Football Birthday Party Theme

Football Toss
Divide up into teams of 2 and have players stand 20 feet from their partner. Have the teammates toss the football back and forth. Once they both have caught the ball make all the teams back up 10 feet. If a team misses then they are out. The team who can successfully throw the football back and forth the farthest distance wins.

Football Accuracy
These can be played outdoors with a regular football or indoors with a Nerf style.   There are different  ways to set up an accuracy contest - try one or all of them for more fun.

Hang a hula hoop from a tree with string. Have guests stand back 20 feet and try and throw the ball through the hoop. The guests who can accomplish this get another turn - but have to move back 10 feet. The winner is the guest who can accurately throw the ball the farthest. Or give each player 5 tries to make it through the hula hoop. The player with the best accuracy wins. Give bonus points when the ball doesn’t touch the hoop.

Set up 3 laundry or bushel baskets 10 feet apart. Line up guests 10 feet from the first basket. Give points to each basket - 1st basket is worth 1 point, 2nd - 2 points, 3rd - 3 points. Give each player 5 turns to see who can get the highest score.

Set up 10 bottles or cans pyramid style on a small table and have guest stand 20 feet away. The guest who can knock over the most bottles wins. You can play several rounds and add up the scores for more fun.   This can also be played by setting up just one can and seeing who can hit the can from a distance.

For a real challenge after the players have completed these accuracy drills have them play again only this time have them try while blindfolded or with their back turned.

Set up two baskets or buckets about 7 feet apart and have a kicking contest to see who can kick the football through the “goalposts” - best out of 5 tries wins.

Don’t Say It
Choose one or two words that if said will cause the person to be penalized. Buy cheap whistle necklaces and give one to each party guest. Instruct the guests that they are not allowed to say the word ________ . If they do the person who catches them will take their whistle. Make the taboo word or words fun and something that would be used a lot at a football game such as “ball”, “first down”, “touchdown”, “referee” or for more fun let the teams name, head coaches name or quarterbacks name be the taboo word.

If you want to make it a lot of fun for the younger kids make small yellow squares of felt or cloth and give one to each guest. When they catch someone saying the taboo word have them thrown their flag and call a penalty.

Football Charades
Play the game of charades using football or Super Bowl terms. Divide guests into 2 teams. Before the game list several football related words on folded cards and put them in a bowl. The first team will choose 1 player from their team to pick a card out of the bowl. Without showing the term to their team they must act out the word. Give the team 1 minute to guess the word. If they can’t guess then the other team gets an opportunity to steal with just 1 guess. After the word has been solved move on to the next team. Here are a list of some football related words. Add your own to make the list as long or as short as you want.
Quarterback
Halfback
Touchdown
Referee
Foam Finger
Line marker
30 Yard Line
Goal Post
Cheerleader
Football
Football Hall of Fame
1st quarter
Halftime
Ultimate Fan
Mascot (of your favorite team)
Announcer
Bench

Football Bingo
If you are watching the Super Bowl (or another game) play a Football Bingo game. Create a 5 x 5 grid on cardstock. Make the center square a FREE space. Give everyone peanuts, pennies or markers to keep track of their Bingo score. On the squares randomly place the following terms - making sure that no two cards are the same.
Touchdown
Team “A” Touchdown
Team “B” Touchdown
Quarterback sack (Team “A”)
Quarterback sack (Team “B”)
4th down
Interception
10 yard penalty
5 yard penalty
25 yard penalty
3 point Field Goal
Extra Point
False Start
Facemask Penalty
4th quarter
Halftime show
Cheerleaders
Fan showing a sign
Run for more then 25 yards
Head Coach
Coin Toss
Fight
Celebration Dance
High Five
Injury
2 minute warning

First player to cover the spaces on their card either across, down or diagonally wins a prize such as a foam finger, jersey or team item.

Flag Football
Play a game of flag football using bandanas as the flags. The same rules of football apply, however there is no tackling allowed. To tackle a player removes another players bandana from their back pocket.

Monkey in the Middle
Monkey in the middle is one of our families favorite games. You can play it with as few as 3 people and all you need is a football - or any type of ball. Choose who will be “it” and then all the other players make a circle around “it” keeping about 10 feet between them. The players on the outside throw the ball across the circle to another player and the “Monkey” tries to catch the ball. When they catch the ball they take the place of the person who threw the ball and that person becomes the new “Monkey”.

For more fun football games see our Birthday Party Games page