Throwing the Big Game Party

Throwing the Big Game Party

It’s that time of year again. Super Bowl LX will be played on Sunday, February 8, 2026, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, home of the San Francisco 49ers. The championship game will feature the Seattle Seahawks against the New England Patriots. The event will be broadcast on NBC, Peacock, Telemundo, and Universo. 

The Super Bowl has become a great opportunity to have an event at one’s home or church, and to spend quality time with friends and family. If you are considering hosting a Super Bowl party, or even an Olympic party, and would like some ideas, you’ve come to the right place.

Probably the first consideration when it comes to hosting (maybe second after the biggest screen TV available) the big game is the food. Perhaps you don’t want to serve up just the cliche pizza or chicken wings; or maybe you want to give your guests something homemade; or there may be dietary restrictions among your group. Here are some quick and easy menu ideas to consider:

Ohio Shredded Chicken Sandwiches

• 3 lbs of cooked, shredded boneless, skinless chicken breasts 
• Condensed cream of chicken soup 
• Ritz crackers – These will be crushed and used to help thicken the sandwich mixture.
• Spices – Add a little dried parsley, garlic powder, kosher salt, and black pepper.
• Enough chicken stock so the mixture is very moist but not runny
• Buns 

Add everything except the buns to a pot and cook on medium for about 30 minutes

Serve on buns

Added pickles are nice

The slow cooker method is the method used by most shredded chicken enthusiasts.

1. Add your uncooked chicken breast to a slow cooker.
2. Top with undiluted cream of chicken soup.
3. Cover and let cook on low for 4 hours.
4. Shred the chicken once fully cooked.
5. Add crushed crackers and spices to the mix and let heat for another 20-30 minutes to warm and thicken. You can thin the mixture out with chicken stock if it is too thick.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

• 3-4 cups cooked and shredded chicken
• Full fat block cream cheese
• Ranch or bleu cheese dressing
• Hot sauce
• Garlic powder
• Green onions or chives
• Shredded cheddar cheese
• Shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Cook and shred the chicken.
2. Preheat your oven to 350F and spray a 9×9 inch casserole with non-stick cooking spray.
3. Make your creamy buffalo ranch sauce.
4. Combine and bake

After your chicken has been cooked and shredded, heat the cream cheese, ranch or bleu cheese dressing, hot sauce, black pepper, and garlic powder in a small pot over medium-low heat. Whisk constantly until combined and creamy, then remove from heat.

Stir in the green onion, shredded chicken, one cup of the shredded cheddar cheese, and one cup of the shredded mozzarella cheese. Transfer the mixture to a baking pan and sprinkle with the remaining shredded cheese.

Transfer to the oven and bake until golden and bubbly.

Can be stored in the refrigerator until it’s time for the big game.

Serve your version of this great dip with:

• Crackers, tortilla chips, pretzels
• Veggies like celery sticks and carrot sticks. Sweet mini peppers are also great and are fantastic at scooping
• Pita bread or sliced baguette

Chicken Casserole

1 large can of cream of chicken soup

1 16 oz. container of sour cream

3 cooked and shredded chicken breasts or canned chicken

1 1/2 sleeves of Ritz crackers

½ stick butter

Poppy seeds

Cooked  egg noodles

• Abundantly grease a casserole or baking dish
• Line the bottom of the dish with cooked  noodles (rice works as a good substitute)
• Mix chicken, soup, sour cream, and one sleeve of crumbled crackers and pour evenly over the noodles
• Crush the rest of the crackers and sprinkle over the top
• Drizzle with melted butter
• Bake in the oven on 350F for about 30 minutes or until the edges brown and bubble
• Garnish with poppy seeds and/or shredded parmesan cheese

Chili

5 lb cooked ground beef (or combine with ground turkey and/or ground pork)

1 large can of tomato sauce

1 large can original Rotel 

Chili beans (your taste of type and amount, or leave out entirely)

1 large chopped onion

2 tbsp olive oil

• Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and brown the ground meat
• Remove meat to drain the grease and add chopped onion to the skillet to brown
• Move meat and onions to a soup pot and add the remaining ingredients, then simmer for 30-40 minutes
• Serve with chopped chives, shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips, crackers

Good ol’ Rotel Dip

1 block of Velveeta regular or queso cheese, melted in the microwave

1 can of original Rotel not drained

A splash of milk

1 lb. browned and drained ground beef or sausage (if desired)

Mix it all together and keep it warm in a crockpot

Serve with Scoops or tortilla chips

If it’s too thick, add a little more milk and stir

Cheddar and Bleu Cheese ball

1 block cream cheese

½ cup blue cheese crumbles

½ cup shredded cheddar cheese

¼ cup minced onion

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Parsley flakes (for looks)

Chopped nuts

Put everything in a bowl except the nuts. Get your hands in there and mix all ingredients well, then roll into a ball. (It will be sticky and soft.) Roll the ball in chopped walnuts to crust it. Refrigerate for at least an hour. Serve with an assortment of crackers.

