AM~Erica is Getting a Hang of this Super Bowl Thing

So anyway...

It all built up to last night. All of it. And many (OK...not all...I know) tuned in to watch how the whole thing would finish...

I even learned a couple things about the big event:

A. I learned it is now considered a[n unofficial] national holiday

2. It is the 2nd largest food consumption day only to Thanksgiving

You know what I'm talking about...amm-i-rite?

Yep...it would be the Super Bowl I'd be talkin' 'bout, y'all.

Last year, we were finally having a bit of a get together for it, after several years of either going elsewhere or just doing something small at home with hubby & kiddos. However, even though we had just a few extra people, I couldn't do a whole lot. (read about it HERE)

This year, we understood it would be different. We were heading to the house of some family, but after some crazy things that happened in between, we ended up back home with just hubby & me with the kiddos. It's how it goes. But we wanted to finally kick it up a bit!

Don't forget, we have teenagers. Have you seen the semi-hightened reality-based commercial for KFC where the parents hardly see the kids?

Any of you with teenagers now know this feeling? It's OK to raise your hands...you're in good company here.

It's because of this that my hubby still wanted to do something more for our Super Bowl...even if it was just us with the kids. That...and I've rubbed off on him. (read HERE how I love celebrating everything)

We made plans! But to do what we thought about, we would have to DVR the game & festivities, then just be about 30 minutes to an hour behind. See...Teen Girl had a commitment with the Coterie Theater (reminder on what that's about HERE), and they actually scheduled a playwrights' meeting overlapping the start of the Super Bowl! *sigh* But that wasn't as big of a deal since we were just having our own family living under the same roof...so we didn't have to worry about timing with others.

We planned the food out: barbecue wings, barbecue meatballs, chips, cinnamon soft pretzels, meat & cheese tray, grapes, cookies, candy fruit slices, and M&M's to fill our bellies while the game was going. Yum-my! Amm-i-rite? (trust me...I'm right)

OK...pretzels aren't pictured...but this is the spread on a card table we brought into the living room

Then, hubby & I searched for games & found some to keep the kiddos engaged in the whole experience!

Hubby found a commercial bingo online to be able to print out to play. That was so fun to keep up with as we tried to enjoy the commercials. (our feelings on leaked commercials HERE)

We did the end-of-quarter score grid. That was so fun watching the kids trying to root for the score change in their favor (because we weren't really rooting for a team...there was just one team wanted to win way more than the other).

We also did an ongoing "raffle": the chances were for the drawing depended on what happened throughout the game, commercials & halftime. At the end of the game, one of the "tickets" (slips of paper with the scavenger game item) was drawn & the one who had that item happen got the big prize! I saw it called the Super Bowl Fish Bowl game...but we don't have a fish bowl, so we used a bag. A large bowl would work just as well...

"Fish Bowl (in a bag)" game, End of Quarter Score Grid game & Commercial Bingo

End of Quarter Score Grid game...the final results

We did prizes for these things, too!

Movie candy - EOQ grid prizes; cup & water bottle - bingo prizes; sherpa throw - end of the game raffle draw

No matter what was happening on the screen...the whole family was into it! Yelling at the screen & eating like crazy!

We figured out that...
...we don't need no stinking party!

We just needed to get the stuff together to get everyone in the room involved! Not just involved...but totally interacting...with each other!! Even the teenagers!

It happened, people. And it was awesome!

Even when Lil Guy got up, he was talking about how much fun we had last night! SCORE!

Here was a total blow out of a game...and we had so much to look for, that we had the greatest time!

Next year...whether we have additional peeps over or not, we know how to have to party! And...we need to stock up on more prizes...we needed more last night!

If I can figure out how to get the templates we used for the score grid & fish bowl ticket items, then I'll put it up & update you.

See? I'm FINALLY getting this Super Bowl celebrating thing down! I should dump Gatorade on my hubby for most of these ideas...

Until then, keep celebrating you all!

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica