Summer, sunshine, the European Football Championship!
The perfect European Championship evening
This year, summer is not just about sunshine, ice cream and swimming, it is also time for the European Football Championship. So make the most of the warm summer evenings and invitea small group of friends to enjoy a barbecue at your house. I have put together a few ideas on how you can create that football feeling at home, together with your friends in front of the television. Maybe you can find some inspiration!
Time to fire up the barbecue!
A barbecue is without doubt one of the best ways to spend time with friends over the summer.Barbecuing is easy and requires very little effort. It doesn't take long to pick up the ingredients, plus everybody can bring whatever they want. As the host, your main job is to make sure you start warming up the barbecue early enough, so your guests don't get too hungry as it always takes a little while before the food is ready. After all, nobody wants to miss the football match.
But be careful! Don't forget your vegetarian and vegan friends: make sure there are two different spaces on the barbecue so you can keep the meat and the vegetables separate.
My top tip that everyone loves: The perfect home-made bean burger! Crush pre-soaked kidney beans and mix with some rolled oats and a little flour. Season to taste and add choppedonions, shape the burgers and you are ready to barbecue! Vegetables of all kinds, from aubergines to courgettes, taste great barbecued with spices or marinades.
You can serve classic soft drinks like Coke and Sprite, but making your own refreshing drinksfor your guests is also quick and easy. The trend at the moment is: sugar-free lemonade. Not only is it tastier, more refreshing and definitely more interesting than tap water, it also packs an extra dose of vitamins. Cut six peaches into quarters, add the zest and juice of two lemons and a few sprigs of mint and bring everything to boil in 1.5 litres of water. Simmer for about 30 minutes and then strain. Allow the home-made lemonade to cool. It is best served ice-cold!
Guests often offer to bring salads or other side dishes. you'll be playing it safe if you provide alittle of everything anyway. The most obvious choices are the classics like bread, potatoes andrice, a variety of dips, sauces and crisps. You can spice up a standard green salad with some tomatoes, jalapeno peppers and onions - or have you ever tried a warm couscous salad with goats' cheese and figs? Not only is it quick and easy, it is also delicious! Other tasty options include a delicious tomato and mozzarella salad or a kale salad with pears and walnuts. And make sure you use the last of the embers for heavenly grilled nectarines. The perfect finishing touch: a garnish of honey, ricotta and thyme.
The perfect table decoration for football!
If your home team is playing that night, it is a moot question as you can decorate the table in the colours of your national flag. But if you're watching a match between foreign teams, you and your friends may not all be supporting the same team. So my suggestion would be to stickwith black, white and green instead! These are the traditional colours of football, from the black and white of the football itself to the green of the pitch. Footballs also make an excellent decorative theme, perhaps on football napkins, on coasters or even on personalised place cards! Folded individual greeting cards are a great option here, as there is not much crafting involved. Select the subject, order, and enter the names of your guests at home. It adds a little style to your table decoration and will also bring a smile to your guests' faces.
You can also design cool coasters to match. Ideally, in the national flag of the team they support! These look great not only at the dinner table, but also later when you are all rooting for your favourites on the television!
Always up to date
If you have a little more time on your hands, you can also put together your own personal European Championship match timetable. It's very quick and simple. Order a self-adhesive poster with your choice of background artwork, then attach photo stickers with the different national flags and label them! Not only is it much more personalised, it also leaves enough space for entering friendly football bets with friends. The handy thing about the self-adhesive posters is that they stick to virtually any surface and are easy to remove at the end of the season.
Tip: The photo stickers are great for the match timetable, but can also be used as table decorations!
Admission by ticket only
The icing on the cake is an invitation in the style of a European Championship ticket. You canonly get in if you show your ticket! Not only does the invitation look great, it also makes a perfect memento of a lovely evening with friends. I'll take the work off your hands and give you the option of ordering a pre-designed European Championship invitation card from us. Enter the teams, the date, the time and the place and send them directly to your friends! You also have the option of including a short personal message for your guests inside the card. Thehandy envelope included also prevents the invitation getting damaged unnecessarily.
Half-time tip:Don't want anyone to get bored during half time? You can create a fun football memory gamewith your own football pictures, your football heroes or the national flags of the qualifying teams! The game is fun for young and old and half time will pass in a flash. You will also endup with a great souvenir in the form of a football memory game for the 2021 European Championship!
Samira Hammami
Samira is actually an art history student, but she has always had a passion for writing. It all started with small blog articles about her biggest hobby: traveling.
Now she writes about all sorts of creative aspects of life, and for some time she has also been supporting ifolor with her articles. Because she is most drawn towards reporting she is especially happy to be starting a master degree course in Cultural Journalism in September.