with a pennant banner. The pennant banners are available here.

My parents made their famous and very delicious fried rice.

One of my son’s friends has been on his same soccer team for the past four years and loves this baked salmon dish that I make so I knew I had to include this in my son’s party menu. I will post the recipe soon.

We also served homemade mac and cheese and traditional Vietnamese egg rolls (not pictured as I forgot to take a proper picture before they were all devoured). The egg roll recipe handed down from my mom can be found here.

We had a hot cocoa bar. This is something we always like to serve at all of our fall and winter gatherings. I followed this recipe from Wishes and Dishes to make the crockpot hot chocolate and laid out some simple toppings (mini marshmallows, whipped cream, and sprinkles). The kids always love this.

We mixed lime sherbet with a few bottles of ginger ale to make a grass punch. The party sign I made is available above for personal use. I purchased the 9oz clear cups here and found it to be the best size for kids as it creates smaller spills and less waste.

My son requested a strawberry cake shaped like a soccer ball. I doubled this recipe from Preppy Kitchen to make the strawberry cake and this recipe from Two sisters to make the vanilla buttercream frosting.

Here is my oldest daughter frosting her big brother’s cake. She made the design herself. She really enjoys baking and decorating and hopes to own a bakery one day.

I used this recipe to make the chocolate cupcakes. I made these simple cupcake toppers, cut them out, and taped them to toothpicks. The toppers are available here.

Favors:

I purchased green paper bags from the Dollar Tree and set them all out on the table along with some Sharpies and these soccer stickers for the kids to decorate. I also grabbed party blowers from the Dollar Tree and these soccer themed bracelets for the kids to fill. Everyone enjoyed decorating them and then filling them with pinata candy.

My greatest joy in creating these parties for my children is seeing all their excitement and happiness. I enjoy planning and creating with my kids and love helping them to see how we can easily make decorations and fun activities from simple everyday supplies.

I usually end these party posts with a picture of the birthday child but my son no longer wants to take as many pictures or at the very least have them shared. However I did want to share an old picture of my son and dedicate this post to his godfather, Uncle Jerry, who recently passed prematurely from pancreatic cancer. Jerry was always so supportive and loving to my son and will be missed dearly. Life really is too short. Bake the cake, throw the party, and celebrate all the things.

I create more printable activities for kids here.

To see my other kids’ parties click here.

If you use these printables or party ideas, I would love to see it! Please use #sodangfun on social media, tag me @sodangfun on Instagram, or post to my Facebook page.

I hope this post is helpful in planning your soccer themed celebrations.