Create a party with a sports theme for your child’s next birthday. Use these ideas for sports themed party invitations, decorations, food, games and prizes.

If your child is mad about sports, then this party will be sure to please. Obviously you can adapt the ideas to cater for specific sports, or keep the theme general and just have some fun.

Invitation Ideas

There are plenty of great ideas for sports themed invitations. Here are some of our favourites to get you started.

• Make some ‘Admit One’ tickets to a special sports event, making sure to include the stadium (your address) and the kick-off time. To make them look authentic, you can perforate the end of the ticket using a sewing machine or pizza cutter.
• Make a sports trading card by gluing a photo of your child (dressed up in team uniform) onto coloured card. On the back you can write all their vital statistics such as date of birth, address, and most successful game (date of the party!). You might like to add a note asking if your guest is willing to trade the card for an afternoon of fun, food, and partying.
• Send a notice announcing that your guest has been selected to be a part of a very special team, which is to compete at your child’s party. You may even want to include a team cap or a club rule book for them to bring along on the day.

Decorations

• Create a real stadium atmosphere by building a miniature grandstand (rows of chairs), and hanging flags, sports rattles, and cheerleading pom-poms from every corner. Make some cardboard signs showing the way to the toilets, first aid station and food stands, and if you’re feeling really creative, mark out a sports field on your lawn using white spray paint. Set aside a ‘winners table’ where you can have all your trophies and prizes on display.
• If your sports party is themed around a specific sport, deck out your house with the colours of your local team – balloons, streamers, confetti, the works!

Games and Activities

• A sports party is obviously going to have lots of sporty games that your guests can compete in either individually, or as a part of a team. If you are following the team theme, you can start by giving each guest a coloured T-Shirt to indicate which team they are in. They can then use fabric paints to paint their nickname and team number onto the back of the shirt, and of course they’ll need to paint their face as well. Fabric paints are available from good craft stores for approximately $4 per tube, and face paints can be found at most emporium type stores.
• On arrival you could also ask your guests to sign a ball for your child as a keepsake of their party. If your child plays a sport, then you’ll know exactly what type of ball to buy – but any ball, no matter what size or shape will be fine.

When it comes to sports challenges, the sky is the limit. Look around the house to see what sports equipment you have lying around and then get creative. Remember the games don’t have to be REAL sports! Here are some ideas to get you started.

• Putting a golf ball into a tin can
• Shooting hoops
• Throwing balls at a target
• Dribbling a ball through a set course – either bouncing, kicking or with a hockey stick
• Bouncing a ball on a racquet without dropping it
• Kicking balls into a goal
• Throwing a Frisbee through a hula hoop
• Running, hopping, skipping or jumping races
• Shotput with a cricket ball
• Quoits
• Long Jump
• Handstand Competitions
• Sledging (Sliding down a hill on cardboard boxes)
• Exer-cycle Races (How far can they go in 2 minutes?)

For more sports challenge ideas, check out ‘Relay Games’ in our Party Games section.

If the thought of organising heaps of games seems daunting, you could always take the kids out to watch a game or participate in a sporting challenge. Some action centres even have special birthday party packages, so make sure you ask when booking in. Some fun sports activities for parties are:

• Ten Pin Bowling
• Mini Putt
• Ice Skating
• Roller Skating
• Rock Climbing
• Indoor Hockey / Cricket / Netball
• Go Carting
• Blo Karting
• Horse Riding
• Kayaking
• Paintball
• Laser Strike

For other venues in your area, look under ‘Sports and Recreational Facilities’ or ‘Tourist Attractions’ in the Yellow Pages of your phone book.

Food

Make some stadium style food trays by covering the lids from photocopy paper boxes and using paper plates and cups. Serve American style hotdogs, hot chips, and fizzy drink (with a straw of course!). For half time you could have peanuts in their shells, popcorn and potato chips, with candy floss and a choc-dipped ice cream for dessert. Real stadium style food!

Costumes

If you are having team challenges, then you can help by providing coloured T-shirts and caps for the uniforms, or ask your guests to come dressed in a specific colour. If you want to have a true dress-up party, then guests could come dressed as their favourite sports star, a sports fan, cheerleader or referee.

Loot Bags and Prizes

There are plenty of sports themed prizes available from emporium type stores, so you won’t have to pay a fortune. Instead of (or in addition to) the traditional stickers, sweets, and stationery, you could include:

• A sports drink or energy bar
• Wrist bands
• Mini sports balls
• Sports Trading Cards
• A Frisbee
• A drink bottle
• Plastic medals or trophies
• A sports trivia book or magazine

Now…..let the games begin!