The Super Bowl checks off a lot of the boxes regarding American-type celebrations. An overabundance of food. Fast-paced concerts. Ads featuring babies and dogs. Perhaps a little bit of beer. And, of course, football.

So if you’re hosting the Super Bowl party this year, there are a lot of expectations to uphold. For the host, most of those expectations center on the food and drink you provide. And while there are quite a few millionaires on the field at the Super Bowl, chances are you don’t have a million-dollar budget for your party. Consider our list of the best ways to save money on a Super Bowl party!

Go Generic for the Basics

Although the fancy name brands will be featured all over the Super Bowl commercials, you don’t necessarily need to pay their prices for your party. Inexpensive store brand potato chips, salty snacks, salsa, dipping sauces, popcorn, and OJ for mixed drinks aren’t going to draw attention from party goers … especially if they’ve already consumed a few of those mixed drinks. They’re more interested in the foods you make yourself. Put the store brands in a bowl, and most people won’t know the difference, allowing you to save money on Super Bowl party planning.

Visit Warehouse Clubs

If you need to shop for ingredients to feed a large set of people, say a dozen or more, you will save a bit of money by shopping at a warehouse club. If  you don’t have a membership to a club, it isn’t financially worth it to buy a membership just for a once-a-year Super Bowl party, but some clubs allow for a trial membership for this type of situation. And if you’re looking for pre-made snacks, they’ll be less expensive in these clubs versus traditional grocery stores.

Alcohol Options

When it comes to breaking the budget of your Super Bowl party, alcohol can do it in a hurry. As long as you aren’t picky about the brand of beer, wine, or hard liquor you’re going to offer, you generally can find some good sales just before the Super Bowl. Shop around, as warehouse clubs, grocery stores, liquor stores, and even convenience stores may offer really good deals on alcohol, using the sale price to draw people into the store. Don’t try to anticipate everyone’s individual alcohol preferences, or you’ll overbuy. Just pick a few different options to provide. Or if you have friends who are picky about their brand of alcohol, make it a BYOB party.

Pre-Made Vs. Self Prep

Yes, it’s cheaper to prepare the food yourself. But if you’re taking two days off from work to cook, you might not be saving money in the long run. Figure out your menu ahead of time, and then determine which foods you can made quickly. If a type of food you want to serve will take a long time to prepare, you may save money in the long run — not to mention save some stress — if you purchase that particular food pre-made.

Pick a Family Favorite Main Dish…

Everyone has that one main dish that they love to prepare, that’s also a family favorite. It usually can be made inexpensively to save money on a Super Bowl party, and you’ve probably made it enough times that it won’t take long to prepare. Perhaps it’s a family recipe for chili or a rice casserole. Let everyone know it’s a family favorite, and it’ll give your Super Bowl party a personalized feel.

…Then Go Small With Finger Foods

After picking your one main dish, stick with small finger foods as complements. Sure, the Super Bowl is all about going to extremes, but your secondary food offerings don’t have to be. Rather than setting out a large pizza with only eight pie-shaped slices, cut it into squares, leaving more, but smaller, pieces. Don’t put out foot-long sub sandwiches; instead, cut them into six 2-inch subs. Small finger foods work well too, such as chicken wings or cut up pigs in a blanket. With smaller portions, you’ll encourage people to sample more types of food. And if there’s something on your menu that someone takes but doesn’t like the taste, they won’t be throwing away 11 inches of a sub sandwich.

Putting Friends to Work

Most of us have at least one friend who always brings food to a party like this … even when they’re told they don’t need to bring anything. Instead of just letting this friend bring a mystery food — a recipe that may match something you already have prepared — ask them to bring a specific item that fits within your menu. Perhaps they’ve brought a recipe in the past that you really liked, so ask them to bring that again. Not only will they feel great that you’ve asked for a specific favorite recipe, you’ll have a better handle on how much food will be on hand, reducing the chance of massive leftovers. And it’ll save you some money and time on food prep (but you can keep that information to yourself).

