End of Season Soccer Party

 

A few weeks ago we hosted an end of season soccer party. Although when it comes to full year sports the season doesn't really ever end. But we knew some players wouldn't be returning for the following year. or attending the Summer league. So when we saw a break in our schedule and sun on the forecast we threw together a last minute pool party to celebrate the season. 

This was the most fun soccer season we have ever had. We switched teams this year, and with Covid running rampant, it restricted a lot of mingling amongst the parents and players. As parents, Mr. Magnolia and I were initially worried our son would be feel like he was on the outside since most of the players had been together for years. However, this was the sweetest group of ten year old boys and they instantly welcomed all the newcomers. They've all become close friends, and pulled out a GREAT season. 

When we purchased this house, this was totally what I was picturing in my mind - hosting the kids parties here and having the space to let everyone spread out and have fun. And fun this group had! 

I was able to pull a soccer theme party together relatively easily. I have a ton of Coton Colors Happy Everything Pieces with a variety of the soccer attachments. With a quick switch of my attachments an instant theme was made. 

Happy Everything! has attachments for a lot of sports (football, baseball, softball, cheer, basketball, etc.) so this is easily a party you can recreate for another type of team!

| Happy Everything Big Bowl | Soccer Squish Balls |

The rest of the decor I can thank the good people of Amazon. With a quick click of a button, and that fabulous two day shipping, I able to snag a ton of great soccer themed party and pool items with little effort.

| Happy Everything Small Dot Nesting Cube | Soccer Plates | Soccer Napkins | 

And because I like to be a little extra sometimes I asked Mr. Magnolia on a Home Depot trip to grab me a strip of astro turf. He had no idea what I planned on using it for, but has learned to just agree with me when it comes to party planning. 

| Happy Everything Small Dot Nesting Cube | Happy Everything Small Dots Platter | Soccer Plates | Soccer Napkins | Tin Utensil Caddy |

I just knew the turf would make for a fun table runner. This is just a single one foot strip they were able to cut in store and roll up for us. 

And because it was a pool party, I grabbed all the players and siblings some fun, inexpensive aviator glasses to wear and take home.   

For food I kept it relatively simple. Mr. Magnolia fired up the grill and made hotdogs and hamburgers. I asked the team to bring sides and I had snacks and drinks on hand for the kids. 

I always keep this little tiered tower stocked with snacks for the kids in our basement, so it just required an easy restock. 

And since this is essentially our bar, serving the adults was super easy too! 

| Happy Everything Striped Stand |

The kids and adults had so much fun together, we already are planning to do this again soon! 

| Soccer Ball Island Float |

Now to get prepped for the Summer season. I have a feeling you'll find me floating in the pool post game more than the kids because Summer in the South is no joke. 

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Making Post Game Snack A Grand Slam! {printable}

Sports season is here! All though it never officially stops for us. But during the Spring we are in full sports mode and there's no stopping until June.

We spend our weeks racing from practice to practice, eating dinner somewhere around 4:30p.m. and then again (because kids are always hungry) at 9:00p.m., and doing homework/answering emails/returning phone calls amidst the chaos of it all.

We spend our weekends cheering on the sidelines of rainy soccer fields, jetting off to a variety of cities for two-day cheer competitions, and keeping scoreboard for the little league team all day long.

Our cars are loaded down with enough sporting goods that we could open our own Dicks, and we're burning all those hard earned hotel rewards points from swiping our Amex at Target at a mind boggling rate for out of state competitions and tournaments.

And we wouldn't change a single thing.

Well other than holding practice in anything under 40 degrees. We're southerners, it should be against the law! #mommydoesntdocold

We love that our kids are so active and enjoy a variety of activities. We were both the same way growing up and love seeing what our children are into as they get older and become comfortable in their own interests. Now we know it will change as they get older, and their interests will evolve, but for now we are happy to support them in whatever they choose - even if it means we ate an old granola bar for dinner and our cars have the scent of au de sweaty child.

Being a sports mom means you have a lot of duties. Most importantly - the after game snack.

If you don't bring your A game in the after game snack department you'll be ejected faster than you can say #momfail. 

With so many kids in so many different activities though, we learned long ago to keep the actual snack portion of the snack time super easy. No pinterest worthy sports themed snacks coming from this crew. There was a time way back in the day that we had time for that, but now we go with healthy already prepared snacks that we know kids love. 

We choose the kids favorite Slammers pouches, a crunchy snack or granola bar, and we package them up with waters or our favorite sports drinks. We package them all together with a cute printable and then we are ready to go. 

The best thing about this is it looks like we put a ton of effort into it to make it pretty and themed, but really we let the snacks do the talking and we lay claim to after game snack hall of fame. 

During basketball season I was inspired by these Slammers pouches to create a fun themed printable. These are our one of our favorite protein packed snacks, and they are perfect for refueling little athletes. There are so many yummy flavors to choose from and our kids love when we freeze them as a post game treat. 

I had made a soccer printable and a few other sports ones a few years ago, but I needed to add basketball and baseball into the mix. These are some of our favorite go-to snacks, and with the fun sayings and flavors it was easy to pair together a fun printable with a healthy snack with just a few seconds of effort. 

