A Play-By-Play Guide to Game-Day Entertaining

Whether your favorite team is playing (#InItToWinIt) or you're just watching for the commercials, be prepared to host a game-day get-together your guests will cheer about. Check out these three foolproof ideas for your entertaining playbook.

1. Up Your Drink Game With a Beer Tasting Station

Ditch the cooler of macrobrews and opt for a craft beer tasting station instead! 

Equip your station with these touchdown dance-inducing components:

• Cups: Provide enough tasting cups for everyone to try each of the brews you're offering. 
• Beer:  Supply enough beer to last the whole party. Allow for two beverages per person in the first hour and then one per hour after that.
• Snacks: Popcorn, chips, pretzels—the perfect salty match for hoppy brews.

Tip!  Pick four different types of beer (stout, ale, lager, etc.) so everyone—even a novice beer drinker—can taste the difference. Cover the table with butcher paper and label each.

2. Serve Tackle-Worthy Food

Be an MVP host—and please a picky crowd—with a build-your-own panini station. Here's how:

• Arrange your starting lineup: Lay out your buffet table in the order you would build a sandwich: beginning with the bread (and plates) on one side and ending with the panini press on the other.
• Draw the play-by-play: Arrange a selection of deli meats on a slate board. You can use chalk to write the name of each cold cut right on the board.
• Bring in the backup: On a lazy Susan, set out cheese and veggies. Don't forget condiment bowls full of sauces (mayo, pesto, aioli, etc.).
• Cover the end zone: At the end of the table, pair the panini press with a stack of napkins.

Tip! Protect your turf. For a fun nod to the occasion, lay down green butcher paper and create yard marker lines with white masking tape.

Take your pizza (and your party) to the next level by incorporating classic game-day food favorites! Use tried and true crowd-pleasers (buffalo wings, chili, cheeseburgers, sausage, and peppers), layer them onto a pizza and simply grill on a pizza stone or directly over open flames. 

Helpful hints to grilling the perfect pizza:

• If you're cooking directly on the grill, make sure the grates are cleaned before starting.
• Dust your prep area, pizza stone, and pizza peel with coarse cornmeal to help the pizza slide on and off the pizza stone without stretching or ripping.
• If you're making pizza dough from scratch, roll out the dough at home first to save time, then put it between two pieces of plastic wrap and roll it up. It's easy to transport and you can easily unroll it! Prep and pre-cook all pizza toppings ahead of time.
• If you've chosen to use a pizza stone, place the stone on the grill and let it slowly warm up to avoid cracking.

Tip! Play defense! Avoid food ending up on the floor by offering friends folding trays.

3. Create a Dessert Dome and Root Beer Floats

No party is complete without a sweets table! Sure, football-shaped cookies are cute, but a field of marshmallow treats, surrounded by stands of cupcake fans, accompanied with root beer floats? That's a winning play.

How to recreate our dessert dome:

1) Make marshmallow treats as you normally would, adding green food coloring to the mixture.

2) Once the "field" has cooled, add line markers with white icing. You can transfer it to a prettier tray like we did, or leave it in the baking tin.

3) Bake your favorite cupcake recipe, and ice the cupcakes in the colors of each team.

4) Set up the dome by letting the field take center stage and lining up the tiered stadium seating filled with VIP cupcake fans.

Although we dreamed up this root beer float stand for the kids, adults won't be able to stay away from this nostalgic treat either. At halftime, serve floats in handled mason jars. No kids around? For an adult twist, substitute chocolate stout for root beer.

Tip! Purchase a few sheets of adhesive foam to make mini #1 fan finger drink markers. Adhere the foam fingers to straws by gently pressing adhesive foam pieces together and hand them out with the root beer floats to create the perfect sideline treat.

Get the Look