Ideas for a Brazil Themed Party
Football in Brazil isn't a pass-time or a hobby - it's a national obsession. When the national team are playing, it's not unusual for many people to take the day off work
to watch the match. Everywhere you go in Brazil you will see boys playing football in the streets. Football is everything to Brazilians. Well, almost everything.
The other thing they love is partying - music, dance and carnivals are almost as central to Brazilian culture as football is. For this reason, some journalists and pundits refer to the
Brazilian national team as "the Samba Kings" or "the Samba Boys".
Although the national team colours of yellow and blue are known and instantly recognised throughout the world, Brazil haven't always played in this strip. During the first half of the
20th century, they changed their colours many times, wearing (amongst others) white shirts, white shirts with green vertical stripes, red shirts, blue shirts,
and yellow shirts with black stripes. The current colours were only adopted in the mid-1950's.
However, as far as party decorations etc are concerned, you don't need to worry too much about what colour the team's shirts were in 1924! For a Brazilian football themed party all
you need is some loud samba music, some great Brazilian food and drink, Brazil football shirts, and the whole room decked out in yellow and blue...
and fortunately, we have links to all this and more on this page!
Brazil Party Decorations
Decorate yourself and your room with Brazil shirts, flags and scarves (see links,
right, or
search for Brazil Kit at Kitbag.comg(512634)a(1759159))
).
If you're serving food, search for yellow, green and blue table covers, napkins, plates, cups and
cutlery on our general
General Party Decorations Page
For bunting, flags, balloons and more
Brazilian Party Decorations Ideas,
visit our
American Flags & Decorations Page
As for colour schemes, in addition to the above ideas, anything else you can find in yellow, green and blue will help create the right atmosphere.
Food for a Brazilian Themed Party
Brazilian cooking has been influenced by many other nations and cultures. In addition to the cooking of the indigenous peoples, Brazilian cuisine has been heavily influenced by
the Portuguese, who first colonised the area 500 years ago, and by the culture of the West African slaves that they brought with them.
Additionally, the style of cooking and the ingredients used differs by region in this vast country, although rice and beans as staples are consumed almost everywhere.
In the north, close to the Amazon, fish is an important source of protein, and there is an abundance of fresh local root vegetables and fruit.
By contrast, the central and western areas, much of which is open grassland, produce large quantities of beef, corn and pork.
Like their close neighbours and arch-rivals the Argentinians, Brazilians love to barbecue, and often a barbecue becomes an all day event, with mountains of beef being slowly
barbecued throughout the afternoon, being gradually eaten slice by slice, washed down with cold beer. The beef is often simply salted and cooked - very little marination.
The Brazilians claim to have been the first to introduce beef to South America, even before it arrived in Argentina. Whether that's true or not, beef is certainly always on the menu!
Try some of these next time Brazil are playing:
Barbecue Recipes
Brazilian Spicy Barbecue Sauce - Molho Apimentado
Brazilian Barbecued Chicken Kebabs - Churrasco de Frango
Other Main Courses
Brazil's National Dish - Pork & Black Bean Stew (Feijoada)
Brazilian Chicken in Red Wine - Frango ao Vinho
Brazilian Fish Stew - Moqueca de Peixe
Drink for a Brazilian Themed Party
Brazil's national drink is a cocktail called
Caipirinha, which is made using the local spirit
Cachaça
.
Cachaça is made from distilled sugar cane, and isn't
widely available outside Brazil, but you can substitute good quality white rum or vodka instead. Click here for the
recipe for Brazil's classic
Caipirinha cocktail. Additionally, Brazil is rightly famed for its coffee, and locally brewed beer is also extremely popular. The best-selling brands are Skol and
Brahma
, and
it is traditional in Brazil to serve lager beer with more of a head on top than would be expected in the UK, for example.
Theming your Brazilian party
Buy
mood music for a Brazilian Party from Amazon:
Cafe Do Brasil: a blend of cool Brazilian music
Read
Pele's autobiography
Involve the
children in your football party. Click here for instructions for
fun to make
Brazilian themed paper chain decorations.
