Football Party Ideas

The key to pulling off a coordinated event: Evoke your theme throughout the affair. Whether that theme is as general as a season or a feeling, or as specific as a special flower, it should be the subtle thread that ties everything together. Your location, invitations, flowers, menu, cake, and favors should all cleverly reflect one common concept. Then, get as creative as you can!


Football Paper Goods	Football Party Items	Light Your Drinks	Football Decorations	Candy Bar Wrappers

Custom Football Banners

Touchdown! Decorating Ideas

The fastest way to create a focal point for your Football Party is to set the table with Football Paper Goods (plates, cups, table cover, & napkins). Light Up Mugs & Pilsner Glasses are great table accents and always a hit with guests. Accent your drinks with multi color light up football cubes. Works as solid red, blue or green, red/green, blue/green. red/blue and then flashing in multi color. Choose from seven settings to make your drinks light

Set your table like a NFL football field with a heavy gauge vinyl flannel backed tablecovers. Great to accent your football theme party. Reuse this easy to wipe off table cover throughout the season.

Accent your party area with a 14' string of Football Lights.

Create your own football field right on the table using wheatgrass (available at health food stores). Place the wheatgrass down the middle of the table as a runner. Cover the base with wide ribbon in team colors. Place an inflatable football in the center and add goal posts (dowels) on either end.

Looking for some Halftime Party Music to set the tone for your game day. This CD includes a free printable football pool to add to the fun.

Make some noise at your football party with realistic looking Football Maracas , Football Clackers , Football Helmet Clacker , Football Tambourines, Football Horn , or a Football Whistle. Great for games, too.

Tailgater's Dream! This inflatable Football Cooler is perfect for Sunday football games, picnics in the park or tailgating parties. Easy to inflate, this 30" cooler can be filled with ice and a few six packs, chilled just right for the game. Use as a centerpiece when football is your theme.

Perfect for the sports fan, this Football Snack Tray is perfect for snacks for your tailgating parties.

Wrap napkins around cutlery and add a Football Whistle or some 33" Football Beads for a napkin ring. You could also tuck a napkin into a pair of Football Eyeglasses .

The latest decoration for the Football Season, throw it or hang it! This inflatable football is not just for fun.

Cheer the Team! You will have lots of color when you shake these Colorful Pompoms .

These Football Folding Fans are for the football FANatic. Hang a few on the walls too!

Get ready for the game and wear a full size, Football Hats . Mix and Match with our other football items. Turn plastic football caps upside down and use to serve dry snacks. You could even fill them with flowers to use as centerpieces or place them on a counter in the bathrooms to carry your theme throughout your party area. They make fun favors. Give them out to your DJ and have him pass them out just before he plays a fun football song.

Score a touchdown with this 12" Football Pinata . Just fill with a Candy Assortment and have a great time. This Pinata Blindfold & Bat will add to the fun.

Balloons, balloons and more balloons. Blanket your house in a sea of the colors of the two competing teams. Allow the diehard fans of the winning team to "burst the bubble" of the fans of the opposing team...let them pop the balloons in the opponent's colors each time their team scores. Loud, howling good fun...just what the game is all about!

For a formal event use a football shaped ice sculpture with flowers frozen inside for centerpieces on each guest table or this could be used just on a serving table.

Favorite sports jersey's for everyone!

You can never have too much food at a Football Party. A simple tip is to keep the menu simple; you don't want to spend the entire game in the kitchen. A Football party is an ideal opportunity for a "Pot Luck". Encourage guests to bring their favorite appetizers/dips or desserts to complement your "main course." Or, create food that is based on the local cuisine of the two teams.

Always have a second TV set up at the party. If half your guests aren't really interested in the game, you'll have a place for them to watch and talk without bothering the diehard fans. Meet throughout the game and at half time for munchies, and a few games of chance or skill!

Have plenty of "usable" decorations on hand such as Colorful Pompoms ,Football Confetti ,Football Pick Candles , Football Lights , Football Garland, Football Danglers and Football Balloons . In addition to making your rooms look festive, you'll have fun favors for your guests. When the party is over, allow guests to take home a few items.

Don't forget to provide guests with face paint as they enter the party. Encourage each guest to display their loyalty before the game begins by painting their face.

Plan a few friendly game wagers to make the party fun for everyone, fans and partiers. Select wagers that require little or no football knowledge.

Host a trivia game at half time, especially one centered on football facts. As an alternative, play a game centered on the new crop of commercials that will be unleashed. If you need to release some energy, plan a "friendly" flag football game.

