Share your top tips for throwing a great football-themed party - chance to win a £100 Lidl voucher! NOW CLOSED!

[AaronMumsnet]

Summer is finally here, and the football season is in full swing. Whether you’re celebrating your team’s big game, or you have a mini football fan on your hands who wants nothing more than for Ronaldo to be the guest of honour at their birthday party (gulp), you need to be organised to make sure you don’t score an own-goal. Who better then, than Mumsnetters to provide some play-by-play hints and tips to make sure your football-themed party gets the crowd roaring?

What recipes do you turn to when you’ve got a crowd coming round? Is the World Cup a big deal in your house or just an excuse to get the barbecue out of retirement? Chargrilled chunks of meat not your thing? What summer dishes make your squad happy. Which games and activities keep you and your team entertained during balmy summer evenings?

Share your top tips with Lidl for throwing a great football party on the thread below and you will be entered into a prize draw where one lucky Mumsnetter will win £100 worth of Lidl vouchers (note the winner will be sent four £25 vouchers, one voucher can be redeemed per transaction).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

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The only think even slightly football themed I may do is a 'football free zone' party for those of us who don't give a cockwomble's whisker about football.

I will do football barbecue party- grilled meat, new Potato salad( boiled new potatoes, garlic, dill and greek yogurt, pittas, and chips.

Not in Glasgow - too many issues with home teams etc

Kids football team is different as it's independent and would just be a BBq style menu and a fancy cake but all the sports and quiz games would be world wide football skills and questions etc.

Beat the goalie, pin the badge on the referee, Goal post Piniata (kick the ball and hit the treats!)

But be sneaky and have a nutritionist element as they should be learning about that too.

Chips and dips! Stuff you can eat without having to look at it in case you miss one second's worth of the game 🙄

Bbq, snacks and a big tv

Beer, barbecue, burgers and buns. And beer. And Brie. And a massive tv. And beer.

Pulled pork, so easy and tasty. Everyone can help themselves and serve with buns, salad and coleslaw.

Orange eighths for half time. And lots of variation, eg 3 sided football, to keep it fun.

we do nachos and chicken wings

We don't watch football in the house but the kids love playing it. They are quite old school and use jumpers or t-shirts as goal posts and have a good old kick about.

The best football-themed party is hosted by someone else, in their house, and quite probably without inviting me!

If I was to be invited, then a room far away from the TV, with comfy seating, food, drink, and like-minded company is all that's needed to make a good party.

Massive QLED TV
Comfy 3 seater
BBQ chicken wings, chips, kebab in stick, pita dips and salad with drinks.
Tropical fruit platter pineapple, mango and melon

If it's a kids' party, then give out water bottles instead of party bags. I got this from another Mumsnetter. Actually, it works for any party. SportsDirect do 2 for £4.

Keep it fun while being a little competitive. A bbq instead of the usual party snacks.

I grew to love the World Cup as a kid - my dad always was, and still is, football crazy. Though no longer much into the leagues I still love to watch the big matches. It is a great chance for family bonding when relationships aren't great within the family, as they were not in mine. Now, as then, I would say not a great deal is required for a football party. A decent sized TV and some snacks for half-time, mezze kind of stuff - hummus dips with pitas and veg, meat and veggie meatballs, diced fruit - summer fare.

Big TV
Lots of party type snacks
Cool drinks to hand

Then before or after the big game, we'll play football - hopefully outside in the garden in the sun!

bowls of crisps and dips for when they arrive and watching.then takeaway curry or pizza

As the world cup is a big thing in our household, we create home-made pizzas and use the barbecue to make spicy chicken wings for our football themed party. If the weather is nice, then we play football outdoors in between matches. But if it is raining then we play FIFA on the games console.

I'm not keen on football but my partner is so has had friends round to watch it before, we've done loads of food to eat, BBQ is always a winner too.

Weather permitting - we would have a bbq in the garden where we happen to have a goal post set up. I think some tasty food combined with some drinks would lead to drinking games involving the scoring of goals. A football cake would go down well as well, or just decorated cupcakes.

ooo we're planning on a football bbq for the world cup - even got a projector for the garden to play on a screen. Kids can play and we can watch football and eat burnt burgers, kebabs and guzzle sip prosecco. I'll make some footballl cupcakes too & pop some bunting up - perfect! (just hope the weather plays ball (boom boom) with my plans!

Piece de resistance - a football shaped birthday cake. Lakeland supply spherical cake tins and they are actually very easy to make. Just use brown icing (or black and white) and place in the centre of table, sorted!

We went to a great World Cup party where the guests were each asked to bring a dish from a different World Cup country. It worked really well and people made a effort to do something a bit different from the usual BBQ stuff.

Just go for easy finger food that can be grabbed and eaten without any faffing (Pringles, dips, tub of chocolates)

I like to do a buffet themed on the nationality of the team playing.

So for Spain we had tapas, Germany we had bratwurst with all different toppings etc