Host a Super Bowl party!
Invite everyone to an exciting evening of football fun! This sporty gathering filled with creative snacks and winning flair will keep your team happy from kickoff till the clock runs out
Score with a snack bar
Make snack time- outs special with a table filled with bite-size fare, like this one styled by party pro Laura Aguirre ( Lauraslittleparty.com). To do: Top a table with faux turf and a black-and-white striped runner, then add cupcakes, treat boxes and sliders displayed on slate trays with a “play” drawn in food-safe marker.
Light up the night with turf twinklers
These tabletop twinklers give the room the ambience of a VIP suite— for pennies! To make, cut a rectangle of green felt to fit around a battery-run votive candle. Make snips in the felt to create grass blades, then hot- glue felt around the votive. Tie ribbon into a bow around grass to finish.
Fill them up with football-shaped bites
Score points with a fan favorite: stuffed potato skins! To make, scoop the insides out of 4 baked potatoes. Set in a bowl and mash with shredded Cheddar cheese, parsley and a pinch of garlic powder. Fill skins with the mixture, top with crumbled cooked bacon and more cheese and bake at 400°F until filling is hot, then serve.
Toast the day with a signature cocktail
A mule is the perfect halftime sip: The zesty flavors of ginger, lime and mint will cut through sweet, savory and salty fare. To make each drink: Fill a copper mule mug (or cocktail glass) with ice, then pour in 4 oz. of ginger beer, 1 oz. of vodka and 1 Tbs. of lime juice; stir together. Garnish mug with lime wedges and a sprig of mint to finish.
Surprise everyone with game- day ‘souvenir’ favors
These favors aren’t just a thoughtful treat for guests— the boxes add a decorative touch to your party table! To make your own, decorate plain kraft-paper to- go boxes with strips of white tape to create football-like markings, or order pre- decorated boxes (like Football Favor Boxes, $ 5 for 12, Orientaltrading.com). Fill boxes with bags of snacks and dollarstore koozies and mini footballs.
Wow your crowd with a tower of tailgate snacks
Instead of serving snacks buffet-style in big bowls that guests have to scoop themselves, go for a pre-portioned setup that makes it easy to grab snacks and go back to the TV in a flash. Simply spoon chili or salsa into paper cups (decorated with cut-to-fit football-field printed scrapbook paper), nestle handfuls of tortilla chips into easy-to-hold french fry pouches (like Kraft Paper French Fries Boxes, $ 6 for 12, Orientaltrading.com) and pile popcorn into black-and-white cups that mimic the look of a referee uniform. The real game-winning idea: Line up the snacks on a tiered server (or a tower of stacked cake plates). This allows you to fit all the treats on a vertical display, saving valuable table space for other delicious treats, decor, dishes and drinks.