Football Party -7yr- Football Cake

My son's 7th birthday is right around Super Bowl time and, being from Pittsburgh, he is a big football fan, so he decided he wanted a football party. 

INVITATIONS:  We printed up thin rectangular tickets" using clip art.  The front said "ADMIT ONE" and then "Are you ready for some football?"  with clip art of 2 helmets "facing off" below it.  Then it said "Super Bowl VII" and "(Our last name) Stadium" and the date.  A football below that finished the front.  The back had another "ADMIT ONE" and a football then "Please come celebrate (name)'s 7th birthday!  Kick off:  Sat Feb. 3 12:30 pm."  Then below that it said "Failure to RSVP to (our phone #) will result in a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct."  Below that was clip art of a ref showing the unsportsmanlike conduct sign (FYI--it's both arms straight out to the sides.)  

DECORATIONS:  We found a TON of stuff at our neighborhood Party City store; look in January right after they put away the Christmas stuff for the best selection (b/c of Super Bowl).  We have a yard sign that says "Party Zone"--you could make that--and a door sign that says the same.  My son is going to (weather permitting) draw yard lines and endzones in chalk on our driveway.  We have football streamers strings of football printed pennants football cutouts and football player cutouts for the walls. 

We made pennants that say stuff like "(Name) is 7" and "Go (Name) Go!" for the walls and windows.  We are using red and yellow for our colors as they are the local high school colors.  We will have a ton of red and yellow balloons just floating around and tied to chairs and things plus 6 mylar football balloons.  The table will be covered with a grass printed tablecloth and we have many football shaped serving dishes as well as plates cups and napkins.  

ACTIVITIES:  As the guests come in we have several puzzles (word find mazes) with a football theme as well as a few coloring pages made from clip art.  I made the puzzles at http://puzzlemaker.school.discovery.com if you want to make your own using football words.  Then we plan to take the kids to the park that we live close to for a game of touch football (weather permitting) for about 30 min.  The adults can come along and play or watch or can stay and visit at the house.  If it is too cold we are going to play several games. 

Game #1:  Football throwing contest.  We got the blow up football guy with a net from orientaltrading.com.  The kids will take turns trying to throw it into the net.  The last one with no misses wins.  You could also do this with a hula hoop. 

Game #2:  Dizzy kicker:  Blindfold each child spin 3 times then try to kick a balloon.  The best/farthest/quickest kick wins.  Could have multiple categories with multiple winners.  Game #3:  Football shaped pinata.

FOOD:  Stadium fare:  Pizza peanuts chips pretzels fruit and veggie trays--not stadium but Mom gets to set the menu!  Also pop and gatorade to drink.

CAKE:  I'm using a large frozen poundcake triming it to a football shape and frosting it with chocolate icing.  (Use a few drops of orange and yellow food coloring to make it more of a leather brown color).  Then I'll use vanilla frosting in a ziploc bag with the tip cut off to pipe "laces" on the football.  I'm then going to lean it up against a new (and clean) football tee that I got at Target. 

I'm also making a goal post cake.  A box vanilla cake in a rectagular pan.  (Freeze it for a day or two for easier frosting and building.)  Cut lengthwise into 3 equal segments.  Cut the first segment into 2 equal halves (A).  Cut the second segment into 4 small squares (B).  Leave the last segment long ©.  Put an A on the platter and icing with yellow tinted icing. Put the other A on top and frost it.  Then put C on top and centered and CAREFULLY frost it.  Then put 2 B's on either end of C and frost.  Put another 2 B's on the first 2 B's and frost. 

You may need to use some wooden skewers to hold everything in place but don't forget about them when you cut the cake!  (You could also just trim a rectangular cake into the shape of a goal post and leave it laying flat if you are not used to making 3-d cakes.)  I'll put a pennant on a skewer on one side of the goal post that says "Happy Birthday (Name)" and a #7 candle on the other side.  I have football shaped candles to stick in the football too if I decide to use them.  We will serve the cake with "Champion" flavored ice cream from a local brand that has football shaped chocolate pieces in it.  

GOODY BAGS:  We got football printed bags and football magnets squishy small bean bag footballs "coach" whistles football pencils and stickers as well as their pinata loot.  

THANK YOUS:  I printed out a "stock" thank you phrase with fill in the blanks for my son to fill out and sign using football clip art.  (Being that he's only in 1st grade a full thank you note is a little much for him yet but he can fill in the parts to personalize it.) Thanks for the ideas on this site and hope someone can use the ones I added!"