World Cup Party: Viva La FIFA

 I can't say that I follow the World Cup too much, but it seemed like a fun theme to have for July, so I went with it. It also seemed fairly easy, and since I was on vacation the entire week before the party, I decided "easy" sounded good.

Invitation: I modeled my invitation after a World Cup ticket I saw on the internet. The logos are everywhere, so adding those was not hard to do.

Entry Decor: I made this entry sign out of card stock and a foam board.  I found the image on Google and enlarged it to use as a template.  The letters I cut out using my Cricut. I was also planning to have a huge (4 foot) blow-up soccer ball near the door, but it had a hole in it! Bummer.

Inside Decor:  I set my table with fake grass I purchased at Home Depot. I then used white electrical tape to make the field outlines.  As you can tell in the photo, the tape didn't stick very well when trying to do the circle.  I made the flags with card stock and dowel rods.  The mini chocolate soccer balls I purchased at Party City and put them in the vases with green tissue paper.  The soccer ball plates I also purchased at Party City.

I made this banner using paper lanterns I purchased at Party City and flags made out of card stock.

I made these cake pop place cards for each guest. After dipping them in the flesh color, I then used a piping tip to do the brown hair.  The facial features I did with a toothpick.  I made the jerseys on Photoshop.  Each jersey was from the team the guest RSVP'd that they would represent, and I added the guest's last name to the back along with the date of their birthday to the front and back as their soccer number.

Just another photo of a Colombian place card.

For wine charms, I found images of soccer balls with various flags online.  Again, I tried to match up the guest's RSVP country with the glass.

Menu: I wanted my menu to reflect participating countries in the World Cup, but I didn't want the food to be so random that it didn't go well together.  My original plan was also to serve everything in cups for the World CUP, but I strayed from this as my time and ideas ran slim.  I started off guests with a Greek Salad. It was Romaine letter, tomatoes, Kalamata olives, feta, cucumber, and red pepper.

For the main meal, I asked my good friend to make traditional Colombian empanadas.  This is her mother's special (and secret) recipe, and they were AMAZING! Absolutely delicious!

As side dishes, I made Spanish Rice and black beans.  We added salsa to the beans and a little cilantro/extra spices to both for added flavor.

For dessert, I kept it simple.  I made chocolate pudding and placed a toasted Eggo waffle (cut out with a round cookie cutter) in the top.  Since Belgium is known for chocolate, and I love Belgium waffles, I figured this might be a good combo.  Yep...I was right...yum!

Favor: As a take-home gift, I bought water bottles from the Dollar Tree and added a ribbon and soccer ball to the front.

I made this tag to attach to the water bottle.

We had a great time. We'll see who takes home the World Cup title this Sunday!!

**As usual, if you would like the tag, invite, flags, etc. just send me an email, and I would be happy to share.