You love sports, and you want to show your team spirit. You also don’t want to spend an arm and a leg on game day food, drinks, or decorations. So what can you do? Throw a party at home! Here are some ideas for how to put together the perfect game-day gathering for friends and family at your house.
Plan
Decide when is the best time of year for you to host this event. Check the weather forecast before finalizing your decision so that guests will be comfortable in their clothes all day long. Pick out any decorations, food items, games, etc., that need to be purchased beforehand so they’re ready when it’s time (unless someone else is responsible for bringing them). Make sure to think about your sink sizes and where you could put ice and drinks to keep cold. Make sure everyone knows what to wear and bring with them beforehand as well. This way, no one has to worry about forgetting anything at home or not being appropriately dressed if they decide last minute to come over.
Food and Drinks
One of the most important parts of hosting a game-day party is having plenty of food and drinks available for your guests. To save money, you can choose to prepare most of the food yourself rather than purchasing items at a restaurant. For drinks, have water available for everyone to drink with their meal and then offer soft drinks or alcoholic beverages appropriate for your crowd if they want them. You may also wish to purchase some non-alcoholic pre-mixed cocktails.
Games and Activities
If you have a large enough living room or family area, setting up various board games can be one of the best ways to keep people entertained. Others could include:
• Setting up inflatable pools filled with ice water. Fill up several bowls full of different snacks like chips, pretzels, beef jerky, etc., so that anyone who doesn’t want to jump into an ice-cold pool can enjoy them instead. This is also an excellent way for people to clean off if they get too sweaty or dirty during the game! Also, provide different cooling water in between the games—outdoors of course.
• If you have a small washroom with smaller sink sizes, one of the most popular game-day activities could be hosting an outdoor water balloon fight. You can have the balloons already filled up and ready to go. You could also ask and make sure everyone brings their balloons.
• If you have a larger washroom with multiple stalls, this is another excellent place for guests to get changed into more comfortable clothes. You can also serve drinks and snacks in there, so people don’t have to leave it when they’re thirsty or hungry throughout your game day. Remember not to block any of the sinks, though, because otherwise, they’ll start overflowing with all of the dishes you left behind once everyone leaves. That would be no fun at all. Not only will inviting friends over give them plenty of opportunities to show off their team spirit, but it’s also an excellent excuse for some friendly competition! It doesn’t matter who wins either way since everyone should go home happy.
Make It a Potluck
One way to cut down on costs for your guests is having them bring some of their food and drinks. This works best if you only provide the bare party essentials like forks, plates, napkins, etc. Your friends can help with these as well.
Stations
If you have a larger living room or family area, setting up different stations throughout the space can be another way to keep people entertained. For example, one station can be a snack table with all your favorite game-day treats like chips and salsa, pretzels, etc. Another could be the drink station, including water bottles for everyone to drink from along with alcoholic drinks.
Bring in the Pros
If you know of any local teams or players, see if they’re willing to come by and meet with your guests. This will help them feel like part of something bigger while showing off their talents.
Perhaps even get a game going between two different houses/families (make sure everyone knows it’s only for fun though).
Make sure all party essentials are covered before anyone arrives so that no one has to worry about bringing anything extra with them on top of what you’ve already supplied. Also, be sure to have plenty of trash bags and garbage cans available for guests throughout the day since that’s always a party-ruiner. Have fun and enjoy the game!