Swiss Cheese Ball

1 block of cream cheese

2 cups of shredded Swiss cheese

½ cup minced onion

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Coarse ground black pepper

Put everything in a bowl except the black pepper. Get your hands in there and mix all ingredients well, then roll into a ball. (It will be sticky and soft.) Roll the ball in the black pepper to crust it (chopped nuts work if all that pepper scares you). Refrigerate for at least an hour. Serve with an assortment of crackers.

Ham and Cheese Ball 

1 block of cream cheese

1.25 can of deviled ham

½ cup of shredded cheddar or Swiss cheese

¼ cup of chopped onion

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Coarse black pepper

Put everything in a bowl except the black pepper. Get your hands in there and mix all ingredients well, then roll into a ball. (It will be sticky and soft.) Roll the ball in the black pepper to crust it (chopped nuts work if all that pepper scares you). Refrigerate for at least an hour. Serve with an assortment of crackers.

Cookies Decorated in Team Colors

Cookies are a great grab and go dessert. You can bake plain cookies from scratch, buy some at the bakery, or home-bake from canned dough. The important thing here is to color your frosting (could be homemade or white canned frosting) in your team’s colors. Add sprinkles or other decorations, if you like.

Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup Crisco

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

3 1/2 cup flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

• Cream the sugar, butter, and Crisco together
• Mix in the eggs and vanilla
• Sift together flour, soda, and cream of tartar and add to the wet ingredients
• Use hands to knead into a dough ball, then roll out to about 1/2 inch thick
• Cut with cookie cutters into desired shapes (footballs, mascots, or just circles are nice)
• Place on greased cookie sheet
• Bake at 425F for 6-8 minutes
• Cool and decorate

Put any or all of the above out for your guests with a nice tray of fruit and vegetables and favorite beverages. 

Miscellaneous

Who likes to do dishes after you have celebrated the big game??? If your answer is an emphatic, “Not I,” buy disposable plates, cups, and utensils in your team’s colors. Table clothes and napkins and other decorations can be football themed. The less work, the more fun!

You know who you are inviting, but you may not know them well enough to know if they have food allergies or sensitivities. That is important information to have, especially if young children are involved. This is particularly a concern with nuts and dairy. Be sure to have enough alternative selections available if you have a guest who is gluten-free or has an allergy. Also, if an ingrediant of interest is involved in some of your offerings, point it out to the person with the special dietary considerations.

It may be hard to imagine, but some people really  don’t like football, but we love them, so we invite them anyway; and they love us, so they come. Hmmmm, yes. Have a quiet space available for guests who would rather have conversation than watch the ballgame. Actually, if you know there is one, you might want to make an effort to invite at least two so they have someone to talk to.

If there are children coming, it may be a plus to have a sitter assigned to entertain them in a designated area of the house. They might have games set up for them in that space, video or board games, depending on ages. Decorating the above sugar cookies is a fun activity for them. Be sure they also have a designated place to eat, if separate from the adults, to avoid food being spread throughout the house.

Bowls of individually-wrapped chocolates, nuts, M & Ms, pretzels, popcorn, etc., might be placed on tables around the TV or conversation areas. 

If you’re really into this, you might offer prizes–$5.00-$10.00 gift cards to a local coffee shop or fast food restaurant or a bottle of wine–for the most creative fan outfit or the winner of a game of team statistics, or the first one to give the names and positions of the starters. You can even create your own team trivia game.

Have alternate entertainment to offer at half time. Just sayin …

Listen! This is important. Make sure you have enough toilet paper. (I may or may not speak from experience). 

Although beer is traditional for anyone who drinks alcohol, it is fun to have a few bottles of champagne (or sparkling cider) to toast your team before and (hopefully) celebrate a win after the big game.

That, my dear ones, is a big game party!

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever” (1 Corinthians 9:24-25).

God bless you and grant you much happiness as you spend time with family and friends.