Have a Ball This Super Bowl Sunday
Go team! Even if your watch party is small or on Zoom, there are games and other activities to get even the most casual fan involved and engaged.
For many Americans, Super Bowl Sunday isn’t about defensive strategy, how the quarterbacks throw or the tantalizing prospect of your favorite team winning a championship ring.
It’s about the parties. Snacks and games and shouts and large gatherings around big televisions where everyone is having fun, even if only a handful are truly focusing on the big game.
But thanks to the pandemic, everything this year is different, including pro football. To start, the game on Feb. 7 between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs will have only 22,000 in-person spectators, roughly 30 percent capacity of Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. Fans will be given hand sanitizer and masks. Rah.
And at home, the watch parties will be different, too. Your celebrations of years past might have included jockeying around a coffee table full of appetizers with new friends; this year might consist of jockeying around a coffee table full of appetizers with the people you live with. (Yes, the jockeying may be more extreme.)
Here are a few games, activities and other suggestions to liven up your game day.
Party Prep
Know your partygoers.
Good party planners know their audience. And you’ve undoubtedly spent an ungodly amount of time with your quarantine audience.
Does your Super Bowl watch party include kids under 8? Or a 65-year-old unimpressed by football? They will surely need different things to stay engaged. The children could be interested in creating decorations, the 65-year-old in your pod could be more interested in playing bartender. Both, however, could get equally into paper football — you can easily find instructions easily online.
Have a Ball This Super Bowl Sunday
Check in with yourself, too. It’s OK to admit that even the most rabid football fans among us may be feeling awfully meh about the game this year.
Decorate and dress up.
Make Super Bowl Sunday an excuse to decorate your living room. Start with the colors of each team (red and gold for the Chiefs; pewter, red and orange for the Buccaneers) or by drawing football illustrations and hanging them around the house.
Then get dressed up. What would you wear to a Super Bowl party? The colors of the team you’re rooting for? Your favorite jersey? Put on your Sunday best, or if you are on the East Coast, follow the kids’ lead by donning pajamas. (The Super Bowl does run past bedtime, after all.)
Get the vittles ready.
Everyone can agree on the real star of the show: Snacks.
For ideas on how to downsize your party menu this year, check out the recipes on the left side of this page.
After you have the basics covered, you can get everyone involved (at home and on Zoom) ahead of kickoff by sprucing up the food lineup with an “Iron Chef”-like challenge: Everyone should create a unique appetizer in 30 minutes or less.
Start with a few items that scream Super Bowl — perhaps pulled pork, chips, or hummus. Then add a few wild-card ingredients to the mix, be it a new spice, vegetable or cheese. Participants can select one that they must use in their dish. Set a timer and start your engines. (Remember, the game starts at 6:30 p.m. Eastern, so plan ahead.)
