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The quintessential Super Bowl party checklist

As the National Football League gets ready for the Super Bowl, you can turn your attention toward preparing for your big Super Bowl party. And big it will be, as long as you get everything you need.

The best way to ensure you don’t forget anything? Make a checklist.

In this article: Amazon Basics Folding Chairs, Cosco Products Folding Table and Anapoliz Football Tablecloths.

The big game checklist

To throw a truly spectacular Super Bowl party, you need to secure a long list of items.

  • Food: The biggest thing that separates a bad Super Bowl party from a good one is the food. Among the most frequently served Super Bowl foods are burgers or sliders, cookies, brownies and other sweets, cheeses and crackers, chips and dips, nachos and pizza. Oh, and don’t forget the holy grail of big game food: chicken wings.
  • Cooking gear: What you need in this category depends on what you’re cooking. For example, you might want a slow cooker for serving meatballs or need multiple baking sheets for cooking many batches of chicken wings.
  • Serving plates and bowls: Once the wings come out of the oven or the hot dogs come off the grill, you’ve got to have a place to put them. If you care about presentation, you should also ensure that everything you put them on matches. You also need a healthy stack of paper plates so your guests can dish up.
  • Drinks: Most Super Bowl foods are salty enough to make a sailor blush. And what do salty sailors need to soothe their blushed faces? Beer, bottles of water and cans of soda. 
  • Ice chests: The average home doesn’t have nearly enough refrigerator space to keep all the drinks you and your guests are going to go through cold. A handful of ice chests, kept close to the food, solves this problem.
  • Extra chairs: Chances are your home doesn’t have the seating capacity to hold all your friends and relatives who are coming over. Considering most Super Bowl parties last for at least four hours, making sure you have enough chairs is almost as high a priority as keeping the beer cold.
  • Extra tables: While it’s possible for your guests to keep their plates on their laps and their drinks in their hands, it’s still preferable for them to have something solid and stable to set them on. Plus, it's good for keeping your carpet and furniture clean.
  • Games: Depending on your invite list and other party plans, you may not need games. If, however, your list includes friends bringing younger children or you plan on hosting in the hours before and after the game, some activities are a wise investment. Cornhole is a popular game that is fun for all ages.
  • Decorations: There’s no obvious answer as to whether a Super Bowl party needs decorations. Some hosts want as many as possible, while others are content to focus on the food and drinks. If you do want decorations, there are two popular ways to go: generic football decorations or decorations based on the two competing teams.
  • TVs: There are few events more worthy of buying a new TV for than a Super Bowl party. You could buy a huge new TV for your central watching space, or you could buy small, budget ones to put in various rooms so no one ever has to miss a play.

Best items on the Super Bowl checklist

Tyson Any’tizers Buffalo Bone-In Chicken Wings

Buffalo-style chicken wings are the default any time you need to serve a deluge of wings to hungry people. This 22-ounce bag contains enough wings to feed roughly five people.

Sold by Target

Instant Pot Instant Vortex Plus Air Fryer

The last thing anyone wants to think about as they eat their 15th chicken wing is how bad it is for their diet. You can help your guests out by using an air fryer to make it slightly less bad. 

Sold by Amazon, Best Buy, Kohl’s and Target

Stack Man Paper Plates

These plates are made of sugar-cane fibers, a biodegradable material. There are 125 plates included, and they come in 7-, 9- and 10-inch round or 10-inch sectional varieties. 

Sold by Amazon

La Croix Sparkling Water Variety Pack

This 18-pack of 12-fluid-ounce La Croix includes one can each of 18 flavors: hibiscus, Key lime, coconut, orange, peach-pear, tangerine, lime, mango, pamplemousse (grapefruit), pasteque (watermelon), black raspberry, passionfruit, berry, cherry blossom and rasp-cranberry.

Sold by Amazon

Coleman Ice Chest 316 Series

This ice chest has wheels so you can haul it where it needs to go while full, and it comes in 62-, 65- or 100-quart sizes. The 100-quart model can hold up to 160 12-fluid-ounce cans. 

Sold by Amazon and Dick’s Sporting Goods

Amazon Basics Folding Chairs

These chairs can hold up to 350 pounds and come in sets of two, four or six. They also come in black or white.

Sold by Amazon

Cosco Products Folding Table

This table measures 20 by 48 inches and is 28 inches high, which is perfect for holding your food buffet or for eating on. The legs fold flat for easy storage. 

Sold by Amazon

Triumph Sports Cornhole Set

This cornhole set includes two boards that measure 35 by 24 by 1.5 inches and eight bean bags (four each in the colors red and blue). 

Sold by Amazon

Anapoliz Football Tablecloths

This three-pack of disposable football-themed tablecloths is perfect for cutting your cleanup time. They measure 54 by 72 inches.

Sold by Amazon

Toshiba Class V35 Series Smart TV

This smart TV comes in 32- and 43-inch sizes. The 32-incher is perfect for stashing in a bedroom or in the kitchen, while the 43-incher is great for your living room or patio.

Sold by Best Buy

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Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.

BestReviews spends thousands of hours researching, analyzing, and testing products to recommend the best picks for most consumers.

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