SuperBowl Party 2015

With 6 boys in our house, we watch a LOT of football.  So for us, the SuperBowl is a BIG deal.  Of course, this year, we didn't love either team - but since we strongly DISLIKE the Seahawks, we were cheering for the Patriots.   

Of course, what would a party be without FOOD - and we had a LOT of yummy food.  

Here are some of the appetizers:

Can't remember what these are called (my mom made them)

Buffalo wings

Hot spinach and artichoke dip

Another appetizer made by my mom

We had a HOT DOG BAR complete with polish dogs, hot dogs, corn dogs and ALL the toppings.

We also had a NACHO BAR - huge hit!

Salads, chips. . .

Big pretzels

Ed didn't think our TV was big enough, so he bought a new, bigger TV just in time for the SuperBowl.  So, since we still had the old one, he set both up for everyone to watch.

Every SuperBowl, I do a raffle.  This year I did 2 - one for the adults and one for the kids.  The adults each got to pick a square.  Then at the end of each quarter, we added the two teams scores together and the person closest, without going over, won a prize.  

1st Quarter: Chips, salsa, and queso

2nd Quarter: Football 

Then at half time, I let all the adults select another square.

3rd Quarter: Little Caesars gift card and a 2-liter

4th Quarter: $25 gift card to Outback and Dove Dark (dinner and dessert)

For the kids Raffle, the each got 3 squares.  Then every 5 minutes according to the game clock, we picked a random number and that kid got a candy bar.  The kids loved it!  At the end, we made sure every kid got a candy bar.

During most of the game, the kids played outside - what a CRAZY not cold winter we had.

I did take a few pictures of everyone watching the game.  LOTS of our friends were out of town but it was still a fun night - but they were missed.

My favorite part is DESSERT!

This year, I made just a couple different, tried and true desserts.

Salted Carmel Brownies

Chocolate and Yellow cupcakes (have to have yellow ones since Cameron HATES chocolate)

Oreo Rice Krispy Treats

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Best Big Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

The twins LOVE cupcakes!

Can you tell which kind Kesley likes?  She is a girl after my own heart.

Thanks to everyone that came and thanks for bringing YUMMY food!

Angry Birds Blue and Gold Banquet

Every year in February, we celebrate Cub Scouting's birthday with the Blue & Gold Banquet.  This year I decided that our theme would be Angry Birds - fun for the boys, lots of bright colors, and Angry Birds are RESOURCEFUL (the theme for the month).  I think it turned out to be a really fun night - and pretty simple to put together.

Some of what I write will be for me to reference next year.

The set-up:
We set up 13 round tables and 3 long tables (at the end of the cultural hall).  That gave us about 120 seats which was perfect.  We put red table cloths on all the tables with a piece of bright green and white chevron wrapping paper in the center.  We had a BAD PIGGY bag on the center of each table with 3 Angry Bird balloons (red, yellow, and blue) sticking out of the bags (I got the balloon sticks at Hobby Lobby and taped the sticks to mason jars).  We also had 6 different Angry Bird coloring pages (found online) and crayons at each table (gotta have something for little kiddos to do).  At the end of the room, we had HUGE square Angry Birds.  We just "wrapped" the funny boards that are on the walls with butcher paper and put the corresponding Angry Bird face on them (same as from the balloons).  Most everything was purchased at Zurchers - balloons, table cloths, green bags, butcher paper, etc.

 I wanted a BAG PIGGY on the wall but I didn't have the right color of butcher paper, so at the last minute I bought a "round" table cloth from Partyland (not happy it wasn't really round but I didn't have the time to get a different one).  I put that up behind the food table.  And since the main dish was a BAD PIGGY bar (hot dog bar), I thought it was perfect!  And so so easy and cheap!

 I think the tables turned out cute!  There are also small Costco water bottles at each seat with different Angry Bird and Pig faces on them (not enough money in the budget for different colored Gatorade).

 This was the beginning of the food line - Gavin let me borrow his stuffed Angry Bird - and the cool wooden table is one of 4 that Ed made years ago for an Angry Bird birthday party I threw for one of my kids - I think Gavin.

 Here is a close up of what was on each table.

 Here are the big square Angry Birds - I think they made all the difference in the world.  LOVE them!  And so simple and cheap!

We had 3 different Angry Bird activities for all the kids to do.  Here they are:

1.  Play Angry Birds:  Dallin (all by himself) made me this AWESOME catapult.  The kids could launch the stuffed Angry Birds we had at boxes that were set up in the hallway.  So fun!

2.  Make your own Angry Birds:  Melissa did a great job with this.  She had everything ready for the kids to make their own Angry Birds out of yarn.  So cute - the kids loved it!

3. Make a MARSHMALLOW CATAPULT:  these were AWESOME and easy enough for my twins (5 years old) to make by themselves.  For each one you need:

• 7 wooden skewers (bought at Wal-mart in a pack of 100 for I think $1, maybe $3)
• 4 large marshmallows - dry them out for 2 days beforehand - works much better
• one plastic spoon taped to one of the skewers
• one rubber band
• mini-marshmallows to shoot (dry them out as well - they will go further and not make a mess)

 4.  PEG the PIGS: we had BAD PIGGY targets set up for the kids to launch mini-marshmallows at with their catapults.  SO MUCH FUN!!!!!

 Brecken wanted to help so he was "manning" the PEG the PIG station.

 The boys didn't want to wait for the table so they set up wherever they could find a spot.

 Even Cameron and Kesley could make them - and they LOVED it!

Here are some pictures from the party.

 These are the Matheny's - they are FABULOUS!  Wish I had a picture of Kelly and Lindsey - they helped me and Melissa set everything up and then they came over at the last minute and helped me finish decorate the Angry Bird cupcakes (see further down).  They are the BEST!

 Here are the cupcakes!  LOVE them!  I tried to find a different, less time consuming dessert to make since I would be setting up the whole morning, but I couldn't.  So I baked the cupcakes the night before and decorated them that afternoon - and then called in back-up to help me.  Thanks again Kelly and Lindsey!

• The noses for the pigs are green gumballs (a couple we just used frosting because we ran out of gumballs)
• Noses for the birds are gummy orange slices cut into triangles
• Eyes are mini-marshmallows with a dot of black frosting
• Eye brows are cut up black licorice
• Tummy on red birds is big marshmallows cut in half
• Eat cupcake was frosting with frosting tinted it's color and then dipped in matching colored jimmies or sprinkles (depending on what I could find at the store)
• Teeth on pigs are tic tacs

 I did also make BIRD SEED POPS - they are really just Rice Krispy treats made out of Fruity Pebbles cereal instead of Rice Krispies.  They kids LOVED them!

 Such a fun night!  I hope everyone had a GREAT time!