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TOP TIPS FOR A GREAT SUPER BOWL PARTY

Super Bowl is the biggest party of the year; over 13.5 million parties will be hosted on February 3, 2008.

Even if a party isn't in everyone's plan over 40 million households will be viewing.

Here are a few tips to make your Super Bowl Party a big success without draining your pocketbook or your energy!

1. Send out invitations in the shape of a football. Take two pieces of brown paper, cut in an oval (football shape), one slightly larger than the other, glue edges together and stuff with a bit of cotton, glue end and use a metallic silver or gold pen to write the invitation information. You don't want to overstuff, you still have to get it into the envelope.
2. Make sure you invite your neighbors, it can get noisy you know.
3. When the calls come in to RSVP people are going to ask if they can bring something. Go ahead, have a list of things that would compliment your menu.
4. Make sure you have enough televisions, borrow one from the other room or from a friend and set up more than one so everyone can view.*
5. For those non-football fan guests, set up a TV in another room with a great football movie playing. Some of the greatest, and my favorites, Remember the Titans, Jerry Macguire, The Replacements, The Longest Yard.*
6. Drinks: Jell-O shots in the shape of footballs or helmets can be made with Jell-O, vodka, and ice cube molds from the party store. Beer is essential: about 5 six-packs for ten people.
7. Make sure that you have plenty of coolers of Ice and Beer, you don't want a lot of thirsty guys getting in and out of your refrigerator all day. I've even seen people use their empty dishwasher for iced down cans and bottles. Makes sense, the melted ice drains away.
8. Write your guests' name on the beer cup so your guests won't be quibbling about whose beer it is.
9. Invite your guests to dress in their favorite team colors. Hosts should wear referee stripes. The guests don't have to necessarily dress in the teams that are playing in the Super Bowl, if they don't want to change their alliance. (Some people are funny that way) Don't know the team colors?
10. Decorate with throws, tablecloths, shirts, jackets, hats and other team paraphernalia or items in team colors. Go to the local Good Will and you can buy almost any team clothing, jerseys and other items for decorating.*
11. Decorate your table in Astroturf, or green felt. Use chalk or white medical tape for yard lines. Set bowls in football helmets, cleats and shoulder pads (courtesy of your local used sports equipment store).
12. Give out a treat bag with whistles, Pom- Poms, Nerf balls, anything that is football themed.
13. Set up a friendly football pool using cash or entry slips for wagers. Build a football score grid to identify the predicted scores. Sell each box for a set amount. 100 squares, each square for a certain amount of money, I suggest 5 dollars. Put their name in whatever square they choose. After all the squares are filled out you randomly draw numbers zero through nine out of a hat and write the numbers vertically, then draw again and write those numbers across the top. Draw again for AFC and NFC and put the first drawn on the vertical the second on the horizontal. Place a value on each quarter and the half. The person closest to the score at those times receives that amount of money. The person at the end of the game that is closest to the winning score gets the rest of the pot.
14. Play football trivia for fun prizes, including hats, shirts, magnets, etc. Go to your local novelty or party store for unusual sports and related football items. Make sure you have your trivia questions written out and hand the questions out during half time.
15. Bet on everything from the coin toss to who's going to score first. Below are some examples. You get the idea.

    A. Which team will win the coin toss? ____________________________
    
    B. Which team will throw the first interception? ______________________
    
    C. Who will be ahead at the first quarter? ___________________________
    
    D. Who will be ahead at the Half? _________________________________
    
    E. Who will be sacked first? _____________________________________

16. Make some fabulous football food! Make some great chili, chips and dip, and hot wing recipes. Finger foods definitely, this is football remember, dips, chips, chili, hot dogs. For desert make chocolate cookies (buy the cookie dough at the grocery, cut them out, decorate them with a tube of white icing for the laces, They are sure to be a winner!

* Courtesy of PartyPlansPlus the place for great party planning ideas.

Click here for great Tailgate and Super Bowl Party recipes.

• STEP 1: Decorate the house in the colors of the team you're rooting for. If one of the teams playing is "your" team, put on all your paraphernalia.
• STEP 2: Invest in a few foam "bad-call bricks" to throw at the TV so your guests can express their feelings about the refs without doing damage to your house.
• STEP 3: If you're going to have guests who are rooting for different teams, establish an imaginary line (or for fun, "draw" one with masking tape) down the center of the room. Decorate each side in one team's colors.
• STEP 4: Order a "Super Bowl Party in a Box" that includes plates, napkins, cups and a football snack bowl.
• STEP 5: Have everyone write down who they think will win and what the final score will be before the game starts. Award a silly prize, like a big football piñata, to the person who comes the closest.

Tips & Warnings

• Since this is a drinking event, you may want to offer "free pick-up and delivery" so no one has to worry about drinking and driving. Arrange to pick everyone up before the game and drop everyone off after it's over.
• Since this is a weekend, you may want to set up a kids' room in the back of the house that's stocked with treats, games, a TV and VCR.
• Move any fragile or breakable items out of the room before the game starts. You don't want someone to leap up yelling, "You call that holding? He wasn't even touching him!"

Super Bowl Party Tips from our readers..   Idea for Super Bowl Pool:   Purchase a deck of UNO cards and select two colors from the deck that resemble the teams' jersey colors: EX: New York Giants-Red; New England Pats-Blue Sell each of the 20 cards for $1-$5 a piece (randomly). The number you pick resembles the last digit of the score for the quarter. 1/2 the money is given to the winner of the one color, and 1/2 to the other color. *There will be two winners each quarter. After the quarter is over, put the cards back in a pile and re-pay and draw. Submitted by: Nicole Hanna  

  Super Bowl Decorations

Each year at Super Bowl time I look in the local supermarkets I shop in to see what large stand-up Super Bowl related displays they have.  I then contact the store manager and ask if I can have the displays after the super bowl is over...since they usually just toss them in the garbage.  Most managers say "sure."

I then save these displays in my garage to use at "next year's" party.  My party attendee friends love them.

Submitted by

Patricia Dadolf

Super Bowl Party Links

http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/patriots-giants-and-a-big-bowl-of-chips/

http://www.fabulousfoods.com/holidays/superbowl/superbowl.html

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/the-nielsen-companys-2008-guide-to-the-super-bowl,262782.shtml

http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/super-bowl-blowout

Go Giants!!!!!