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Football season is here! Host your own “homegating” football party with these fun and simple football party ideas, including recipes and tutorials for a Football Cake, tailgating games and DIY football décor!
For weeks I’ve mentioned how I’ve been in denial that it’s time for back to school and that I didn’t want to let go of summer. But then, I realized with back to school comes fall baking, football and lots of fun holidays! And as soon as Labor Day passed by, I was instantly in full on fall mode!
I love fall for so many things, especially football! I’ve always been a college football fanatic, and just suggested to Eric that we need to make sure and go to a game this year, since it has been years since we have been to a big stadium to cheer on our favorite team.
In addition to college football, we also love attending the local high school games to cheer on Eric’s high school aged cousins and we won’t turn down an NFL game watching party or “homegate,” especially if it means we can enjoy lots of good food! : ) Needless to say I am excited for fall and football season!
While I can definitely get into an exciting football game, no matter who is playing, I really like that football brings together friends and family each week for several months of the year; even if there is a little team rivalry involved. 😉 So to celebrate the official start of football season, and as an excuse to invite some friends and family over to watch a game, I decided to host a football party.
Of course I could have just whipped up some food and thrown it out on a card table, but if you know me, you know I loving fussing over not only the food, but themed décor as well. So I got all crafty and decorated the food and drink table in lots of football things and planned some fun and simple tailgating games to entertain the guests that aren’t super crazy football fanatics, or as a way to pass time before the game started and during commercials.
For the food I kept things for the most part simple, with chips and salsa, pigs in a blanket, and a veggie tray; but when I was shopping at Smith’s (a Kroger family store) for the party food and ingredients, I saw several bags of Skittles®, in a variety of flavors and colors, and was inspired by them to make a football cake. I just love how my football cake turned out! Since the cake is just a simple football, using Skittles® in our favorite team’s color was a perfect addition!
For the tailgating games I came up with a few simple football inspired games that can be played in a minute or less. Most of these games included supplies I already had for the party, like the Skittles®, straws, red plastic cups, etc. and were a fun and yes, I’ll admit cheesy, way to pass time.
For the décor, I wanted to keep it a basic football theme and used footballs and the football field as my inspiration. I created my own football field tablecloth (using felt, tape and number stickers) and field goal back drop (using butcher paper and construction paper) and then used football shaped and decorated serving dishes, cups, plates, etc., as well as, mini chalkboards with football plays and “referee” water bottles and a football drink tub to finish out the whole snack table.
All my party guests loved everything and I *almost* think they were more excited about my football themed party then they were the actual game.
For all the details, instructions and recipes for my football party see below.
Tailgating Games:
Mini Field Goal Kick:
Supplies:
Football field goal candy dish (see DIY below)
Mini toy football
How to play: Place Football field goal candy dish on table. Have players crouch down at table level and place the mini toy football approximately 2 feet away from mini field goal. Have players attempt to flick the football through the DIY Football field goal candy dish. Keep score by awarding 3 points for every football that makes it through the field goal.
“Hail Mary” Skittles® Play:
Supplies:
Football field scrapbook paper
Straws
Skittles®
How to play: Players place a straw in their mouth and use suction from sucking on the straw to pick up and transfer a pile of 25 Skittles® from one end of the football scrapbook paper to the other in under one minute. Only one hand may be used to hold the straw and players can eat the Skittles® after completing the task!
“Blocking Back” Stack Attack:
Supplies:
21 plastic cups
How to play:Each player has to stack up 21 cups into a tower and then place them back into a single stack in a minute or less.
Football Décor:
Football field tablecloth (see DIY below)
Field goal wall art (see DIY below)
Football drink tub (see DIY below)
Small toy footballs
Small chalkboards with plays or cheers written on them
Football shaped bowls and candy dishes
Football field goal candy dish (see DIY below)
DIY Football Décor:
How to make football field tablecloth:
Supplies:
2-3 yards green felt (depending on size of table)
1 roll white 1/2-inch wide tape
Scissors
2-inch white number stickers
Directions: Place felt on table. Place the end of the tape at the top of the table and pull down to the end of the felt draping down over the front of the table, pressing the tape onto the felt as you go. Repeat process adding another line of tape approximately 1-2 feet from the first. Continue adding the “football field yard lines” to the entire piece of felt. Add number stickers to the yard lines, starting with “50” in the center, then “40” to the taped lines on both sides of the “50” and so on. Number stickers can be placed on both the table top side of the felt and the felt draping down in front of the table.
How to make football field goal wall art:
Supplies:
Yellow butcher paper
Brown butcher paper or poster board
Scissors
White 1/2-inch wide tape
Sticky tack
Ruler
Pencil
Directions:
Using the ruler and pencil, lightly mark and cut out four 5-inch by 3 feet pieces of yellow butcher paper to form field goal. Set aside.
To make football, lightly freehand a large football shape onto the brown poster board. Cut out football shape and use white tape to form football threads on football cut out.
Using sticky tack, adhere football and field goal cutouts to the wall behind your football field food and beverage table.