Capture the fun on film. Take plenty of pictures and provide guests with disposable cameras to catch each other in rare cheer form.

Don't forget the ice!!! Plan on approximately one pound per adult guest for the evening.

Plan some down time before the party to relax. Remember, your guests will only be expecting to watch a game and eat...anything else you do in terms of decorating, games or favors will earn you lots of extra points with your friends. Have a great time...because Life should be more fun!

Party Games

For entertainment during your party, or for a little half-time fun, try one or a couple of the following games. If you are feeling adventurous, and you have a high-energy group of friends, head outside for a quick game of flag football!

FOOTBALL TRIVIA QUIZ – Create a trivia quiz related to football—Hall of Famers, Super Bowl's of the past, today's hottest college and NFL teams, and even a few general football questions! Check out a couple of sports periodicals, or recruit a football fanatic friend to help you create a quiz. Award a prize for the most knowledgeable…tickets to a game, a mini football, or a logoed baseball cap! For the least knowledgeable…a monthly subscription to Sports Illustrated™! Here are a few questions to get you started:

Who scored the first touchdown in Super Bowl I ?
(Max McGee – Green Bay 35/Kansas City 10)
Name the quarterback who threw six touchdown passes in one Super Bowl game. (Steve Young – Super Bowl XXIX – 49ers 49/Chargers 26)
Name the coach who has won the most Super Bowls. (Chuck Noll – 4 games)
Which quarterback threw for 357 yards in one Super Bowl? (Joe Montana)
Which team has the distinction of being the only team to have failed to score a touchdown in a Super Bowl? (Dolphins – Super Bowl XII)
In what stadium was the first indoor Super Bowl played?
(New Orleans Superdome - Super Bowl XII – Dallas 27/ Denver 10)
Who holds the record for the most interceptions in a single Super Bowl game? (Rod Martin – 3 – Oakland vs. Philadelphia, 1981)
Name the football team that has made the most trips to the Super Bowl. (Dallas Cowboys – 8 times)
Who had the longest run in Super Bowl history? (Marcus Allen – 74 yards – Raiders vs. Washington, 1984)
Who was the only player from a losing team to be named Super Bowl MVP? (Chuck Howley – Super Bowl V – Baltimore vs. Dallas)

TRIVIA MANIA – Check out a great new book titled "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" from Hyperion publishing. It is packed with general interest trivia, and is a great resource for a party trivia quiz. If your friends aren't the ones who paint their bodies, wear rainbow wigs, and go shirtless to football games in the middle of winter…this type of trivia may be more to their taste!

PICK A SQUARE! – To play this fun "gambling" game, create a grid with one hundred small squares on an 8½" by 11" piece of paper, with ten squares on each side of the grid. Across the top of the grid, label each square (from left to right) with the numbers 0-9. Down the left side of the grid, label each square (from top to bottom) with the numbers 0-9. The left side of the grid will represent one team playing in the Super Bowl, and the top will represent the opposing team. Guests can purchase "squares" by signing their name to any square they wish before the game starts, and can purchase as many as they want (after the grid has made a pass amongst all the guests!) Establish a cost per square before the game…any amount you wish from a dime to $1.00! The pool of money is split four ways. Winners are determined at the end of each quarter, by the last digit of each team's score. For example, assume that Denver is on the left side of the grid, and Dallas is at the top of the grid. If the score is 20 to 11 for Denver at the end of the first half, the person with his/her name in the 0 (left) and 1 (top) square is the winner for the quarter. Even guests with little interest in the game will be interested in the score!

TONGUE FUMBLE! - Give each player a bag. Fill the "bag" with 10 small treasures (candy, chocolate, little favors). Have bags labeled with guests' names, so they don't get mixed up. Let players know at the start of the game exactly when the game will be ending—this game can be played throughout an entire party or just at half time if you so choose. The object of the game is to catch fellow players saying one of the following words or phrases:

QUARTERBACK
BALL
TOUCHDOWN
PASS
SUPERBOWL
TEAM

To help players, post the words prominently on a board where they can be seen often. If someone is caught saying one of the words on the list, that person has to give up a treasure from their stash. The player with the biggest haul of goodies at the end of the game is the winner! This game is always a big hit.

Football Party Food

Throwing a party during the big television-viewing event calls for some seriously hearty comfort food! Fill a table with easy to eat goodies, or ask all your guests to bring their own mid-winter favorite appetizer or dessert…a perfect party for a potluck! Use disposable paper goods so that cleanup will be extra easy.

TOUCHDOWN BUFFET:
Choose a few old favorites, try a couple of easy new ideas, and make the food simple, but plentiful. You're sure to have a winner on your hands!

