The Super Bowl is known for four things – the game itself, the commercials, the halftime show, and the viewing parties. Your outdoor grilling station is the perfect place to host a Super Bowl party since it allows you to cook and socialize at the same time. Throwing a great Super Bowl party will take some planning, so it’s best to start in advance. Once you know how many people will be attending, you can begin the rest of the preparations, from the decor to the food.
Make Your Outdoor Grilling Station Into Party Central
Before you can host a Super Bowl party at your outdoor grilling station, you first need to decorate the area and plan the menu. You also might want to come up with a few games, just in case people linger after the Super Bowl ends – or in case some of your guests decide they no longer want to watch the big game. The space should be decorated with tasteful football-themed items. Rather than place banners over everything, consider making a centerpiece out of glass jars (fill them with tiny plastic footballs, helmets, and things with the NFL logo on them, or use real footballs – clean ones, of course. You could also serve a football cake at the end of the party. This could literally be a regular sheet cake with a field painted onto it and some goal posts stuck in either end. The trick is to make your decorations tasteful, yet slightly cheesy without veering into the tacky category. Too many decorations might overwhelm your outdoor grilling station. And don’t forget to pull your big screen television outdoors so that guests can watch the game. If you have the space, a wall mounted outdoor TV is a great addition, and you can find weatherproof enclosures for them, too!
Turn Your Patio Kitchen Sink Into A Bar
One of the best things about a custom outdoor grilling station is the fact that the sink can easily be turned into a bar if you don’t have one. Some come with additional basins that hold drink garnishes and ice, and you can even choose one that has built-in hoses and nozzles – great for dispensing soda water or even beer from a keg. With one of these patio kitchen sinks, you won’t have to run inside when guests are thirsty or rely on a cooler to keep beverages cold. If you’re looking for a way to make your party drinks even more fun, you can come up with themed cocktails based on the teams that will be playing. Other suggestions include using swizzle sticks with footballs on them and serving the drinks with NFL logoed napkins. Stock your outdoor grilling station sink area with plenty of glasses for various kinds of drinks and keep a few bottles of wine on hand. This way you’re completed prepared for every beverage request. You might even want to designate a friend to be the bartender that night or even hire someone. Otherwise, you’ll be the person running from the grill to the bar every time someone needs a refill.
Cook Everything In and Around Your Built In Barbecue
Having a built in barbecue means that you can cook while surrounded by your guests. You won’t be stuck in the kitchen while your guests are milling around the dining and family rooms. Since everyone will be in the same place, this leaves you with plenty of opportunities to socialize. No one will feel left out. Some suggestions of things to cook on your outdoor grilling station include gourmet hamburgers, ribs, or chicken wings – complete with a custom-made barbecue sauce. If you really want to make the party fun and adhere to the theme, you could use your outdoor barbecue to make meals based on the team’s home base. Find out what some of the specialty dishes are from those cities and create entire menus around them. If you’re going with the duel menu idea, you can use plastic document stands to hold the menus. Simply print out the options on a piece of paper – don’t forget the team logos – and place them in the holders. Then display the menus on the patio kitchen countertops and on your tables where your guests can clearly see them.
Serve Dinner From Your Outdoor Countertops
When all of the food is ready, move it from your outdoor grilling station onto serving platters. Arrange the platters buffet style on your outdoor countertops so that your guests can serve themselves. This is the easiest way to do things, as it allows your guests to come back for seconds if they want, or even snack throughout the game. Speaking of snacks, make sure to have plenty of appetizers on hand. They can be everything from the standard chips and dip, which are universal classics, to things like shrimp cocktail, stuffed artichokes, and mini sandwiches. There are many options to choose from, most of which you can make at your outdoor grilling station. Also, dessert was already mentioned – the cake – but you have other options here as well. If your patio kitchen includes a freezer, then feel free to stock up on several different flavors of ice cream and toppings. Your guests can make their own sundaes. This is an appropriate dessert, because… SuperBowl Sunday. (Bad pun.)
Conclusion
There are so many things that you can do with an outdoor grilling station. Hosting a Super Bowl party is just one of them. Keeping the party outdoors as much as possible had two advantages: the guests all remain in the same space, so they socialize amongst each other, and the mess is limited to the backyard. You won’t have to worry about finding empty cups and dirty plates in every room of your home.
Are you ready to create your own customized backyard kitchen? Our professional designers can help you come up with the best way to utilize your space and turn it into the backyard of your dreams.