Avoid Too Many Sweets

Hosts tend to spend too much on desserts at these parties. Beer and hot wings are great together. Beer and nachos are a natural fit. But washing down a fancy football-shaped chocolate cupcake with a beer is not appetizing. Maybe limit yourself to a few candy dishes in the team colors: Green & white M&Ms for the Eagles and blue and red M&Ms for the Patriots.

Decorations

Don’t go overboard with decorations. Consider the local dollar store to pick up inexpensive football related decorations. And instead of spending big money for NFL-licensed Patriots and Eagles items, purchase plates and napkins from the dollar store in the team colors instead.

The TV

Finally, don’t forget about the TV … and the bigger, the better. We’ve collected quite a few deals on TVs you can use to save a bit of money, should you need a new model or a second TV for a secondary seating area. If it’s too late or too expensive to pick up a new TV for your party, consider asking a friend to bring one. Today’s flat screen TVs are light enough that they’re easy to transport.

Best Ways to Save Money on a Super Bowl Party

If there’s ever a time to make sure you have the best of the best for your television, it’s on Super Sunday. Not only will you want to watch — and hear — all of the collisions of players during the Super Bowl, but you’ll also be riveted to your TV during halftime and commercial breaks … something that doesn’t happen during the regular season. Consider upgrading your television with these must have TV accessories before the Super Bowl broadcast begins!

Audio

Think about the tiny speakers built into the back of an HDTV, and you’ll understand why add-on audio options are the way to go, especially when you want a great audio signal for Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl halftime show. (And if you take a secret pleasure in hearing the pin-sharp sound of the crunching of Tom Brady by a Falcons defensive tackle during the game, we won’t judge you.)

If you already have a speaker system, you may want to invest in an HDMI A/V receiver, as it will properly port the audio feed from your HDTV to the right speakers.

A soundbar is a great option for those looking to get started with a TV sound system. A soundbar system is small and relatively inexpensive, yet it provides high-quality audio.

DVR

The Super Bowl is a challenge for those who don’t want to miss a minute of the game, halftime show, or commercials. With all of the great Super Bowl food and drink available, you’re going to be tempted to walk away from the TV at some point — OK, at multiple points — and potentially miss something memorable.

A DVR gives you the ability to pause, record, and rewind live TV. If you have a satellite or cable TV subscription, you may already have a DVR provided by the company. But if you’re a cord cutter or if you don’t want to pay the high price the cable or satellite company charges for using its DVR, you can always turn to a third-party DVR option, such as a TiVo brand. Just make sure the DVR you pick can record in HD.

HDMI Cables

Make sure that your HD video and audio quality is as high as possible by using HDMI cables to connect your devices to the TV. Just don’t overpay for HDMI cables. You’ll often find that traditional department stores will charge high prices for them versus the bargains you can find if you shop around for HDMI cables. And be sure to purchase a cable that’s long enough to reach from device to device, as some cables are as short as 3 feet in length.

Smartphone Streaming Options

An option for a cord cutter is to stream the game. The Fox Sports Go app will allow anyone to stream the Super Bowl for free.

But nobody wants to watch the big game on the small smartphone screen. If your smartphone and TV brand match up, you potentially can port your smartphone’s screen onto the HDTV screen wirelessly through DLNA technology. Or if you have an iPhone, you can connect it to the HDTV through the Apple TV hardware.

Just make sure that if you have a data limit on your smartphone plan, you aren’t going to be clobbered with overage fees by streaming the game.

TV Antenna

If you’re a cord cutter, you also have the option of watching the Super Bowl for free … with the right equipment. A TV antenna will provide the HDTV entertainment options you need, as you can pull in over-the-air broadcasts from your local TV stations, giving you shows from ABC, CBS, CW, NBC, and Fox, which has Sunday’s Super Bowl broadcast.