For basketball season I came up with partnering the orange Epic pouches with a printable that read "Let's Make Snack a SLAM DUNK"!

I attached it with curling ribbon to the actual pouch, passed out orange sports drinks with it and we were all set for a yummy after game snack. 

Now that Spring sports are in full effect, I recycled the idea for soccer reusing my already made printable. Then I got inspired again by the pouches and created a new printable for baseball season. 

I easily came up with the theme "Let's Make Snack a GRAND SLAM!". See lots of cute, not a whole lot of effort. :) 

And I've been wanting to use this stash of Take Me Out to the Ball Game ribbon for years. I was so glad to find the perfect time to use it! 

I put all our snack goodies together in a lunch bag and tied them up. Super easy, and looks great for a quick grab and go after game snack. 

Now we can reuse these over and over the entire season and not even give two thoughts to our game day duties. Just a quick print on our printer, and a quick shopping trip to our pantry for all the snacks.

Now you can win at making your post game snack a grand slam too. Here are the downloads for the printables for you to enjoy!

Download the Baseball snack printable. 
Download the Basketball snack printable. 

What sports sidelines are you cheering from this season? Do you have a favorite after game snack that your kids love? Please share because our post game snack duties are out of control this season and we love sharing snacks the kids actually will eat! 

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**Part of this post is sponsored by Slammers Snacks as part of our ambassadorship with GoGormet. All thoughts and opinions are our own!

Celebrating my kids' THINGS with Fruit Shoot®

In December when Jen and I shared our favorites of 2016 one of my very favorite things was that each of my kids seemed to have found their “thing.”  The thing that made them want to work harder to improve.  The thing that they put their whole heart into. The thing that taught them about the important life skills of perseverance, teamwork and determination.  And, most importantly, the thing they loved and what made them happy. 

As we are nearing the end of the spring sports season I can say with certainly that they love their “things” more than ever before and being a sports mama on the sidelines is totally my thing.  I saw this shirt on Facebook a while back that someone shared and I laughed.  It was funny because it was true!  

I wouldn’t have it any other way though.  Because we are on the go and always at someone’s practice, game or competition I have quickly learned the importance of always having snacks and drinks with me.  Someone is always hungry or thirsty so easy, on-the-go snacks to help hydrate and refuel them is a must.  These kids are expending a ton of energy and Atlanta ins’t nicknamed Hotlanta for nothing.  They always have tons of water with them, but I like to have a little something special for them to drink from time to time also.  Juice boxes or pouches are such a mess and can’t be saved so when I learned about Fruit Shoot ® and their resealable cap I knew it would be perfect for our afternoons at the ball fields or evenings at the cheer gym. 

My little Boo-Boo is baseball obsessed.  We are even turning his room into a baseball themed room.  I know he is still young and things could change because he is pretty athletic and likes playing every sport, but baseball seems to have his heart.  

He is very serious when game time rolls around and he is competitive and wants to win. He also puts a lot of pressure on himself to improve and want to perform well.  

Blondie is our soccer star.  She’s questioned that at times, but most recently she sees how well she does and that helps boost her self-esteem and self-confidence.  

She loves to run, she’s aggressive, fast and loves scoring goals.  Even after she comes home from practice she loves being outside playing and always asked someone to play with her.  

Litlte Mama is my cheerleader and her first year of competitive all-star cheer totally sucked her in.  She eats, sleeps, and breaths cheer.  

If she isn’t cheering she is watching cheer videos and studying different teams.  She’s a flyer, which involves a lot of additional stretching and practice on her stunt stand at home, but she does it every chance she gets.  

I feel good about giving them Fruit Shoot® because there is no artificial flavors, no sugar added and no high fructose corn syrup.  My kids are kind of over juice drink pouches. I’ll send them to school in their lunch boxes and often times they bring them back home unopened. Or they tell me if they do drink them they end up throwing away part of it because they didn’t have a way to save it.  Same thing is true when we are out and about for evening practices.  However, with Fruit Shoot® the fun resealable sports top is perfect if they don’t drink it all at one time and my kids loved the Fruit Shoot® Fruit Punch flavor.  

I wasn’t surprised to learn that Fruit Shoot® has been a trusted brand for over a century in the U.K. and happy that they are now available in the US.  To find retailers near you check HERE. 

Have your kids found their thing?  Maybe a sport or a hobby?  Painting or dancing?  I love that it’s so different for each kid because that is what makes them all so special and unique. 

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Way to Goal {printable}

Spring sports have been in full swing here for a few weeks now, and we've been spending a good bit of time at the soccer fields. The weather has been ah-mazing lately, so we've happily enjoyed our time both on the fields and on the sidelines.

This past weekend I was in charge of the after game snack for Cute's team. We've been with the same team and coach for a few seasons now, so I decided my go-to printable for snack time needed a little refresh.

I let Cute pick out what he and his teammates would like for their post game refuel, and after steering clear of a snack entirely built on Easter candy (negotiations were fierce), the rest was easy.

I updated the printable with a new saying and to include his team name and colors.



Needless to say team Magic was super pumped both about their win, and their post game snack.

If anyone is interested in using the refresh for your own little soccer star HERE is a link to download a generic version I made.

What activities are your children participating in this spring? 

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