Whether planning a birthday party for your soccer player or coordinating a team gathering, include party games to provide entertainment. Soccer party games can differ from the actual game played on the field, shifting the emphasis from winning the game to simply playing for fun. Choose games that incorporate the soccer theme in a silly or unusual manner for the enjoyment of all participants.

Set up empty soda bottles, empty tennis ball cans or plastic bowling pins in the same arrangement as the pins in a traditional game of bowling. Instead of rolling a bowling ball, have players kick a soccer ball in an attempt to knock down the pins. Play and keep score according to the scorekeeping methods of an ordinary bowling game.

Arrange players so that they form a circle. Place one child in the middle of the circle. He is the “soccer blocker.” Instruct players to kick the ball around the circle, keeping it away from the soccer blocker. The soccer blocker will attempt to block the ball. If he succeeds and stops the ball, the last player who kicked it becomes the new soccer blocker. This game is best played with 10 or more players.

The object of this game is for players to use their heads to keep their balloons in the air the longest. Provide one inflated balloon per player. Use black and white balloons to complement the soccer theme. When the start of the game is called, players must toss their balloons above their heads. As the balloons descend, players must use only their heads to keep them floating above. Once a balloon hits the ground, that player is out of the game. Play continues until only one player remains. She is the winner.

Add a soccer theme to the game of freeze dance. Assign an adult or one of the players to be the referee. Give the referee a pad of yellow sticky notes. Players dance while the music plays, but must freeze each time the music suddenly stops. The referee must pay close attention to identify which player is the last to freeze. He must then stick one of the yellow sticky papers to that player, indicating that the player has been “yellow-carded” -- committed a foul in the game of soccer. Once a player has received two yellow cards, he is out of the game. The last remaining freeze dancer wins.

Divide the players into two teams and have them line up at one side of the party area. Place several inflated balloons at the opposite side of the party space. At the start of the relay race, the first players in line for each team must run to the balloons, pick one up and sit on it until it pops. Once a player has popped a balloon, she may race back to her team and tag the second player in line to repeat this process. The first team to pop all of their balloons wins.