u/Lower_Hair6427

My regular Tuesday in May in regular town USA…

Stop by Walgreens in the morning and see tons of World Cup merch. The checker tells me people keep coming in looking for Panini World Cup stickers, but they sell out immediately.

Lunch time — tickets go on sale for a World Cup warm-up friendly and the entire stadium sells out in 30 minutes. Tickets were $50… for a team that most people around here normally wouldn’t even talk about. I get several texts from friends asking if we should go.

Afternoon at work — a friend sends me a hilarious Will Ferrell World Cup/Lays commercial.

Dinner at the end-of-year banquet for my 12-year-old’s soccer team and half the parents are talking about the World Cup. I talk to a dad from England who says he’s thinking about buying tickets and taking his kids now that prices have dropped a bit. Then I meet another couple who starts telling everyone about being at the Suarez handball game in South Africa and how the World Cup is the most fun sporting event in the world.

Went to bed realizing…

The hype is here.

Feels kind of like the week after Thanksgiving when Christmas suddenly takes over everyday life. What are you seeing out there?

My wife and I are trying to get our 6 kids (ages 2–12) absolutely obsessed with the World Cup this summer and I’m curious what other families are doing.

I grew up loving the World Cup and I want them to have those same memories of random afternoon games suddenly feeling like the biggest event on earth. I figured I would share our plan but I want to hear yours!

So far here’s what we’ve done:

1. Family World Cup Draft

We did a full family snake draft for teams.

I made 6 groups of teams based roughly on FIFA rankings.
For example, Group 1 had 8 top-ranked teams in random order with flags only so the kids wouldn’t just choose based on who is “best.”

Our 2-year-old had the 3rd overall pick, confidently walked up, pointed at the Argentina flag, and walked away like she knew exactly what she was doing.

Everyone ended up with 6 teams total.

Prizes:

If one of your teams wins the World Cup = dinner anywhere with mom & dad
Runner-up = dessert anywhere
3rd place = new soccer ball

We also added random group stage prizes:

biggest upset
first red card
most goals scored by your 6 teams combined
best collective defense
first hat trick

Honestly the kids are already talking trash to each other and the tournament hasn’t even started.

2. Surprise Jerseys

We watched YouTube videos ranking all 48 team jerseys and asked each kid which jersey was their favorite.

I secretly ordered DHgate jerseys for everyone (~$17 each).

Some picks made sense based on the draft…
But some were interesting:

my 8-year-old became obsessed with the Scotland away jersey
my wife randomly picked Mexico
my 4-year-old loves the France away jersey which still bugs me

We’ll all still cheer for the USA, but I love the idea of the kids wearing random international jerseys while watching games from all over the world.

I’m hoping the surprise hits.

Ideally we’d all go to a game and maybe I ended up taking the oldest to a cheap group game. What are you guys doing to get your kids excited for the World Cup?

Or what did your parents/family do that made you fall in love with it?

One Reddit comment I read said his grandma made him write an essay about the team he was going to watch before attending a match with his dad. Thought that was an awesome idea.

Would love more ideas.

Today was the first day the World Cup felt REAL in regular town USA!

How are you getting your kids excited for the World Cup?