End-of-season party ideas: programme, awards and speech

Good end-of-season party ideas have three ingredients: something to play, something to eat and a moment when every member of the team gets to stand at the front once. What that looks like depends mostly on age. Here you will find programme ideas from the under-9s to the senior side, examples of team awards and an outline for a short speech.

What makes a good end-of-season party?

A place with room for everyone, usually the club grounds, a programme that doesn't outlast the patience of the youngest, and a clear running order. This order works well: arrive and play, eat together, then awards and a speech, and finally the team photo. If you hand out the jobs beforehand (barbecue, cakes, drinks, music), you get to enjoy the day yourself.

End-of-season party ideas by age

The age groups below are the ones used in German football. The ideas work just as well for handball and other team sports: simply pick the group of the same age. What matters is how long the children stay focused and how much they want to decide for themselves.

Under-9s and under-7s (F-Jugend and Bambini): short, loud, with parents

Plan short games with lots of changes for the smallest ones; too little programme is better than too much.

• Kids against parents, with the parents handicapped, for example only allowed to use their weaker foot.
• Stations like at a children's birthday party: shooting at a target goal wall, a dribbling course, an egg-and-spoon race with a table tennis ball.
• Each child is called to the front individually to receive their medal or certificate.
• Finally, a photo of all the children with their medals and coaches.

Under-11s and under-13s (E- and D-Jugend): a tournament with mixed teams

At this age, children want to compete but not lose to each other. Mixed teams solve that.

• An end-of-season tournament where children, siblings, parents and coaches play in mixed teams.
• A penalty king, or a seven-metre king in handball, with a challenge trophy that is passed on every year.
• A quiz about the season: who scored the first goal? Who did we draw with in the rain?
• Camping on the club grounds, if the club agrees and enough adults stay overnight too.

Under-15s to under-19s (C- to A-Jugend): let them plan it

Teenagers want a say. Give them a budget and two or three options to choose from, such as footgolf, a barbecue evening with a film screen in the clubhouse, a canoe trip or an evening on the beach volleyball court. With under-18s you still need enough adults to supervise and clear arrangements with the parents. For trips lasting several days, see our team trip ideas.

Senior and adult teams: the evening after the last match

For adults, the end of the season is often an evening with a barbecue, a look back and awards. Invite partners and families, and ask the veterans' side or another team from the club for a fun match in the afternoon. If you want to make a weekend of it, go away together.

End-of-season awards ideas: team awards for the ceremony

Team awards are small honours for which the team or the coaching team votes for one person. They bring everyone to the front once and cost almost nothing: a certificate, applause, done. With children, one rule has no exceptions: every child gets an award, and they are all positive.

Awards for children and teenagers

• “Always there”: for the child you could count on at every training session.
• “Loudest cheer”: for the voice you can hear all the way to the car park.
• “Encourager of the season”: for the child who picked others up after mistakes.
• “Biggest leap”: for the clearest progress since the summer.
• “Octopus in goal”: for the save everyone was talking about.
• “Joker”: for the child who was always ready, wherever they were asked to play.

Awards for adults

• “Dressing-room DJ”: for the playlist nobody can bear to hear any more.
• “Excuse of the season”: for the best explanation of why training went ahead without him.
• “Air supremacy award”: for every ball that was ever in the air.
• “Taxi service of the season”: for every away trip with a full car.
• “Signing of the year”: for the debut everyone remembers.
• “Last at the cool-down, first at the barbecue”: for the one who knows his priorities.

Collect as many ideas as you have players and let the team vote. You can record a few of them on the team awards page in the Flashbook.

End-of-season speech in football: short and with every name

Three minutes is enough. A good end-of-season speech says thank you, recalls two or three moments and looks ahead. Speak freely from bullet points, and with children, say every name once: they are waiting for it.

• Thanks to everyone who helped: parents who drove, washed kit and baked, team staff, referees from the club.
• Two or three moments: a match, a scene from training, a line everyone laughed at.
• What makes the team: not the table, but how you treated each other.
• Looking ahead and handing over: what comes next season, then the awards or medals.

An example opening: “This season started in the rain and ends today in the sunshine. In between there was a penalty shoot-out we will be talking about for a long time, and a defeat after which you still laughed together. Thank you to all the parents: without you we wouldn't have made it to a single away game.” If you want to say a few words to the coach, you will find wording in our guide Thank-you messages for a coach.

Gifts are often part of it, but not a must

An end-of-season party works without gifts too. If you want to hand something over, you will find ideas for a coach who is staying in our guide End-of-season gift for a coach, and for the team itself under End-of-season gifts for kids.