If you have ever been overwhelmed by planning a party, you have come to the right place!

That used to be me.  I would get bogged down with the planning, decorating, food and clean-up to the point that afterward I was exhausted {and not from participating}.

Don’t let the details of a family party detract from your family time!

Let’s Plan a Family Football Party

Watching the Cowboys game together is a great family activity.  Taking a quick trip to Walmart before the game can elevate that activity to a full-blown party!

Oh, and you will be able to join in on all the fun.

It is all so easy, you might even want to invite over another family or some friends…

I am one of the Party On, Mom‘s for the P&G at Walmart campaign that is inspiring moms to bring the party – whether that be homegate, tailgate or even date night at the stadium – in a way that keeps you IN on all the fun.

Our Family Football Party

A few hours before game time, I had planned a quick trip to Walmart for party supplies, including Bounty and Swiffer as well as the party food.  I also decided to get a few craft supplies to get the kids involved in the decorations.  My boys are always wanting to help, but sometimes harnessing that energy in a way that doesn’t make more work for me is challenging.

Simple kids crafts that can double as decorations are an easy answer.  Any kids attending the party could get involved in creating these fun items.

Before we got started I sprayed a little Febreze Air Effects.  Have you tried the new fall pumpkin scent?  It makes everything more festive!

Football Paper Plate Craft for Kids

We started with paper plates to create these paper plate footballs.  You will need the following supplies: paper plates, brown craft paint, paint brush, Bounty Paper Towels, ruler, pencil, scissors, tape or glue and white masking/craft tape.

Here is what we did to make a football out of a paper plate:

1. Lay a paper plate on a sheet of Bounty Paper Towels to minimize mess.
2. Paint the paper plate brown with craft paint.
3. Let it dry – we found it took around 30 minutes.
4. Turn the plate over.
5. With a pencil, trace both sides of a ruler laid across the middle of the paper plate.
6. Cut along both pencil lines with scissors.
7. Glue (or tape) the two paper plate “halves” together so it forms a football shape.
8. Use white masking/craft tape to create football laces.

You can use the resulting footballs as wall decoration or add a clear glass or plastic plate on top to make it food-worthy.  When I pulled my clear glass plates from the cabinet, I noticed they weren’t so clear after sitting on the shelf for awhile.  I quickly grabbed my Dawn Ultra dishwashing Liquid and within a minute, we had sparkling, CLEAR plates!

Each person made their own football plate and we had a few extras to use to serve food.

How to Make a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader Pom Pom

Because I have all boys, the pom poms were more for decoration!  But they are completely functional if you have willing participants.

The supplies you will need to make a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader Pom Pom are:  white, silver and blue streamers, scissors and tape.

The steps to designing a pom pom:

1. Cut strips of the different color of streamers into lengths of 8-10 inches.
2. Decide how full you want the pom pom – I used about 15 strips of each color.
3. Gather one end of each strip together and wrap tape around the end creating a handle.

Create Dallas Cowboy Tissue Paper Stars

We took inspiration from a beloved sun-catcher craft that we love to make to elevate our Cowboy party with some white, silver and blue stars.

The supplies you will need for tissue paper stars are:  popsicle sticks (we used thinner craft sticks), glue or glue gun, colored tissue paper & scissors.

How to Make Dallas Cowboy Tissue Paper Stars:

1. Attach 5 popsicle sticks together at the ends with glue in a star formation (see above).
2. Let dry – ours took about 10 minutes.
3. Spread glue along the sticks that form the star.
4. Lay a piece of colored tissue paper over the glue.
5. Let dry – ours took another 20 minutes.
6. Turn over and cut out a star shape following the outsides of the popsicle sticks.

You could hang these from a light fixture or spread out across the table like we did.

Referee Penalty Flag Napkin Dispenser

White the kids were busy with their crafts, I thought it would be fun to use some of those same supplies to transform our napkins into penalty flags!

I chose a container that I already had and covered it with black construction paper.  I then used some of the white masking/craft tape to make the stripes of a referee shirt.  We hung a whistle on the corner and then filled it with forks wrapped in yellow napkins.

Setting Up the Football Party Table

The kids helped me place everything on the table.  I grabbed a silver star I have in one of my bookshelves and a piece of “fake grass” to accent a simple black plastic table covering I had picked up at Walmart.

The boys assisted in creating some “playbook” ideas by using a white marker on black construction paper.  In the past, I have also done this by using the marker directly on the black plastic table covering.  It is a great way to label food as well.

We used star cookie cutters to cut the food into star shapes.  This works well for sandwiches, quesadillas AND cookies!

Before I called everyone to the table one of the kids grabbed the Swiffer and cleaned up the kitchen floor under the table and kitchen counter where we had been crafting.

Altering the Party Plan

One of the things I have learned being a mom is that we need to be able to give ourselves a break sometimes.  Sometimes things get more complicated.  Sometimes things come up that make something simple much harder!

Instead of pushing through with ALL the plans, start eliminating them to save your sanity.

Normally, I would choose just one or two of the crafts listed above.  But on this day, I had willing crafters.  If we had gotten into something that wasn’t drying or the kids were losing attention, I would have just stopped it.  That is the beauty of using simple supplies that can be recycled or upcycled at a future crafting session.

Post-Party Plan

Don’t over-complicate clean up!  A few sheets of Bounty and a minute or two with the Swiffer generally can solve even the biggest party mess.

Join all the fun over at Party On, Mom.

I was on Good Morning Texas today with some of these ideas!  Check out all the fun to see how P&G at Walmart can really help throw a party.

Go Cowboys!

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