A Ninth Birthday Soccer Party

My boys are currently obsessed with soccer. 

They play it everyday - after school and on the weekends. They watch it on TV when we record a game that 'their' team is playing in. For their birthdays they asked for new goals for the backyard and a jersey of their favourite player/s so they look the part!  

And when it came to choosing a theme for this year's birthday party, Liam's choice was easily made.

This was a really fun party to put together and effortless to execute, because... kids + a ball = hours of entertainment. 

I found lots of great ideas on Pinterest and the inspiration for the whole party were these invitations from Simone Made It which came in an amazing customisable, printable pack with heaps of inclusions at a very reasonable price.

Each guest was given a ticket invite and VIP pass lanyard. I had the tickets printed at Officeworks on a thicker card and they turned out so beautifully. Nearly everything else I printed at home as I customised each item. 

The envelope label printables were included in the pack and I lined the green envelopes I bought with some soccer themed scrapbook paper I found at Spotlight.

I kept the colour scheme for the party really simple to match the invitations- black and white with a hint of green.

We headed to our favourite park and the fun began! Soccer...

More soccer...

Love this bloke...

Can't believe my cheeky little love is 9! Honestly, mamas - don't blink!

We had some half time snacks - fruit, potato chips, and a simple guacamole dip with corn chips (and vegetable sticks - not pictured because I forgot about them until half way through the party!) which we made a little bit special with some sour cream piping and a couple of waffle chip 'goals'.

My boys were very excited to get energy drinks...

...but they sure needed them in the awful, awful heat. And we spent the morning really worried it would pour with rain!

Then there was more soccer...

In spite of the heat, everyone was in high spirits.

Then we fired up the barbeque for a Build your own burger bar. I made simple beef patties and had lettuce, tomato, cheese, onion, pickle and a variety of sauces available. (By the way - this sauce. Best ever!)

Our exhausted players came in for some food and a much needed rest...

The dessert table looked so pretty and was very difficult to resist! The poster, banner, cupcake toppers and thank you tags were all part of the printable pack.

I was excited the cookies turned out so well. In that they actually looked like soccer balls!

And I love these Paper Eskimo stripey baking cups...

We also had some chocolate pearls and Oreos and - can we talk about that cake?!

When Liam picked this one I knew it was beyond my cake decorating abilities and luckily our friend Julie at Sugar Storm Cakes makes the most amazing, delicious cakes! That Barcelona FC logo is completely edible!

Have I mentioned how hard it is to comprehend that he is 9 already?!?

May all your wishes come true, Baby Bear.

Our little tag home bags were trophies (plastic goblets I sprayed gold) filled with sweets that looked like soccer players and balls.

I'm sure no one noticed but each bag had two different coloured jelly babies or chico babies as teams and a single other colour for the referee! 

Hubby thought I was nuts! Though, for me that wasn't the point where I realised I was insane. That was when I was ironing the tablecloths to take them to the park!

Insane or not, I love birthday parties! And I think all the ideas here could be easily transferred to rugby, afl or basketballs too, don't you?

Are your kids obsessed with a sport?