You will need some technical know-how to connect the antenna to your TV. And you may have to buy an HD tuner, although newer HDTVs have tuners built into them. But many modern TV antennas can be set up in the attic of your home or even right next to the TV, meaning at least you don’t have to climb onto the roof and hook up one of those ugly, old-fashioned, bird-roosting monstrosities.

TV Mount

When it comes to finding TV accessories, wall mount hardware is a great choice. If you’re going to be sitting in your favorite chair for three-plus hours on Super Sunday, you want the TV to be at the proper height for viewing comfortably. Use the TV wall mount to place the middle of the screen at eye level when you’re sitting in your favorite chair.

Because flat screen TVs don’t weigh much, you often can hang them yourself, if you’re comfortable working with common household tools. You also can hire a handyman to do the work, if you want to be sure to do it correctly. Just make sure the TV wall mount you select matches the model and size of television you want to hang, as each wall mount will only work with a handful of TVs.

The Most Important Accessory: The TV Itself

If you’re ready to make Super Bowl LI the best TV viewing experience you’ve ever had, coupling the accessories above with a new TV is the way to go.

Although Fox’s broadcast will be in HD resolution and not 4K resolution, you will be fine purchasing either type of flat screen TV. A 4K TV will upscale the HD signal, allowing it to fill the full 8 million pixel count on the 4K TV, giving you a better image than on an HDTV (with roughly 2 million pixels). New flat screen TVs also offer significant technological improvements in terms of screen brightness, contrast, and color accuracy over even an HDTV purchased a few years ago.

If you haven’t shopped for 4K or HDTVs recently, you’ll be shocked at the reasonable prices you can find. And to save even more, check out the list of great HDTV bargains we’ve researched and compiled.

Must Have TV Accessories for the Super Bowl

The Super Bowl: The one time when the fast forward button on the DVR remote doesn’t get a workout. Reports say Fox is charging $5 million for a 30-second TV commercial for Super Bowl LI. But when the advertisements receive almost as much attention as the game, you know companies are receiving a good value for their marketing dollars.

If you attend the kind of Super Bowl party where everyone ranks the commercials and votes on their favorites, you may want a head start on judging the entrants. After all, 30 seconds isn’t enough time to properly catch all of the nuances of a cleverly designed Super Bowl ad. Continue reading to learn more about the Super Bowl LI commercials and watch some of them early!.

Who are the Super Bowl Advertisers?

Ad Age has put together a list of companies reported to have purchased Super Bowl spots, including some well-known brands: Audi, Bud Light, Budweiser, Buick, Febreze, GoDaddy, Honda, Intel, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Michelob Ultra, and Snickers, which, in an interesting twist, has announced it will air its commercial live.

Some notable brands absent from this list that have been Super Bowl advertisers in the past include: Amazon, Butterfinger, Doritos, Fitbit, and Toyota. Understand, though, that some companies don’t announce that they’re advertising on the Super Bowl ahead of time. So Ad Age’s list will change as the game approaches.

Watch the Super Bowl Ads Early

One option to watch Super Bowl TV commercials early is the Web site Super Bowl Commercials. It also offers some news about the ads and teaser videos. The AdWeek web site has Super Bowl commercial preview links and news as well. If you don’t mind getting some odd results, a simple Super Bowl commercials YouTube search will provide links to the early releases of TV spots. And you’ll also find there some ads that Fox and the NFL reportedly rejected, which can be kind of fun.

We’ve also compiled some of the already released ads and teasers below. Enjoy!

Avacados from Mexico

This is a teaser to the group’s actual Super Bowl ad.

Bai

Bai has released a teaser to its Super Bowl ad.

Budweiser

Ever wondered why Budweiser and Bud Light are so prominently featured in Super Bowl commercials? It’s because Anheuser-Busch InBev, Bud’s brewer, owns exclusive rights for advertising alcohol during the Super Bowl and has for many years. AB InBev has not unveiled any of its official plans for Super Bowl LI advertisements, but the brewer did debut new ads during the AFC and NFC championship games two weeks before the Super Bowl, so at least one of the company’s ads Sunday may run somewhere along the same theme as the ad here.

