How to Plan a Touchdown-Worthy Football Birthday Party

Whether it’s tailgating before kickoff or watching a Sunday game from the comfort of your living room, football is a staple in so many households. And that love for the game transfers perfectly to a fun party theme, to celebrate your football fan!

With so many color schemes and countless ways to make a football party theme classic or more modern, there are football birthday party ideas to suit any team. A few key elements can be added to a football birthday party to truly make it shine. From football-shaped party foods to football-themed games and crafts, these football party ideas will help you throw a touchdown-worthy party your star quarterback will be sure to love.

Football Party Invitations

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First thing’s first, you’ll need to let all of the players know they’ve been drafted. Be sure to send your invitations out with plenty of time left before the big day. After all, they have an important game to get ready for!

We love the idea of creating your own invitations using brown cardstock to cut out football shapes. Use a white paint pen to add football laces on one side, and then flip it over to write in your details for a custom handwritten invitation. Stuff each invitation in a grass-green envelope and address it to each player.

If the clock is running out and there’s no time to DIY, there are so many options to order or print at home.

• Be sure all of your fans get their ticket to the game. This football ticket invitation lets you customize the details, and the printable file will be sent straight to you for easy at-home printing.
• Planning to incorporate your quarterback’s favorite professional team? Kick things off with a customized colored invitation.
• Still want a football-shaped invite without going the DIY route? Grab a set of football invitations and fill them out to let everyone know it’s game time!

Football Party Decorations

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Be sure the field is set up for the big game with plenty of festive decorations. Set the stage by incorporating a color scheme surrounding your child’s favorite team, or go for a classic green and white gridiron palette. Use a green tablecloth, use footballs or football helmets as centerpieces and fill in with colorful balloons and banners.

• If you really want to go all out, why not make a big play with balloons? While this might look a bit intimidating, there are options for football balloon kits to help you through every step of the process, combining football-shaped balloons with festive colors to get ready for a whole lot of fun.
• Set up a dedicated table for your game day grub with a concession stand. Hang a burlap concessions banner behind the table to be sure all of your fans can find their way to the fuel.
• Not all football party food is finger food, so be sure you’re prepared with utensils to match your theme. These wooden party utensils will do just the trick.

Football Party Food Ideas

The last thing you want is for your star players to go hungry while prepping for a big game. After all, they need their fuel! And we’ve got delicious foodtball food for you to add to the menu, including full meal options, concession stand snacks and appetizers and sweets to satisfy any appetite.

Game Day Grub

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Burgers are always a hit for hearty appetites, and these football burgers are definitely dressed to impress. Make football-shaped patties and pair them with hoagie rolls, and then deck them out with cheese to really take the trophy home.

Set up a display of food just like the stadium concession stand. Wrap hot dogs in silver foil to give them that game day look.

Frito Pie is another classic concession stand item. Make a large Frito Pie to dish up from a casserole dish, or go the concession stand route by adding the chili and cheese right into mini bags of Fritos. Don’t forget to add a football-themed fork!

Sideline Snacks

Taste of Home

Keep all of your players full and fueled with great snacks throughout the day. Potato chips always make an appearance during a football game, whether you’re watching at home on the couch or sitting in the stands under the Friday night lights.

Soft pretzels are a concession stand classic, and they can be made at home with the right prep ahead of time.

Add a grab-and-go option for snacking with this Touchdown Snack Mix. Display the mix in a football-shaped pan, and serve it in cups with your team’s colors.

Hydrating Drinks

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Be sure to keep the team hydrated with their favorite thirst-quenching beverages. If you’re serving up soda or juice, deck out mason jars with white duct tape to make a display of football drinks. Or, if you need a referee to step in to make sure the team keeps hydrating while playing all day, this easy referee Gatorade wrapper will set you up for success in no time. Simply grab small bottles of Gatorade, print at home and wrap each bottle.

Football Cakes

Taste of Home

It wouldn’t be a party without cake! And if you really want to score extra points, creating a football-themed sweet like a football field cake will make the party that much more fun. This gridiron cake comes together in a few easy steps, with a frosted sheet cake, goal posts made out of straws and candy players to kick off the game.

Want to do something that is easy to grab as your team members head out to the yard for their ball game? These chocolate football cupcakes will do just the trick. Round out your concession stand’s dessert spread with festive football whoopie pies, complete with a marshmallow fluff filling, and the cutest little football cake pops.

Football Party Crafts

Courtesy Frog Prince Paperie

Need an indoor activity to keep everyone busy? Set up all of the guests with a football helmet cut-out and encourage them to decorate their helmets to represent their team. To pair with the helmets, be sure they have something to use to cheer on the rest of the players. Make DIY mini megaphones with paper cups, and let all of the football fans decorate them with a variety of washi tape, markers and tissue paper to celebrate their team.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a football party without playing an actual game of football. Or, if the space in your yard is limited, opt for a game of football toss, utilizing wood with cut-outs ready to catch the ball.

Football Party Favors

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Reward all of your football stars and send them home with favors they’ll love. This is such a fun way to thank them for a good game!

• Start off with cute personalized football favor bags, and fill them with all of their favorite gear. Be sure to grab enough bags to fill one for every member of your team.
• Need something unique to add into favor bags? Use football wrapper stickers to deck out mini chocolates and pair them with football-shaped crayons for even more football fun.
• Want to go a more DIY route? Use a printable for football party favor boxes, and fill them with M&M’s or Skittles in your star player’s team colors.