Ideas for a Themed Party
Most Spanish fans follow three sides; the national team (known affectionately as "the red fury"), their local club side, and either one of the "big 2",
Real Madrid or
Barcelona. Football is the most common topic of conversation in the bars, where the daily football papers are always
available to read and discuss on your way home from work. Many an evening is spent in a bar, enjoying a glass of beer or wine with some
tapas,
talking about football to anyone who will listen!
If you're trying to recreate some of this atmosphere when throwing a Spanish football party at home, all
you need is some Spanish guitar music, some great Spanish food and drink, Spain football shirts, and the whole room decked out in red, yellow and blue...
and fortunately, we have links to all this and more on this page!
Spain Party Decorations
Decorate yourself and your room with Spanish shirts, flags and scarves (see links, right,
or
search Kitbag.com for Spanish football kitg(512634)a(1759159))
).
If you're serving food, search for red, blue and yellow table covers, napkins, plates, cups and
cutlery on our general
Football Party Decorations Page
For bunting, flags, balloons and more
Spanish Party Decorations Ideas,
visit our
European Football Party Decorations Page
As for colour schemes, in addition to the above ideas, anything else you can find in red will help create the right atmosphere.
Food for a Spanish Themed Party
Despite its own centuries-old culinary traditions, Spanish cuisine has been influenced by a surprising number of other natioins. Early influences included the Romans, and more importantly
the Moors from north Africa, who brought with them their spices and their own cooking style which over time blended with that of Spain. As Spanish explorers ventured to the New World,
they brought back with them tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, vanilla, chocolate, peppers and many types of beans. These have all been incorporated into Spanish cooking, along
with the nation's existing produce, including olives, citrus fruits, grape vines, garlic, their much loved
chorizo sausage and
jamon serrano - cured ham.
Seafood is popular in many regions of Spain, and statistics show (apparently!) that the average Spaniard eats 12 times as much fish in a year as the average Englishman!
For a themed Spanish football party, tapas is an ideal way to combine food and football without having to cook a formal sit-down meal.
The idea is to have a series of different dishes, small portions of which can be served up over the course of the evening. This does mean that, unless you want to spend the whole time
in the kitchen and so miss the game, you need to plan and prepare well in advance. But with a little preparation, this can be a fun and different way to throw a football party.
Try some of these next time the Red Fury are playing:
Tapas Recipes
Basque Smoked Fish & Fruit Tapas
Chorizo & Cheese Tortilla
Chorizo & Mozzarella Bites
Stuffed Tomatoes
Spanish Fried Potatoes in Sauce - Patatas bravas
Other Recipes
Catalan Fish Stew (Suquet de Peix)
Catalan Mushrooms - Xampinyons en Salsa
Gazpacho
Spanish Chicken & Chorizo Casserole
Spanish Barbecued Lamb
Cocido Madrileño - rich meat and vegetable stew from Madrid
Drink for a Spanish Themed Party
When most people think of Spain they think of
Sangria, but Spain has much more to offer in its drinks cabinet! However, if you want to make
Sangria for your
Spanish football party, click here for the
recipe. Additionally, Spain's climate is ideal for growing of citrus fruits and grapes, so fresh fruit juices and wines are of great
quality and widely available. Sherry -
Jerez - is extremely popular, as are the many excellent reds. Cava - the sparkling wine produced in the south of the country - is growing in popularity internationally too.
Spanish beers such as
San Miguel
,
Cruzcampo, Alhambra and Mahou are widely available.
Search for Spanish wine online at Tesco.