A Fiesta Buffet or Taco Bar is sure to please your Superbowl crowd. Mexican cooking uses ingredients that are easy to find and quick to prepare. A scrumptious meal can be put together in no time, with enough variety of tastes and textures to please everyone. Everyone loves to make their own tacos, so try Tacos with their favorite toppings (cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, salsa) for the main course! Your ready for a great meal. This Fiesta Dip is an attractive way to serve avocado dip or try this Molded Avocado Pinwheel. A Sombero Salad is also a great addition to your party and serves as a perfect centerpiece for your serving table. You'll find more Fiesta recipes in the Fiesta Recipes Section. Gotta have chips, dip and salsa! Try serving the chips in a Football Hat turned up-side-down.
Great staples for a buffet style finger food meal include chicken wings, chicken strips (offer 3 or 4 interesting dipping sauces), meatballs (Swedish or BBQ), mini eggrolls, whole water chestnuts wrapped in bacon, nachos, or an assortment of sandwiches made on mini buns (about 3-4 bite size). Make everything ahead of time, and store hot items in a warming tray, or in an oven set at 200 degrees until the feeding frenzy begins!
Cut slices of pumpernickel bread out in the shape of footballs using cookie cutters. Make mini Rueben sandwiches by adding corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing. Garnish the "footballs" with shredded mozzarella cheese placed on the sandwiches to resemble laces.
VEGGIE TRAY: Include raw cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, carrots, celery, snow peas, zucchini, etc. with a sour cream based dip. Ranch dips are popular with adults and children.
Serve CHILI accompanied by lots of "add-ins". Add bowls of shredded cheese, chopped onion, sour cream, hot sauce, oyster crackers, jalapeno peppers, and spaghetti (Cincinnati style) to your table. Serve cornbread muffins along with the chili.
Add a few hearty dips that can be made ahead. Here are a few that are extra easy to make, and are always a big hit:
- CREAM CHEESE DIP: Purchase cream cheese in block form, and top with salsa (flavored salsas are great), cocktail sauce and crabmeat, green pepper jelly, or jam (any flavor works, but apricot is delicious!). If you are feeling adventurous, combine a couple of packages, and mold them into the shape of a football. Serve with a variety of crackers. Triscuit™ thins are perfect with this dip.
- ARTICHOKE DIP: Mix 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, 1 cup mayonnaise ("light" is okay to use), and 1-24 oz. can of artichoke hearts, chopped into small pieces. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, and serve with crackers. This dip can be served warm, or at room temperature.
- EASY CHEESY DIP: Add one large block of Velveeta Cheese, one 16 oz. can of chili without beans, and one 16 oz. jar of salsa to a crock pot. Stir occasionally. The dip is ready when the cheese is completely melted. Serve with bite-sized tortilla chips.
BAKED BRIE: Hollow out an oval (football shaped) loaf of French or sourdough bread, cutting the bread so that you have a "lid". Fill the hole with Brie cheese, and put the lid back on. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Using a piping bag (a plastic "baggie" snipped in one corner will do the trick), pipe "laces" on to the top of the football with sour cream or cream cheese. Serve with small chunks of bread, or crackers. If the Brie is not to your taste, fill the "football" bread with any other type of dip, such as a creamy spinach dip.
SHRIMP COCKTAIL: Serve on ice, along with cocktail sauce. This is a little more costly than most items you might plan to serve, but it will make your guests feel special, and the color looks terrific on a buffet.
Scatter several bowls of munchies around the areas where your guests will be watching the game…Chips, pretzels, nuts, M&Ms™, popcorn, and Chex™ Mix.
For dessert, serve brownies and cookies (football shaped), or make a football cake using Wilton's™ "First and Ten" Football pan. It comes with easy to follow directions, and if you're feeling adventurous, add another cake in a different flavor to accompany the football on the field…a tribute to your favorite team on game day. Make the other cake in a shape inspired by the mascot, symbol or colors of the team you'll be cheering for. Set the cake up on an indoor/outdoor grass "turf" board and hear the crowd roar for more!

BEVERAGES:
This party calls for beer, pop, mineral water, punch, and coffee…nothing hi-brow! Make sure that you have plenty of ice on hand - usually one pound per adult guest.

The purpose of having any party is to have fun! Don't forget that even as the host or hostess, you are entitled to enjoy yourself, and not feel "rushed"! With good planning, your Football Party will be a memorable event. If you need additional ideas or suggestions more specific to your party, please email us anytime… we're here to help make all your parties a GREAT SUCCESS!