Super Bowl Bash Dallas TX

To wow the guests at your Super Bowl bash, use a piece of Astroturf instead of a tablecloth on your buffet or table. Then use white adhesive tape to mark off the “yards.”

That’s one of many tips from Libby Langdon, commentator on HGTV’s “Small Space, Big Style” for throwing a football-themed party that everyone will be talking about long after the final touchdown.

Langdon also suggests:

- Cover dining chair backs with sports jerseys.

- Move all your televisions into the main party room, for a lively sports bar feel.

- Line clean football helmets with napkins and use them as bowls for chips or popcorn.

- Decorate your buffet table with old sports trophies.

- Put a small television on the buffet table so nobody misses a minute of the game.

- Incorporate football trading cards into your centerpiece, or use as napkin rings.

- Buy plain neoprene beer “huggies” and put each guests name on one. They can use them at the party then take them home as a party favor.

- Encourage guests to wear their favorite team colors.

- Serve foods that can be prepped ahead and left untended. For example, make a taco bar with beef, chicken, vegetables and fixings.

- Or make a chili bar, with a pot of chili and all sorts of toppings, including chopped bell pepper, onion, cheese and sour cream.

- Turn a set of football shoulder pads upside down, line with napkins, and fill with chocolate chip cookies.

- Bake a bunch of cupcakes and decorate them with football trading cards, tiny footballs or just tint the icing the team colors.

- For dieters, have popcorn instead of chips, and pita bread and hummus instead of cheese and crackers.

- For those who want to go to the Super Bowl party but not watch the game: Rent a great football movie (”Jerry Maguire,” “Remember the Titans,” “North Dallas Forty”) and set up another room in your home (away from the Super Bowl fans).

- For women who only want to watch the Super Bowl commercials: Make some festive cocktails and appetizers and have a manicurist/pedicurist come in and give everyone the royal treatment in the privacy of your home. This way you’re having fun but you can turn up the TV when the commercials come on so you’ll be in-the-know Monday at the water cooler.

Before “Small Space Big Style,” Langdon was host of the FOX makeover show, “Design Invasion.” Her next project is an HGTV show, “The Design Club,” in which she’ll share cheap and chic design tips.

Reach Repository Food Writer Saimi Bergmann at (330) 580-8493 or e-mail saimi.bergmann@cantonrep.com