Are you ready for football season? Is it your turn to host the party? Don’t fret. You can host a killer football party with these five easy steps!

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and The Coca-Cola Company. All opinions are mine alone. #FamilyPizzaCombo #CollectiveBias

I’m so glad you’re here! I’m going to teach you how to host a killer football party on a budget with five easy steps!

Not a football fan? No problem! These simple steps will make any party rock!

Five Easy Steps to a Killer Football Party:

1. Party Invitations:

First, you have to invite folks to your party, right? I’ve got you covered with free printable invitations! (download your free invitations here!)

Print these out on cardstock, fill in your party information, fold in half, stamp, and address them. No envelope needed!

Next, we’ll tackle the football party decorations!

What’s a football party without decorations? These could not be more simple!

2. Party Decorations:

Head to your local home improvement store for a green carpet area rug. This is the perfect base for your food table!

To decorate the background of your display area, make a simple party sign. Cut thin burlap into triangles to use as pennants, then cut card stock into squares. Creatively letter the word PARTY (or whatever you choose- maybe your team name) onto the card stock, then attach each piece to the pennant pieces. I did this with tape because I’d like to re-use the pennant pieces. They held up just fine for the length of our party.

The dollar store had cute football foam pieces that I used as well. Look around and you’ll find inexpensive sources for cute decorations!

Think outside of the box! I wasn’t able to find football confetti, so I purchased a package of football stickers and cut them apart to scatter.

To recycle and make a unique utensil holder, I made one out of a Coca-Cola 2 liter bottle!

Carefully cut the bottle in half. I found the easiest way to do this was to squeeze the bottle to create a flat area to cut with heavy-duty scissors. Then just cut around the bottle, cleaning up the edges.

Wrap the bottle with brown electrical tape, folding the tape inside of the container for a clean edge.

Cut some strips of white electrical tape to resemble a football.

Next up, the most important part of any party, the food!

 3. Party foods:

I wanted to make this an easy party to host, but obviously, wanted to serve yummy party food! My solution? Prep ahead the day before and use my slow cookers on party day!

Head to Sam’s Club and pick up the family combo pack! Like the other foods, I grab this combo the day before our party to save time. The combo includes a huge pizza (any variety, we like the three meat pizza), a batch of cheesy breadsticks, 6 chocolate chip cookies, and a 2 liter of Coca-Cola!

I ask the friendly cafe person to not cut our pizza. This way, I can slice it into pizza sticks before reheating the day of the party.

Since I turn the pizza into pizza sticks and the combo includes cheesy breadsticks, I make 3 different dipping sauces. I serve white queso dip, pizza sauce, and garlic butter sauce. Click on the links to grab the recipes for the first two sauces.

To make the garlic butter sauce, simply melt a stick of butter in a small saucepan over low heat, then add 3 tablespoons minced garlic, and 1 tablespoon dried parsley. Heat gently for a few minutes, taking care not to burn the garlic. Turn heat off and let cool.

Pour each of these sauces into wide mouth pint Mason jars, cover, and refrigerate until party day.

On party day, I pull out two slow cookers. One will hold the dipping sauces and the other will hold a tasty dessert!

Place the dip jars into one slow cooker, carefully add water about halfway up the side of the jar. Place the lid on the slow cooker, then turn to low (for 3-5 hours) or high (for 1-3 hours) to reheat and warm the sauces until serving.

4. Party Desserts:

Since it’s nearly fall, I’m craving apples. These Apple Pie Bites are so tasty, yet so easy to make!

Just peel and dice apples, mix in some sugar, cinnamon, and flour; then stuff a spoonful of this mixture into a biscuit. Brush with melted butter, top with cinnamon sugar, then bake. That’s it! Let cool thoroughly, then store in the refrigerator. {You’ll find the printable recipe at the end of this post}

 

The Apple Pie Bites are also served from a slow cooker.

Since you should not heat a slow cooker without liquid in it, cover the bottom of the slow cooker with about 1/2″ of water. Then bunch up aluminum foil to keep the bites out of the water.

I like to serve these with caramel sauce, so I pour the sauce into a wide-mouth half-pint jar and place that in the center of the slow cooker. The foil goes around the caramel jar. Place the lid on the slow cooker and turn to low (for 3-5 hours) or high (for 1-3 hours) to reheat and keep warm until serving.

5. Party refreshments:

Since the family meal combo comes with Coca-Cola, it’s fun to offer some flavoring choices to change it up a bit. I make homemade fruit syrups and freeze it into small ice cubes. This way, the soda doesn’t get watered down.

The remaining fruit syrups are poured into small pitchers so your guests can add more flavor as desired! Or you can use these cute mason jars with pumps to serve.

Our two favorites are cherry fruit syrup and triple berry fruit syrup (blueberry, strawberry, and raspberry.) You can mix and match flavors to suit your taste.

 

These Apple Pie Bites are perfect for parties, entertaining, or a quick dessert anytime!

 Need more party ideas? Here you go!

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