How to Throw a Super Bowl Party

You can throw a legendary Super Bowl party—even when you’re only watching for the commercials. Here’s what to do!

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It seems that the best parties in the winter all revolve around football. Even if you don’t love sports, fear not. Throwing a Super Bowl party can be just as fun for the host as it is for sports fans. Stock up on tailgate snacks and slammin’ Super Bowl cocktails and let’s get going!

Cooler of beerBRIANNA GRIEPENTROG/TASTE OF HOME

Bring on the Drinks

Football wouldn’t be a great American sport without a great American beverage. Before the party, snag a local beer from the cities of the teams competing or pick up one of our favorite cheap beer brands for your shindig. If they’re not into beer, pick a signature cocktail for each team based on their city, mascot or team colors. Mix up a pitcher of each drink ahead of time with a little splash of food coloring to match each team’s jerseys.

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Do a Dip

Cheesy dips are a staple of any legendary tailgate, and a Super Bowl party is no different. Look for a few creative recipes and choose one that is cheesy, one that is meaty, one that is spicy and one that is vegan to appease all the different taste preferences of your group. Look to these dip recipes for inspiration.

2021 Super Bowl Ecomm Via Etsy.com 2VIA PROPARTYPLANNER/ETSY.COM

Play Some Games

Keep the competition alive with adult party games, like team and city trivia or football bingo. If your guests are more into the ads than the game, this Super Bowl commercial bingo will be sure to bring on some fun. Bake some football-shaped cookies to hand out as prizes.

Super bowl snack stadium TASTE OF HOME

Build a Snack Stadium

To be the envy of all your friends (and the star of their Instagram stories) build yourself a snack stadium. Fill a few cardboard boxes or aluminum pans with all your favorite snacks (including some of these healthy Super Bowl recipes, for a well-balanced selection). Make a field out of a frosted cake and place it in the center. Learn how to build a snack stadium with our step-by-step guide.

Astroterf Football Coaster VIA MERCURIALCREATIONS2/ETSY.COM

Set the Scene

Make your guests feel like they’re watching the game from the sidelines with plenty of creative decorations. From AstroTurf coasters to football drink stirrers to a festive concession stand sign, decorating for your party can be just as fun as the party itself. Decorate one half of the living room with one team’s colors, and the other half of the living room with the other team’s colors. Your guests can choose where they want to sit and cheer on their favorite team.

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Wing It

The staple of any great sports viewing party is a tray of sticky, sweet and tangy chicken wings. Prepare a range of flavors from extra spicy to sweet and mild and have a few dipping sauces (like ranch or blue cheese dressing) on the side. Wings are the perfect finger food, but be sure to have plenty of cocktail napkins ready for these fall off the bone, finger-licking goods!

Ucanbe Athena Face Body Paint Oil PaletteVIA AMAZON.COM

Show Your Spirit

Throw a competition to see who has the most (and most creative) team spirit in the group. Have a face painting kit at the ready with some colorful streamers and spray on hair dye. Challenge your friends to create the craziest costumes and have a makeshift catwalk for them to show off their team spirit.

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Pick a Winning Dessert

What better way to wash down all those wings and beers than with sweet and decadent Super Bowl desserts! Help ease the pain for the losing team with a crowd-pleasing classic like caramel brownies or ice cream and cookie pie. Even if their team lost the game, we bet your guests will leave with a full belly and happy heart.

I Just Hope Both Teams Have FunVIA NINETY5PRINTS/ETSY.COM

Hand Out Swag Bags

To help your guests feel extra special, prepare swag bags as a parting gift. Fill your football treat bags with a few festive football cookies, candies, Gatorade, funny sweatshirt and a custom Super Bowl ’22 pint glass. They’ll be tickled you went the extra mile for them.

Laura is a New York-based freelance food writer with a degree in Culinary Arts from the Institute of Culinary Education and a degree in Journalism from Penn State. Her work has appeared in Taste of Home, Chowhound, the Culture Trip and Patch.

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