The Ultimate Super Bowl Party Guide: TopShelf Edition

With Super Bowl Sunday right around the corner, TopShelf Fantasy is here to help you prep for your party and make it one your guests will be raving about until next year! Let’s dive right in:

The obvious things you’ll need that should go without saying, but let’s say em anyways, are a TV, food, drinks, and as many guests as your house can fit! But let’s break those down a bit more in depth.

The TV:

Now obviously you want the biggest TV you can get your hands on, but nothing so big that it’s going to take over the room to the point it’s uncomfortable for your viewers. Despite what people may say, in this case, you can actually overdo it quite easily. You want the right size TV for your room, and a lot of those sizing guides can be found right online. But to put it in layman’s terms, for the newer 4K TV’s, you want your screen size to dictate the distance away you should be sitting from the screen. So for example, a 55 inch TV should allow viewers to sit at least 55 inches away. Anything closer and the viewing experience of your guests will be compromised. Err on the side of caution and give yourself some space as a buffer.

One other variable to consider is your local market. If your local hockey or basketball team has a game running simultaneously, or this year with the Olympics, you may want to be sure to have another (and decidedly smaller) television with that game on. It gives your guests a sense that you are accommodating to their needs to check in on their other event of choice, but it also sends the message that it’s truly much less important, and that’s why you have the tiny tv. Shoulda recorded it at home champ!

Now the much less thought of TV component… a television for the kids to watch (if applicable). Listen, this won’t apply if you and your friends are all childless and your SB party is more of a debaucherous rager, BUT if you’re getting a bit older (like the TSF Models) you and your friends likely have kids to account for, and the fun you are able to have will be dictated by the things you can distract them with. So having a separate TV setup for them, equipped with something they’ll enjoy when football eventually exhausts their attention spans, is going to be crucial for your successful evening. And I can guarantee your friends will thank you for thinking ahead.

The Food:

Nothing can make or break a Super Bowl party like the food. You want your guests well fed, and you want to offer options for every palate, while not being overly fancy/bougie to the point where people will find you pretentious. It’s a tightrope to be sure, but we’re here to help.

The Classics:

Wings, chips, veggie platter, a variety of dips (may I recommend beer cheese), buffalo chicken dip, charcuterie board, steak tips, grilled stuffed jalapeños

A Little Off The Cuff:

Air fryer mozzarella sticks (a child pleaser no doubt about it), sausage rolls (think pigs in a blanket, but better), pinwheel sandwich rolls (great because you can make them ahead), sliders (chicken and beef)

For The Truly Adventurous:

Sushi boat (order ahead, it’s too much work to do yourself unless you really enjoy it), lime-chicken quesadillas, any sort of smoked meat option (remember to prep this well ahead of time, you’ll want to be up and smoking likely by 5-6am to be ready for the game), bacon wrapped shrimp skewers

The Drinks:

You’re going to think a keg is the way to go, but from experience, it’s not worth it. Unless you’re going to go all out and have your event catered (and honestly even if you do), the keg is a common mistake for party planners. It seems like “oh great, I’ll have an unlimited supply of beer for my beer loving friends and it will be fantastic”. But in execution it never goes quite as smoothly. You’ll be looking at missed game time as people form a line at the keg, people who huddle around the keg and try to create small talk during live gameplay, or the ever popular “keg expert” who’s going to talk your dick off about “how when they tapped their last keg they did X, Y, and Z and it was sooooo much better”. Avoid the whole thing and just load up on bottles of the crowd favorites (Bud Light, Coors Light, etc….fuck wait no free ads), a couple hard seltzers for the non beer drinkers, and a hodgepodge of whatever hard liquor you have on hand, along with some mixers because your crowd pounding straight liquor for 3 hours is a recipe for disaster. If you’ve got wine drinkers in your crew, having a couple decent bottles on hand is always a nice touch.

You can also check out the recipes below for some Super Bowl gameday themed cocktails and either copy them directly or just use them for your own inspiration!

Touch Down Punch:

1 Liter of Sprite, 1 750ml bottle of Prosecco, 1 cup of vodka, 4 cups of seltzer water, 1/4 cup of Blue Curacao, 3 cups of ice, all in a punch bowl!

Beermosas aka Manmosas:

And a few more ideas I’ll just rattle off (you should be able to find these online, but if you need the recipe, reach out to me on Twitter @CoryDows and I will be happy to send it along with any suggestions I may have for tweaks to make a perfect cocktail!)

• The Big Game Shandy (tequila, lemonade, Mexican lager, and lime juice)
• First and ’22 (2oz gin, blood orange puree, lemon juice, simple syrup, Prosecco. Shake, strain, garnish with lemon wedge)
• OT Irish Coffee (Irish Whiskey, rich Demerara syrup, hot coffee, cardamom pods, heavy cream, white sugar, orange zest, orange bitters)
• Third and Long (Gin, Elderflower Liqueur…if you aren’t finding any reason to have elderflower liqueur you’re missing out… cucumber bitters)
• The Benchwarmer (Bourbon, apple cider, water, cinnamon sticks, cloves….NOT GARLIC CLOVES PLZ DON’T MESS THAT UP)
• Le Grand Fizz (Vodka, Elderflower, fresh lime wedges/juice, and chilled soda water)

Let me know how these all go for you guys, and if there’s any questions again please get at me on Twitter! And as always, enjoy the Super Bowl responsibly, but Stay Fluid, Stay Loose!