How to make field goal candy dish:
Supplies:
Small clay flower pot
Small piece of Styrofoam to fit in flower pot
Green acrylic paint
Yellow acrylic paint
4 (1/2-inch) wide popsicle sticks
Foam paint brushes
Glue gun with glue
Small piece of paper
Newspaper
Paper plates
Painters tape
Skittles®
Directions: Spread newspaper over workstation. Use painters tape to tape the inside edge of the flower pot to prevent paint from getting on the inside of the pot. Pour green acrylic paint onto paper plate and paint flower pot. Let flower pot dry completely.
Meanwhile, pour yellow acrylic paint onto paper plate and paint popsicle sticks. Allow popsicle sticks to dry completely, then using glue gun to glue popsicle sticks into a field goal shape.
Place foam piece into the bottom of the flower pot. Top foam with a piece of paper and insert glued popsicle stick field goal into the foam. Pour Skittles® on top of the paper and foam in flower dish.
How to make football drink tub:
Supplies:
Brown/maroon plastic tub
White 1/2-inch wide tape
Scissors
Directions: Cut one 3-inch strip of white tape and place in the center of the plastic tub. Cut three 2-inch strips of tape and place over the 3-inch strip in the opposite direction. Fill with ice and drinks.
Football Party Menu:
DIY Chocolate Fudge Football Cake (see directions and recipe below)
Pigs in a blanket
Veggie platter with dip
Chips and salsa
Skittles®
Water bottles (wrapped in black and white striped scrapbook paper)
- Chocolate Cake:
- 1 15.25-ounce box devil’s food cake mix
- 1 5.85-ounce package instant chocolate pudding mix
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 4 eggs
- 3/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
- ½ cup milk
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- -
- Chocolate Fudge Frosting:
- 1/3 cup chocolate chips
- 4-5 tablespoons milk
- ½ cup butter softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
- -
- Buttercream Frosting:
- ½ cup butter softened
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- Green food gel
- -
- For Decorating:
- ½ cup Skittles® in desired colors
- Small grass piping tip
- Small #2 round piping tip
- 2 decorating couplers
- 2 piping bags
- For cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour one 10x3-inch or two 8x2-inch round cake pans. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, stir together cake mix and pudding mix. Stir in yogurt, eggs, oil, milk and vanilla, stirring just until combined and there are no lumps. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour prepared cake batter into prepared cake pan.
- Bake for 30 minutes, and then reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Transfer cake in cake pan to a wire rack to cool. Once cake has cooled invert cake onto a cutting board and cool completely. Once cake is completely cooled, use a serrated bread knife to cut out a 1 ½ to 2-inch strip out the center of the cake (the larger the strip of cake cut from the center will result in a more oval “football” shape).
- Remove 2-inch strip of cake and set aside to enjoy later. Transfer both cake half circles to a serving platter. Spread a thin layer of chocolate frosting on the cut sides of the cake and push together to form oval football shape. Using an offset spatula, spread a thin layer of chocolate frosting over cake to form crumb coat. Place cake in the freezer for 15 minutes to set crumb coat.
- Once crumb coat is set, remove cake from freezer and pour a generous amount of chocolate frosting on the top of the cake. Using an offset spatula, slowly start spreading the frosting over the edges of the cake, turning the cake platter as need to smooth the frosting over the edges. Add additional frosting as needed to cover the cake. Once cake is covered in chocolate frosting and frosting is mostly smooth set cake aside for 10 minutes to let frosting set.
- Once frosting is set, place a smooth paper towel on cake. Using your fingers or a fondant smoother gently run fondant smoother over paper towel on cake to completely smooth frosting. Gently pull back paper towel and repeat smoothing process.
- Using a paper towel, wipe cake platter clean. Fit a piping bag with the grass piping tip and coupler and fill with green frosting. Pipe “grass” directly onto the serving platter around the cake. Top grass with Skittles® (in desired colors for team).
- Fit a piping bag with the round piping tip and coupler and fill with white frosting. Pipe football threads onto the top of the cake.
- For Chocolate Fudge Frosting: Place chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons milk in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for 30 seconds; remove and stir. Place chocolate mixture back in microwave and microwave for an additional 30 seconds. Remove and stir. Repeat this process until all chocolate is melted and smooth. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream together butter, vanilla and almond extracts, beating until smooth. Slowly add cocoa powder and beat until smooth. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, alternating with remaining milk and melted chocolate mixture; repeating until all the chocolate and sugar are used. Continue mixing until frosting is creamy and smooth and desired consistency is reached. Add additional milk or powdered sugar if needed to reach a thicker frosting.
- For Buttercream Frosting: In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream together butter, and almond extract, beating until smooth. Slowly add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, alternating with milk; repeating until all the sugar is used. Continue mixing until frosting is creamy and smooth and desired consistency is reached. Add additional milk or powdered sugar if needed to reach a thicker frosting.
- Remove ½ cup of white frosting and set aside to pipe football threads onto cake. To the remaining buttercream frosting, stir in a small amount of green food gel to make frosting for grass.
Stock up on Skittles® at your local Smith’s or Kroger family store and click here to enter the Call an Eatible sweepstakes to be entered to win NFL tickets and NFL Shop gift cards. And for more Skittles® recipes and fun, visit Skittles® online.
