Yahoo Finance 6 Tips to Plan a Fun and Cheap Super Bowl Party
The Big Game is coming up, and many people are thinking of hosting a party for their friends to watch the Patriots take on the Seahawks. However, such events often come with the implication of a big expense.
Here are six strategies for hosting a great Super Bowl party without throwing your budget out of bounds.
Don't set expectations. Expensive parties often happen because people feel that they've set high expectations for the event. Don't do that. Don't give any indication of any sort of expectation in the invitation. Just invite people to your party, and ask them to bring a little something (see below).
Provide cheap, but tasty, food and drink. Don't try to impress people with expensive wines; get some "Two Buck Chuck" Charles Shaw wines at Trader Joe's. Don't go overboard on expensive beers, either; just pick up a couple different kinds that are on sale.
Focus on inexpensive snacks, and serve them in bowls if you're concerned about the labels. My family usually just serves chips, a few dips and some simple finger foods. If you serve the snacks on trays, plates and bowls, people won't notice or even care what kinds you bought, so don't be afraid to buy generic snacks or ingredients. For inexpensive and easy-to-make ideas, check out this collection of party appetizers from Real Simple.
If you feel it's necessary to serve a meal, serve sandwiches, keeping in mind who your guests are and their potential dietary concerns. We usually just make two or three different kinds of sandwiches and store them in the refrigerator. For a warm option, fill up a slow cooker with a soup recipe -- you can make large amounts of minestrone soup, for example, for just a few dollars.
Make it a potluck party, and encourage everyone to bring a snack and a beverage. This is a great strategy for a low-key, fun party. Just encourage everyone to bring a snack and a drink, preferably enough to share with everyone.
One great strategy for handling this is to have a buffet table. Whenever more beverages or snacks come in, just add them to the table. Keep refrigerated items in the refrigerator, and bring them out when guests are ready to eat. This keeps food management and service to a minimum.
Invite a few close friends to come over early and help with prep work. I like to refer to this as the "pregame show." It's usually just an excuse to hang out with a few friends before more people arrive, and those close friends are usually happy to do whatever is needed to help set up, like move tables and chairs.
Usually, everything ends up ready to go well in advance of the game, so it provides a great opportunity to just hang out and chill with friends before the party really starts.
Stick with reusable party plates instead of paper ones. This strategy, of course, assumes that you're going to host multiple parties or more in the future. If that's the case, buy a stack of reusable plastic party plates and place those at the front of the food line instead of buying paper plates. Have people deposit their plates in the sink, and then run them through the dishwasher and put them back into storage when the party's over. It's far cheaper over the course of several parties than buying bundles of paper plates that just go right into the trash.
Buy a set of inexpensive plastic plates, so it's not a big deal if one of them gets damaged or broken. In fact, this is a great item to look for at yard sales.
Buy paper and crayons for the kids. Then, come up with some ideas for things the children can draw. Perhaps they can try to draw the Patriots' or Seahawks' logos. If the children are of elementary school age, you can have a timed contest. Give them 30 minutes to draw the best logo for each team, and the winner gets a small treat.
You may also want to print off some coloring pages, puzzles and simple games for them to play, like pages of "dot grid" or tick-tack-toe grids. These activities will entertain elementary-age children who don't enjoy watching football for hours (I speak from experience here with my own children).
At the same time, encourage adults who aren't interested in football to bring a board game or cards. Pull out a few card tables, and put them in another room for those guests. Most of our Super Bowl parties usually turn into card game and board game parties after a while anyway, especially if the game is a blowout.
A Super Bowl party doesn't have to be an expensive endeavor. Just make some simple choices, and everyone will relax and have a lot of fun!
Trent Hamm is the founder of the personal finance website TheSimpleDollar.com, which provides consumers with resources and tools to make informed financial decisions.
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