Pro football and its championship game, the Super Bowl, is the most watched sport in America. With Super Bowl 2008 right around the corner, throwing a football themed party is a good excuse for a celebration. While planning a Super Bowl party you need to remember that not everyone attending the party loves the game. Some of them will be attending the party just to hang out and enjoy friends & family. So it is important to make proper arrangements so that super bowl fans can enjoy while they watch the game, and non-fans can catch up or make new acquaintances while others are well occupied.

Invitations: First things first -here are a few ideas to help you send out creative and personalized Super Bowl party invitations.

  • Sending out football invitations is a superb idea. For this you need small footballs and a permanent marker. With the marker write the time and venue of the party on the football. Then hand deliver these football invitations. Your guests will be thrilled on receiving these strange invites.
  • Write your Super Bowl party invitation on a piece of paper and insert it in a football water bottle. Ask your guests to bring these water bottles along with them to the party. They can then be filled up with their favorite beverage at your Super Bowl blast. Hand deliver or mail them in a small box and send from your local post office.
  • You can also create some nice bandanna invitations for your guests. All you need to do is buy light color bandanas (team colors) and then paint the team signs or paste team stickers on them. Then with a permanent marker write the party details on the bandanna and mail or hand deliver to your guests.

You can also send out online Super Bowl party invites. It really is the easiest way to send the invitations, and make it the easiest for your guests to reply to the invitation. It also frees you from the hassle of having to follow up and get the RSVP status of each guests individually. PurpleTrail.com offers lots of great ideas for sports party invitations with dozens of unique sports themes. You will be surprised at how simple it is to customize the invitations and may them your own. To boot, your online invitations can also include photos of your favorite sports star. Don’t forget to ask your guests to pick a Super Bowl team to cheer for and wear that teams colors.

Sitting Arrangements: Since you want the guests to be comfortable and enjoy the big Super Bowl game, be sure to have a relaxed sitting arrangement. You could divide the venue into zones, one for the die hard football fans, and one for the casual watchers. A good idea for the football zone is a wide screen TV with good speakers and plenty of cushions around for the die hard fans. Be sure to remove your fragile decoration pieces, as you don’t want a guest to go home guilty with the feeling that he/she broke your favorite vase. Close doors to areas of the house that you want to be out of access for the party guests. For another area of the house, you can set up a smaller TV where the other guests can catch up on the game and at the same time have a decent conversation around non game topics. It is also a good idea to have a room or area designated for kids so that they are out of the way. Have plenty of toys, crafts and games to help keep them busy.

Decorations: A little extra bit of thought and effort on decoration earns you brownie points as a hostess. Go ahead and wow your guests with these decoration tips.

The best way to set the party mood is to decorate the house with the Super Bowl team colors. You can use opposing team colors on opposite sides of the room, or, if you’re partial to one team, decorate with those colors only.

  • Decorate with team color streamers and balloons in each team zone. You can also use similar color paper plates, glasses and napkins to enhance your decor.
  • For some more party craze, you can hand out football hats to male guests and football beads to female guests as they arrive.
  • Get guests into the athletic mood by playing popular football fight songs. Before the game begins, you can also play New Orleans brass band music.
  • To give your party zone a field effect, you can highlight the curb to your front door with yard line markers in white tape or chalk.

Party Foods: For a Super Bowl party it is best to serve food that is easy to eat. Preferably finger food, and other food items to munch on while cheering works best. You could also have a soup bar set up for time outs, or go the way of casseroles or slow cook recipes. If the invitees are comfortable with the idea of a pot-luck, you can get a nice variety of food that is sure to please everyone. Don’t forget to stock up on plenty of cold beverages as shouting at the television will make your guests very thirsty.

Finger Food Ideas : In addition to your favorite dips, wings, and chili recipes here are few easy to make finger food ideas:

  • Dungeness Crab Cakes: These Crab Cakes are easy to make and will be a big hit with your guests.

Ingredients:

1 lb Dungeness Crab Meat, cleaned
2 tsp Scallions, chopped
2 tsp Red Bell Pepper, chopped
2 tsp Celery, chopped
1 Tbsp Mayonnaise
1 Egg, whipped
1 cup Panko Bread Crumbs
pinch of Paprika, Chili Powder, Salt and Pepper

Directions: Break up the dungeness crab meat. Add peppers, celery, scallions, and spices. Add mayonnaise. Combine in bowl to form paste. Then add eggs and bread crumbs to thicken. Form into round crab cakes. Deep fry or sauté in olive oil. Serve crab cakes with greens and balsamic vinaigrette. (Read Recipe)

  • Simple Mozzarella Sticks: For making these mozzarella sticks you will need some mozzarella cheese, flour,2 eggs, few dry seasoned bread crumbs, vegetable oil and marinara sauce. Cut the mozzarella cheese into 1/4-inch thick slices, roll the cheese sticks in the flour and dip the sticks into the egg mixture. Then roll sticks in the bread crumbs to coat completely. Fry 4 to 5 sticks at a time until brown. Drain on paper towels and then serve with marinara sauce.
  • Crisp Chicken Wings with Chili-Lime Butter: No football party would be complete without wings. Here is a new recipe that is bound to make your guests asking for more.

    • Ingredients:
    4 pounds chicken wings
    Extra-virgin olive oil
    Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
    8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
    1 big, fat rounded tablespoon Thai red curry paste
    1/4 cup honey
    1/4 cup soy sauce
    1 lime, halved
    Chopped cilantro leaves, for garnish

    Directions: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.Rinse the wings under cool water and pat dry. Put them in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Toss to coat with the seasoning. Then spread the wings out on a baking sheet and roast about 25 minutes until the skin gets crisp and brown, and the meat is tender.While you wait, throw the butter, red curry paste honey and soy sauce into a blender. Season with salt and puree. Scrape into a big bowl. When the wings come out of the oven put add to the bowl with the curry butter. Squeeze the juice of the lime over the wings. Give it a toss and you’re done. Garnish with cilantro. (Read Recipe)

If you are not up for time in the kitchen, you can order a long, pre-cut deli sandwich or buy sandwich fixings and let guests put together their own. These delicious finger food items take barely any effort to prepare and are a big hit with guests. Designate one table for food and allow guests to help themselves, keeping you out of the kitchen.

Activities: Why should football players on television have all the fun? Plan a few superbowl party games to give your guests something to do during halftime. Here are few interesting activities:

  • Football Tossing Game: You can challenge your guests to a football tossing contest. To play this game indoor, use a foam ball and have your guests toss it through a hula hoop or into a basket. Each guests gets 5 attempts and the one who makes the target the most times is the winner.
  • Dare you say “Football” game: This is yet another fun activity. Just before halftime, hand out slips with the word football written on it. Ask each of the guests to stick the slip on their chest. Tell everyone they’re not allowed to say the word “football” while in conversation during halftime. The person who hears someone else utter the word “football” grabs his slip. The person who collects the most football slips is the winner.

Super Bowl Sunday has become one of the biggest party days of the year. So be prepared for the big day. We hope these ideas will help you kickoff your Super Bowl party!

Online Invitations and Party Planning Ideas at PurpleTrail

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