DIY Foo(s/t)ball Party!

‘Shall we plan some games for your soccer birthday party?’ I asked my eldest. Apart from the DIY Foosball that we agreed on, the rest of the suggestions were met with ‘No. nO, no, NO… ’. We searched for nice invites on the theme and came across this Cool soccer invitation and printed for free. It was a 6 all boys affair from his school.Last year he wanted a Book themed party.

We had a nice medium oven box that was recycled for our foosball project.  Basically, I cut the box into half and taped the half with duct tapes of different colours.

A drew his football field and helped along the cutting and taping of the spokes which were recycled from core rolls of book wraps.

I took some time figuring out how to jam the spokes on their ends so that it will not slide through the holes. Finally I discovered that the duct tape did the trick when wound in thick layers!  However, the spokes were too short for the box width so I added disposable chopsticks to lengthen and strengthen them with duct tapes again. As we know how boys are ignorant of their strength, the duct taping of the entire box is a necessary act for this game to survive their play. I also made use of the broad pegs that my sister passed to me and eventually duct taped them to death so they are immovable.

Throughout the weeks that ensued, I tried prodding about games and ideas but A was not interested. I heaved a sigh of relief as I finally relented on a No Programme birthday. A chirped rationally, ‘ No need la, in school during recess we also kick and play like that. Just play la?’ With that, I decided to let go of my urge to control and let them have their own free play. Guess what? It rained.

Progress of the day went like this –

• Ra-Ra time in my living room with a rubber ball.
• Hubby realised it’s going to wreck havoc, and off to the void deck for the real workout.
• Back like a real football team with sweaty shirts and played foosball, trampoline and boxing (yes, we have a real sandbag)
• Return of the football play in my living room with less intensity now           
• Snacks from Old Chang Kee plus grapes and cutting of neighbourhood creamery cake finale
• Parted with no frills Party favours of 1 mini rubber ball and 1 kinder joy where boys slurped clean the chocolate dessert and only brought home the toys.

I must thank my hubby for being such a fantastic sport and entertainer cum crowd controller! He was the referee and peacemaker throughout. I learnt another life lesson that day from my big and little guys. Simple and old school is good enough for them. The whole party costs within $100. As we didn’t plan big, we were also unaffected by the change of weather and A was surprisingly positive assuring me that ‘We can just play at home then.’ This is one of the most carefree and relaxing party I had ever done! Oh, and the DIY foosball survived the party, Hooray to Duct Tapes!!! : )

As the above party was hassle free, we managed to spend quality time in the morning doing our rounds outside the Sports Hub. I covered 8 rounds while the boys did 3 rounds of walk-jog-rest and 4rounds of cycling and E did slightly less. Boys also returned home to wash their school shoes and completed their homework before the party. I am thankful to God that it does get better as they grow older.

How do I know? Since they’re stronger now, the next day all 3 of them ran the 800m NTUC  kids 350 Run. Since each parent accompanies a child, my hubs had 2 wrist tags while I had 1 to enter the 4 to 8YO category event. Hubs carried my bag with all their gold weighted water bottles racing together with the boys in front! My girl and I tarried behind since she was having slight tummy ache. Guess what? A came in 6th while J scurried for the 10th place! We are proud of the boys’ efforts. This is seriously why we spend a lot of time outdoors exercising, playing and running.

Our boys especially J, really have HIGH energy levels that need to be regulated and channeled meaningfully. (read why HERE ) When directed towards outdoor sports and hands on activities regularly, their energy will be expended in a positive manner. Getting them to join such race events is one of the avenues to motivate them towards self discipline and experience personal success. Being the front was never our goal. Being their personal best is. E also tried her best as we strolled majorly but upon destination, we ran towards the finishing line and congratulated each other! (read more on motivation HERE)

Here’s to more meaningfully simple and enjoyable times growing in step with our young ones! We love you A!

Is it time for you to regulate your children’s energy through sports? What kind of activities do you enjoy doing together?

For more of GrowingHearts, come join us at our FaceBook, Or Subscribe by entering your e-mail in the box on the top right side bar to receive notifications of new posts by email.