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Savology: Money Saving Ways to Have a Fabulous Super Bowl Party!

Updated on March 14, 2011

Money Saving Ways to Have a Great Party

Super Bowl Sunday is a big day in U.S. culture. Over $50 million is spent on food, beer and snacks for Super Bowl festivities. So if you are going to have a Super Bowl party, you might want some money saving tips on how to hosting a great Super Bowl party. Some people will cater food in, some people will serve ready made supermarket food, some people will make the food from scratch, and some will have their guests bring food to the event. What you choose to do depends on your party size, your budget, and your partying style. There are many ways to feed a football crowd, and many money saving ideas to make your party a success.  

According to a survey by Ask.com the most popular Super Bowl foods are :

  1. Chili
  2. Pizza
  3. Meatballs
  4. Salsa
  5. Ribs
  6. Spinach dip
  7. Wings
  8. Guacamole
  9. Quesadillas
  10. Artichoke dip

People Eat a Variety of Foods

Super Bowl Sunday is the 8th most common beer drinking day of the year. That translates to approximately 52,000,000 cases of beer are sold in and around the week of Super Bowl. Pizza is so popular on Super Bowl Sunday that Domino's Pizza expects to deliver about 250,000 pizza pies to homes across the U.S. each quarter of the game. According to Pizza Hut they “will sell enough pizzas to cover more than 50 football fields.” They expect to sell more than 2,000,000 pies nationwide on the day of the big game. Frozen Pizza is the number one seller in the supermarket for Super Bowl parties.
In another survey done by NPD, a marketing research firm that monitors the eating trends in the U.S. vegetables have become the most popular food eaten at Super Bowl parties.

According to NPD Group their surveys showed Super Bowl party revelers consume:
1. Vegetables 

2. Potatoes 

3. Carbonated Soft Drinks 

4. Total Salty Snacks 

5. Sandwiches 

6. Salads 

7. Chicken 

8. Milk 

9. Pizza 

10. Tea

Super Bowl Home Parties Surpass New Years Eve Parties

The Super Bowl is a gargantuan eating day.  Most people overeat and over drink. It turns into a non stop eating extravaganza and it looks like we need to try to cut calories and our costs on Super Bowl Sunday. If you are hosting a party, you probably need some money saving ideas on how to cut costs and still providing ways for your guests to feast on plenty of food.

Now that you are forewarned about how much food your guests will consume, you can see that you will need a lot of food at your party in order to make it a success. These numbers prove you absolutely need food at your celebration. Hopefully, these numbers will give you an idea of why your Super Bowl party can end up costing you more dollars than you may expect it to cost.Super Bowl is not the time to tell your guests you are putting them on a food restricted diet, so let’s look at some money saving ways  to curb your expenses, while still having plenty of food for your guests.    

Super Bowl is the number one home party celebration, making it even more popular than New Year’s Eve to invite people over to your house. You would think money savings would be easy to have a party at home, but it is an easy event to spend more than you expect to. Super Bowl is the second biggest food consumption day, with Thanksgiving being the first biggest day, but Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest snack food day of the year.

Super Bowl Sunday is One of the Biggest Food Consumption Days

Whichever survey you choose to go by, the most obvious facts are that people eat a lot of food on this special sports Sunday event.  Here are some more facts about food consumption:
  • nearly 11 million pounds of potato chips are eaten on the day of the Super Bowl
  • about 8 million pounds of  tortilla chips
  • about 8 million pounds of guacamole
  • almost 4 million pounds of popcorn
  • around 2.5 million pounds of nuts
  • approximately 2 million pounds of pretzels will be consumed


and on Super Bowl Monday
  • Antacids sales are 20 % greater than any other Monday


The average Super Bowl celebration has 17-18 people attending, who each will consume about 1200 calories during the game  Approximately $237,000,000 is spent on soda and soft drinks for the Super Bowl. Beer sales will increase by almost $12,000,000 on Super Bowl Sunday.  And party goers will consume about 30,000,000 pounds of snacks during game time. which is about 2 times the normal amount consumed in a day. This totals to approximately 130 million football party goers eating 156 billion calories in a 3 hour game time period.

Money Saving Ways to Have a Great Party

  • Another way to save yourself money is to assign different food items to your guests.  It is okay to ask some people to bring desserts, or bring a salad, or bring some appetizers.  Your guests are usually happy to participate in the party by bringing what will be helpful.
  • If you are making some of the food yourself, make whatever you can ahead of time, so that the day of the party is more enjoyable for you.  The less work you have the day of the big game, the more relaxed you will be.
  • Jello makes an inexpensive dessert, and keeps the kids busy. (not jello shots)
  • Save yourself money and keep wagers friendly.  Try not to bet, but if you do, keep the amount you bet small, or make it a non money wager.


It is a big world out there, with a large assortment of food choices. As you think about your party, it becomes tempting to serve a lot of food that may cause you to spend more than you need to. The best way to keep your Super Bowl party affordable is to serve simple foods that your guests can snack on. Your friends are really not looking for anything fancy. They will be happy as long as there is food there. You and your friends just want to share in the frivolity of the day. You don’t need to make the day more expensive by trying to impress your friends.  As you can see by the statistics of food consumption, Super Bowl is more about quantity than making it fancy.  Try to serve healthy foods, and make sure your guests have plenty of alcohol absorbing food to eat. You can tell your guests what you are serving and what beverages you will have, so that if they want something special for themselves, they can bring it to the party.  When you are looking at places to cut your costs, you can think about whether you really need to buy decorations at all. Think about if you really need to buy team decorated paper plates, or are plain white good enough.

