Throw An Awesome Super Bowl Party On The Cheap With #RubbermaidSharpie #PMedia

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A few weeks ago we decided to have a Super Bowl party.  Of course we had high hopes that our Seattle Seahawks would go all the way — and they DID!  We are super excited for the big game.  I’ve been planning for the past few weeks and have come up with some fun and inexpensive ways to host a Super Bowl party by making your own decorations and some snacks.

I wanted to house to look festive so I got out a roll of shipping paper (the stuff you use to wrap and mail packages, $1 at Dollar Tree), and my Sharpie markers ($6.71 at Target).  I drew a triangle template on a piece of cardboard, then traced and cut out enough pieces to spell “Go Hawks”.  I used the Sharpie markers to draw on the letters.  I punched a hole in the top two corners of each one with a hole punch then strung them together with some yarn I had.  I hung it from our fireplace mantle but this would look cute on a wall too if you don’t have a fireplace.

I used the same idea to make these adorable 12th man pennants for cupcake decorations.  Cupcakes, by the way, are an excellent dessert choice because you can make 2 dozen for well under $5 which includes a box of cake mix and the ingredients to make your own buttercream frosting.  Plus, if you have a cupcake stand they double as a centerpiece!

One thing that’s important to me when throwing a party is being able to get things prepped and ready ahead of time.  There are always so many things to take care of that it’s really helpful if I can get some done the day before. I bought a 40 piece set of Rubbermaid TakeAlongs for only $8.99.  They have red lids but I’ll only be using the lids until I’m ready to set out the snacks.  I decided to try drawing the Seahawks logo on the containers and it worked pretty well!  I just printed out a logo, taped it to the inside the container then traced it on the outside and colored it in.

We’ll be making a crockpot full of chili, chips and dip, spiced nuts and some Seahawks cupcakes.  The rest will be potluck style.  Our must-have recipe for game day is the Spiced Nuts.  I made several batches trying to perfect the recipe last week and here’s what we finally settled on:

Spiced Nuts

2 Cups mixed nuts
2 T butter
1/4 Cup Light Brown Sugar
1 1/2 T water
3/4 Teaspoon Cayenne
1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 Teaspoon Ground Cumin
1 Teaspoon Salt

Directions

Mix the spices and sugar in a small bowl and set aside.  Toast the nuts in a dry skillet stirring frequently for about 4 minutes.  Be careful not to burn them!  Transfer the nuts to a bowl and set aside.  Add all of the other ingredients to the hot skillet and heat until a glaze forms.  Add the nuts and toss until coated and continue to cook 1-2 minutes.  Put the glazed nuts onto a baking sheet lined with foil and separate the nuts with a fork.  Let rest about 10 minutes until the sugar has hardened.  If the nuts are too sticky you can bake them for a few minutes or toss them with some sugar.  Store them in a Rubbermaid container with a lid.

Warning:  These nuts are addicting!

While nuts aren’t exactly frugal (we paid almost $16 for a Costco sized jar) you probably already have the rest of the ingredients on hand.  Nuts are a great snack. You could skip doing the meal and just serve the nuts and cupcakes plus the things your guests bring and you’d probably still have plenty of food.  People love making stuff and bringing it to football parties!  Do what you need to do to stick to your budget.

The Super Bowl is exciting enough, especially when your home team is playing but if you want to add some EXTRA fun to your party, try Super Bowl Squares.  I used a piece of poster board from Dollar Tree and the Sharpie Markers to color in some printable logos I found on Pinterest and to draw a grid with 100 squares.  To play, guests pay $1 per square and write their initials inside of the ones they want.  After all the squares are sold and before the game starts, draw numbers 0-9 for each team and write them next to the row/column.  So for Seattle, the first number drawn would go on top of the first square, the second number on top of the second square etc. This should be a random process.  Repeat for the Broncos side.  After the end of each quarter, the person who’s initials are in the square that corresponds with the score wins!  For example, if the score is 27-3 Seahawks, the person who’s initials are in row 3, column 7 would be the winner.  The second number of a double digit score is always used.

This game is a lot of fun, especially for those that aren’t really into football.  It creates a lot more interest in the game!

Here are a few more ways to save money on your Super Bowl party:

• Text the word COUPONS to TARGET (827438) to get the latest money saving coupons.  From January 25-February 8th you’ll find $1 off any Rubbermaid food storage and $1 off Sharpie 4 pack or larger.
• Watch for store deals/coupons.  This week our local Haggen sent us us some 3-day coupons in the mail which we used to get 4 bags of Tim’s Cascade Chips for $0.77 each, 1 lb bags of pretzels for $1 and a case of bottled water for FREE! Start picking up stuff now when you find a deal.

You know who I’ll be rooting for at the Super Bowl!  Are you with me?  Or are you a Broncos fan?  Do you have any money saving party planning tips to share?