It’s Super Bowl Time
Super Bowl XLV takes place on Sunday, February 6, 2011, with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers competing for the championship. The teams will be duking it out in Arlington, Texas. Where will you be? If you’re lucky you’ll be in Texas in person, but you can be sure that plenty of people will be celebrating at sports bars and at-home celebrations throughout North America and beyond.
A Super Bowl Party is a great way to break up the mid-winter season, and offers a great opportunity for good food, fun rivalries and celebrating with friends and family.
Easy Hosting Tips
Hosting a Super Bowl Party doesn’t need be tons of work. Here are some tips for easy game night entertaining:
- Make it a Potluck – Cut down on cooking and prep time and share great recipes at the same time by asking each guest to contribute a dish or appetizer
- Go With an Easy Buffet – Set up a buffet around the dining room or kitchen table and pull the chairs into the TV room for extra seating
- Make it in Advance – From delicious dips to spicy chicken wings, dishes you can prepare in advance are essential to free up the host
Beer’s the Choice
Most Super Bowl parties feature lagers and ales as the drinks of choice. For recommendations on a good selection of beer to have on hand for entertaining, check out Beer Selection for Entertaining.
A Championship Menu
For menu ideas, look for recipes that celebrate the competing Super Bowl cities; Primanti-style sandwiches (french fry and coleslaw-filled) from Pittsburgh and Wisconsin cheddar and bratworst for Green Bay. Of course you can’t go wrong with the old standby favourites like chili and chicken wings.
Halftime Fun
For many folks, halftime is almost as important as the Super Bowl itself, so gear up with a few halftime activities to keep the celebrations going until game’s end.
Kids can get pretty restless sitting through the entire game so why not suggest they prepare a halftime show for the adults. This will keep them busy during the first half of the game and provide memorable performances too. Keep that camcorder close by!
The Super Bowl is known for its great commercials, so why not turn the commercials into a fun activity for everyone? Check out the Website Spotbowl for this year’s line up of Super Bowl advertisers. Print out several cards with each advertiser’s name on it (how many cards you print out depends on the number of people attending your party). Randomly give everyone five commercial cards. Once their commercial airs, they lose the card. The first person out of cards wins a prize.
Super Bowl Fun Facts
- The first Super Bowl was held on January 15, 1967 at the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California when it was known as "
The NFL-AFL World Championship Game". It wasn't until 1969 that the name was finally shortened to "Super Bowl" by the media.
- In 2009, a 30-second commercial slot during Super Bowl XLIII cost advertisers a $3 million. Prices have dipped this year, but not by much. A 30-second slot during the game will still run $2.5 and $2.8 million! For some of the best Super Bowl commercials of all time CLICK HERE
- According to NFL.com, the last time both No. 1 seeds reached the Super Bowl was in 1993 when the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Buffalo Bills 30-13.