There are Lots of Recipes You Can Make At Home

There is no doubt to keep your guests happy, you will have to have plenty of food. There are ways to have a great party and keep your costs down. Here are some practical and esy tips:

  • of course, if you are ordering pizza, look for coupons
  • if you are bringing food in and having it catered, you can negotiate withthe owner and ask what he can do for you, or look for selections that feed a lot of people for the least amount of money.
  • Buying food in bulk will save you money. From super sized bags of chips to frozen pizzas and appetizers that you heat up, you can feed a crowd for less money than if you order in platters and heroes.
  • Look to buy store brands, as opposed to the name brands of snacks. Hardly anyone will notice what brands you serve.
  • Try to watch for specials like buy one, get one free and of course, use coupons where you can.
  • Bottles of soda are more reasonable than cans of soda.
  • Make it a potluck party. You can supply the main dish and ask you guests to bring a dish or dessert they like.
  • Make it a BYOB (bring your own bottle or beer). If everyone brings their own alcohol, you can save money in a big way.
  • Depending on how many people you are having, you can use regular silverware and your dishes instead of paper and plastic silverware. You can also use paper and save the plastic ware to wash so it can be reused again.
  • Dollar stores have reasonable prices on decorations, party decorations and paper goods.
  • If you are buying the beer, and don’t have a favorite, look for what is on sale. Cans from the supermarket, are usually the cheapest, but you can check the keg prices from your beverage store to compare. A keg of beer may be cheaper depending on the size of your crowd and the amount of beer they drink. So you need to do your own calculations.
  • Do you really need a superbowl cake, or can you buy cupcakes and cookies, or even make these desserts yourself from a mix, or from scratch. Make the frosting in the team’s color and it is sure to be a success.
  • Making your own pasta dishes are simple, inexpensive and make for great party food
  • If you are a member of a wholesale club, these stores often have bulk and lower prices for snacks and frozen appetizers.
  • Layered nachos, beans, salsa, and cheese are a fun and easy way to occupy your guests.
  • Another filling, inexpensive, and occupying food to serve is a bread bowl. Cut out the center of a rounded loaf of sourdough or pumpernickel or other bread. Fill the center with spinach dip. With the pieces you to took out from the center, cut them up and place them around the outside of the bread. Your guests will dip the cut pieces of bread in the dip sitting inside the bread.
  • Sour cream and onion dip is a very easy and inexpensive dip you can make yourself. Super Bowl parties claim the title of second most popular occasion to serve guacamole. Cinco de Mayo is the most popular celebration. Guacamole can be expensive, so you may want to decide if you want to serve this for the crowd you are having.
  • Try to make the appetizers yourself. Wings are easy. If you have a fryer, you can place the wings in the fryer for about 20-25 minutes. When they are done, coat them with hot sauce. If the mixture is spicier than you like, you can cut the spice with melted butter mixed with the hot sauce. Serve them to the crowd and watch them enjoy. You can also bake the wings if you prefer. This is so easy to make, and no one will know how you did it, unless you show them this article.
  • Chili is another dish that is inexpensive, goes far, fills your guests up, and is very popular. Click here for my inexpensive vegetarian chili recipe and other superbowl recipes ideas

Be a Responsible Host

Having a successful Super Bowl party usually includes snack, appetizers, finger foods, a buffet and a selection of desserts.  Keeping the menu simple will help keep your costs down and there are more money saving ideas that you can implement.


Ask guests to bring the alcohol, and make whatever food you can from scratch. Have plenty of water available and make a crock pot full of apple cider to offer a warm beverage in addition to coffee and tea, so there is plenty of liquids to drink available at all times. Make sure your guests do not leave your party inebriated. Make sure someone else takes them home. As much as you are trying to cut your expenses, if your guest needs a ride home drive them yourself or pay for a cab. Money is only money, the safety of your friend and everyone else on the road is more important than any savings. Super Bowl Sunday is one of the most dangerous days on the road, following the game besides New Year’s Eve and St. Patrick’s Day. So have fun, feed your guests, save where you can, and most importantly be a responsible host. Take their keys and keep your friends and family off the road, for all of our sakes.

Make Your Party a Fun and Festive Occasion

These are just a few ideas on how to save, but if you use your imagination and creativity, you will surely find other ways to save on your Super Bowl party. According to the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association, approximately 32 million of us will be having a Super Bowl Sunday party. Hallmark says this day is the most popular party event of the year. Before you have the party, set up a budget.  There are always some costs you didn’t count on, like ice and napkins. Try to make your list as inclusive as possible to avoid unexpected monetary surprises.  If you need to have less people, because of what you can afford, then that may be a practical thing to do.  And potluck is perfectly acceptable for a Super Bowl party.  The day is meant to be casual and fun and easy for you and your guests. The whole trick to potluck is coordination to avoid too many of the same dishes or desserts.  If eveyone only brings dessert, you will have to order in and there goes, your budget, and you don’t want to invite people over, only to make them put more money in for pizza, when they already brought something.  So make sure you have an idea of what your guests are bringing, and make sure you have made a main dish or two yourself, so you know there is food to eat for your guests.

Go Team Go!

If you tend to have a rowdy group, put away breakable items so that you don’t have to spend unexpected money to replace anything broken. Keep white vinegar in your house to clean up any stains on carpeting and furniture as they happen. Vinegar is a great household cleaner, very inexpensive, and a good product for the environment.

Keep the day in perspective. Make sure your party is fun by making your home a welcome place for your guests to be. You will need plenty of food, and plenty of places for your guests to sit and watch the game, beyond that you don’t need to overextend your costs. You want to keep the day fun for you and your guests by keeping in mind money saving ways. Super Bowl Sunday is an American tradition that football fans and Super Bowl party goers look forward to each year. Make it a great day, and here’s to hoping your team wins! Go Team Go!

 Want to join the hoopla, but don't understand football ~ click here ~

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