How to Throw a Green Super Bowl Party
A Fun and Environmentally Friendly Football Bash For All
The words “Super Bowl Party” evoke images of hot chilli, tailgate parties, and beer. While standing in a parking lot in below zero may not appeal to many, the idea of throwing a barbecue or just having friends over for beer, inexpensive “stadium food” to recreate the feel of an outdoor bash is a good one.
Create a Green Super Bowl Menu
Making guests feel like they are taking part of a Super Bowl experience means giving them an arena experience, minus the wasteful plastic cups. Even if cups are re-used or tossed in the recycling bin, they do generate volatile organic compounds when manufactured.
A more eco-friendly option for creating that atmosphere can be started by supplying your guests with a Super Bowl Menu: Make stadium food like steamed hot dogs and chilli It can be an inexpensive and delicious, not to mention green.
Vegetarian chilli costs very little to make, if you are making them from dried beans: Remember to soak the beans overnight, then drain, rinse and cook them thoroughly before adding them to your slow cooker.
There may also be some demand for making your own “steamies” or steamed hot dogs. Buying a bulk amount of vegetarian hot dogs and steaming them over a pot of water in a vegetable steamer will give them that moist texture that you get from stadium vendors. Choosing a vegan or vegetarian brand of hot dogs can also reduce your carbon footprint, by reducing the amount of mass farmed goods, or factory farmed animals.
Meat free, “Super Bowl” and “Halftime Chilli” recipes can be found online: Famous Chilli Recipes has some advice for the first time chilli-maker, on cooking with dried beans.
Super Bowl Party Ambiance
For those who are thinking of using up any leftover gingerbread cookie dough, make some Super Bowl Cookies: Roll out the dough, and cut the cookies with a football shaped cutter. If you are particularly handy with the icing gun, try printing friends’ names on them, and use them as markers on your Super Bowl bets. If you have a better use for horizontal table space, give them to your guests as thank you gifts.
Reduce Your Post Super Bowl Waste
For those who are betting on the game: Try using a dry erase marker on your fridge, or on a large, washable surface. It will cost less than buying poster-board; you can use the marker on your fridge again as a bulletin board/ grocery list. Using paper to write down the bets and their debtors will take up paper that would otherwise wind up in recycling.
For those who are letting folks eat on the couch while the game is played, finding an environmentally safe spot cleaner or stain remover may be a winning move. Have a small container of phosphate-free laundry detergent on hand to dab at chilli-stained shirts or upholstery. Good Housekeeping has an online stain-busting article featuring removing tomato-based stains from clothing, furniture and carpets.
Having anything guests may need or want keeps the host calm, and kicks a goal for easy, green entertaining.
Gingerbread footballs make great place markers
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