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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BBQ or pizza and nachos indoors if the weathers bad. Comfy couch and cushions and sound up loud on the tv.

I recently enjoyed making some cupcakes (you could even buy ready ones). We then put buttercream on and topped them with rice paper cupcake toppers which the children had designed themselves and I'd then ordered online. They were so chuffed to see their designs on the cupcakes and it really gave that personal touch!

Apart from that, kids are more than happy with crisps, squash and some sweets.

Weather permitting we have a BBQ, salad, dips and snacks and put it all on the dining table as a kind of running buffet. DH is not keen on football so is happy to look after the BBQ.

Do it yourself wraps go down well here- means everyone can have what they want. I tend ti buy lots of different pastries too so people can pick and choose. Can you tell there is a theme here- i live with fussy eaters!

I'd like to serve food from the countries playing in the world cup. It would give me an opportunity to learn and try some new recipes. We're in need of a menu refresh in this house!

We pick countries out of a hat and then everyone has to bring the following:

A dish from that country
Some sort of clothing from that country
A homemade flag of some sort.

This works for Eurovision as well =!

I hate football, and some of the parties ds has disliked most were football ones.
If I had to do a football party, it would def be an international theme, with lots of brazilian cheesebread (we love it, and it's naturally GF), pizza, sausage etc

Massive selection of rolls available- bacon, sausage, eggs, black pudding and probably ham and/or cheese for those not so greasy spoon inclined. Tea pots at the ready as well as a healthy supply of beer, wine, coffee and coke. Cheesy balls and onion rings and you're good to go 😁

We fire up the BBQ, lots of crisps and dips. Pulled pork in the slow cooker with wraps and you are away,

I've never even heard of a 'Football themed' party - wouldn't have occurred to me - but then I have got two DDs!

We do Eurovision though! Just loads of dippy things with veggie sticks and crisps, olives, garlic bread and plenty of wine

Don't do it indoors! My DS had a football themed party and we hired a local hall with playing field attached. On the day, it rained, and we continued the football inside with a soft sponge ball (that I had brought in case). "We" still managed to break a light fitting, and lost our deposit.

Easy pre-prepared finger food only. You cannot pause the game under any circumstances!!

Big tv mounted to the wall kids in another room so they don't interrupt. Cocktail hour and lots of spherical snacks

If I was going to do something world cup related I'd be trying to find food/drink from the participating nations.

Hopefully, even if the TV is on inside, you can spill out into the garden, where you can get the BBQ on. Plenty of beer, a few sun umbrellas, everyone brings something to eat and drink, so that no one person is burdened with it all. Kids can run about in the garden, play football etc.

If its raining you pray that its not at your house or you suggest piling down the pub!!!!

Oddly enough I really don't care much about football, but there's nothing like a World Cup to get involved in the competition: it's the sudden death nature of the matches that make it quite compelling.
There's very little chance anyone would come to our house to watch the football owing to our small TV, but foodwise I'd go for either a BBQ with chicken kebabs, loads of different salads (perhaps some Russian inspired ingredients) and nice breads. Probably my favourite type of meal for any occasion to be honest. Mix it with some nice vodka cocktails (Russian, see?) and sounds like a perfect evening in. Nostrovia!

for a friends and family party, you could organise a fantasy football sweepstake, with winners being drawn from the hat every 20 mins

The key here is to ensure all food provided can be eaten using hands only so it can be transported from plate to mouth with minimum effort & concentration so full focus can be given to the match!
Think hotdogs, pizzas, chips, crisps, veg sticks, breadsticks, veg or fruit kebabs, etc.
Play Beat the Goalie in the garden to decide who's on prep duty & washing up duty after! :)

We like to have BBQs in the summer, but with plenty of veg as well as different kinds of meat. We have lots of cold drinks on offer, different salads, and fresh fruit for dessert. Have lots of garden games to enjoy and if it's warm enough, we get the paddling pool out!

DS has a summer birthday and if Wales had got to the World Cup we’d absolutely be having a football party...not to be! At 11, they want to be a bit more free to do their own thing. For younger kids you can hire the sports hall and someone to ‘run’ the party for you, with football training/games/little match. Older ones just want a kick around and some (lots of !) food. BBQ/picnic and a field =sorted.

Have mini footballs for the kids to kick around - have a few football mad parents entertain children with some ball skills - wear them out before the food.
Easy to eat non messy foods- hotdogs, crudités, pizza, hummus, chips for the children and bbq for adults and song still hungry kids - chicken kebabs, burgers, corn on the cob, couple of nice salads

Can I have a no football party with the TV off ans like minded friends round?

DS had a football party one year.

For food we kept it simple with hotdogs (kids could help themselves to onions, ketchup and mustard as not everyone likes these in their hotdog) and some bowls of cucumber, tomatoes, carrot sticks etc.

Rather than a party bag we gave everyone a giant inflatable football (not inflated obviously!!!) which were less than £2 each from amazon or eBay. These went down really well from the feedback we had.

We love throwing a world cup party we like to do the foods of whichever team is playing as best we can. Eg Greece lamb kebabs with tzatziki

Oh, heck, I'd forgotten we were in for the bloody World Cup being thrust down our throats everywhere this summer .