Soccer is a sport that is gaining popularity every year. As teams are created for the ever increasing number of kids wanting to play, why not plan a birthday party around that theme? There are boys teams, girls teams and combined teams, so this theme will be great for all children!

When the guests arrive, have a jersey for everyone to wear (or a t-shirt with a number and their name stenciled on the back). You can have various colored shirts for splitting the group into teams, or you can keep them all the same color and just divide the group up evenly if needed. If you want, you could make this an activity at the beginning of the party and the guests can make their own jersey. (They wouldn’t be able to wear it, since it would take most of the party time to dry.) This makes a great momento of the party that the guests can take home!

Now you can move to the outdoor activities. Have plenty of soccer balls available and you can actually teach some of the many soccer moves to the guests. All you need is a library book, some practice before the party, or a soccer coach to help you out!

After learning some moves, everyone can begin trying to score a goal! You can put a large goal net up in your yard, or you can just place two stakes in the ground and between them is the “goal”. Have a line drawn on the ground and let all the guests take several turns. If you want to make it into a competition, say everyone gets 10 kicks and the person to get the most goals wins. (The prize can be a soccer ball!)

Once you are done with the activities outside, it is time to cool off and have some refreshments. First on the menu can be Gatorade or another sports drink to hydrate everyone. Then you can move to a menu of things you would find at a soccer game: Soft pretzels, hot dogs, popcorn and ice cream sandwiches! For dessert, you can have an extra large cake shaped just like a soccer ball! (Or you can take plain sugar cookies and allow the guest to decorate them with black and white icing.)

With the party winding down, you can have the guests do a very simple craft making a soccer player. The template can be found online and printed out in either black and white or color. All the kids do is glue the pieces of the player together (color version) or color the template and then glue the pieces together (black and white version). See dltk-kids.com for better instructions and the template.

If you don’t have enough time for a craft, there are several cartoons that have episodes focusing on soccer. Backyardigans has “The Soccer Monster”, Dora has several episodes dealing with soccer, and Blue’s Clues has an episode where Blue and the gang play a game of soccer and finally score a goal!

Paper products for a soccer themed party are easy to find at local retail stores and through online providers. You can get plates, napkins, cups, decorations, invitations and thank you notes with a soccer design. (If you order items online, be sure to leave enough time for delivery.)