What is a World Cup match without the perfect snacks and drinks? Learn how to curate your menu match the adrenaline and celebration of the game.
Soccer fans, the wait is finally over. After what feels like many years, the FIFA World cup is finally here. For many people around the world, it is the event of the year. Homes bustle with excitement with every game that approaches, streets are filled with honking cars celebrating their winning team, and the planning of a watch party taking place. How do you plan a World Cup watch party exactly? Well, here is everything that you need to know from decorations to dishes in order to cook up a game-winning World Cup watch party.
Decorations
What is a party without its ambiance? If you can’t get to the stadium, bring the stadium to your home; think soccer balls, flags, team colors, etc. You can start off by incorporating the soccer field in the way of a tablecloth to adorn the tables where the food and other things are going to be set up to slowly start setting the ambiance.
Incorporate streamers that match the colors of what teams are playing or you can incorporate all the teams and grab yourself a flag banner. Whether you choose to stick to specific team colors or go international, from there you can decide how to coordinate the color of plates, cups, and napkins according to the colors/theme that you end up choosing. For fun, you can set up some jars so people can vote on who they think the winning team will be as they enter.
If the space permits, you can have a photo opp section where you can add streamers, team flags, soccer ball balloons and artifacts that your guests can grab to take some fun pictures. Plus, a backdrop with some soccer balls and World Cup trophy decorations to elevate it. It does not have to be something big, just a plain wall that you can decorate.
Food
There’s many ways to go about the food at a World Cup watch party. One of those ways is to incorporate foods from the countries that are playing that day. For example, if you are hosting Brazil and Scotland, you can choose to have a Brazilian dish and a Scottish dessert to serve. Feijoada is a famous national dish from Brazil made from savory black bean stew simmered with cuts of pork and beef and served with white rice, fried collard greens, orange slices, and a toasted cassava flour called “farofa.” A yummy Scottish dessert is a Cranachan which is a layered mix of toasted pinhead oats, raspberries, honey, whipped cream, and whiskey served in small individual cups.
You could go a more traditional route if it’s easier and make it a potluck. Everyone can bring a dish or dessert of their preference to share with the rest of the party. Make sure to coordinate on how many people are bringing food or dessert though so that it stays equal throughout. This can take some of the stress of trying to come up with what to make.
Activities
Despite watching the game, which is the main activity, there are other things that you can do to entertain your guests. To raise up the stakes before the game begins, make bets on who you think will win the match, the losers of the bet are up to whatever the winners choose.
Another thing you can bet on is what the final score is going to be. You can put a poster and have people right down what their prediction is and cross them out as the game goes on then have a designated prize for the winner.