There is something special about major sporting events when they bring the whole family together. I’ll be honest – I am not a football expert. While the rest of the family can discuss formations, players and tactics for hours, I usually find myself asking questions from the sidelines. And annoying them all! This year, however, our World Cup evenings have felt completely different thanks to the BagKraft England Bag.
Packed with football-themed goodies, it arrived just as the tournament was getting underway. Inside was everything needed to create a proper match-day atmosphere, including face paints, car flags, tissues for those inevitable emotional moments and, most importantly for me, a tournament wall planner.
The wall planner that changed everything
The tournament wall planner quickly became the centrepiece of our kitchen.
At first, I thought it would simply be a handy way to keep track of England’s fixtures, but it has become so much more than that. Every evening we gather around it to update results, mark off completed matches and look ahead to the next round of games.
For someone who doesn’t naturally follow football, it has made the entire tournament much easier to understand.
The group stages can feel overwhelming when there are multiple matches happening every day. Having everything laid out visually on the wall has helped me understand which teams are in each group, how the points system works and why some matches are more important than others.
Rather than asking the family to explain everything repeatedly, I can simply look at the planner and follow the journey for myself.
Understanding the knockout stages
The biggest benefit for me has been understanding how the knockout rounds work.
Before using the planner, I often found myself confused about who would play who next and how teams progressed through the competition. Now I can see the pathway unfold as each result is recorded.
As teams qualify from the group stages, we fill in the knockout brackets together and predict who might make it through to the next round. It has sparked plenty of family debates and friendly competition as everyone tries to predict the eventual winner.
The children have loved making their own predictions and checking whether they were right after each match. Even Dean and I have found ourselves getting more invested as the tournament progresses.
More than just football
What has surprised me most is that the World Cup has become less about football and more about spending time together.
The matches have given us a reason to pause our usual routines, gather in the same room and enjoy an evening together. Phones are put down, conversations flow and everyone becomes invested in the same event.
The wall planner has become part scoreboard, part family activity and part conversation starter. It has helped transform the tournament from something that happened in the background into an experience we are sharing together.
As a parent, those moments of connection become increasingly valuable as children get older. Finding activities that genuinely engage teenagers can sometimes feel challenging, but this has been one of those simple things that has brought us all together.
Our verdict on the BagKraft England Bag
The BagKraft England Bag has added a little extra excitement to our World Cup evenings and helped us create some lovely family memories along the way.
While the face paints and flags have certainly added to the match-day atmosphere, it is the tournament wall planner that has become our favourite item. It has helped me understand the competition, encouraged family conversations and turned following the tournament into a shared experience rather than just watching football on television.
Whether England goes all the way or not, the planner will remain a reminder of the evenings we’ve spent together cheering, predicting, celebrating and occasionally reaching for the tissues.
If you enjoy finding ways to create memorable family moments together, you might also enjoy reading about our family adventures and lifestyle experiences, including our recent feature on travelling together and making memories that last beyond the holiday itself.