Buffalo Wild Wings

Super Bowl winning quarterback Brett Favre will try his hand at creating a winning Super Bowl ad, as shown in this BW3 teaser.

Febreze

I’m not sure what it says about Americans that so many cleaning products are advertising on Super Bowl LI. Here’s the teaser to Febreze’s ad.

Fiji Water

Here’s the 15-second Fiji Water ad for Super Bowl LI.

GNC

The health store has released a teaser video ahead of its first ever Super Bowl commercial.

GoDaddy

GoDaddy’s teaser to its Super Bowl ad features cute animals, always a winning formula on Super Sunday.

Hyundai

Hyundai will be creating its 90-second, documentary-style commercial during the game, using scenes from around the Super Bowl featuring fans for an ad to air right after the game ends. The company has released two teaser videos featuring past Super Bowl stars, Mike Singletary and Joe Montana.

Intel

Intel’s ad stars Super Bowl quarterback Tom Brady of the New England Patriots. (We’ll let you judge if this belongs on our list of Brady’s five best acting performances.)

Kia

Kia has released a teaser to its planned ad.

Lexus

Lexus will highlight its LC 500 and LC 500h in its ad, featuring Lil Buck and Sia.

Mercedes-Benz

“Born to Be Wild” will be part of the luxury car maker’s super ad, as shown in this teaser.

Mr. Clean

Mr. Clean is a big guy; he might have a shot to play tight end in the Super Bowl. But he’ll have to settle for starring in his own official Super Bowl commercial. There are two teaser videos for the Mr. Clean entry. Fair warning: They’re creepy … unless you have a long-standing secret crush on Mr. Clean. Then you might be putting them on constant replay.

Pepsi

Former Super Bowl winning quarterback Joe Flacco stars in this teaser to Pepsi’s Super Bowl LI ad, discussing what to do with Super Bowl party poopers. It’s one of many Pepsi teaser ads available on YouTube.

There’s also a teaser to Lady Gaga’s halftime show, sponsored by Pepsi.

Skittles

Fortunately, we won’t have to see any disturbing Steven Tyler portraits made from Skittles this year.

Snickers

As we mentioned earlier, Snickers will be airing its Super Bowl LI commercial live. Here’s a teaser.

Squarespace

As shown in this teaser ad, John Malkovich will be trying to build a web site in Squarespace’s Super Bowl TV ad.

Tide

Tide announced in a Twitter video that its Super Bowl commercial will star Rob Gronkowski, Patriots tight end who will miss the Super Bowl with an injury.

TurboTax

Humpty Dumpty and tax software don’t go together … unless it’s in a Super Bowl commercial, of course. (This is a teaser to TurboTax’s actual ad.)

Wix.com

Wix.com has released a two-part teaser of its planned Super Bowl ad, starring Jason Statham and Gal Gadot.

Wonderful Pistachios

Pistachios will team up with Ernie the Elephant for a 15-second spot, as shown in in a Twitter video.

Yellow Tail Wine

The Yellow Tail Wine ad is an interesting one. As mentioned earlier, Bud owns the exclusive rights to advertise alcohol during the Super Bowl. So Yellow Tail has chosen to purchase advertising time from local Fox affiliates, and its ad should reach roughly 80% of Americans.

Revisiting More Super Bowl Commercials

Ad Age put together a comprehensive list of the companies that advertised during Super Bowl 50, including reviews of each ad and a link to the streaming video clips. This is a great way to remember the best Super Bowl ads from last year and to compare those spots to the new 2017 Super Bowl commercials.

And USA Today put together a list last year of the 50 best Super Bowl commercials of all time, including the classic Mean Joe Greene ad for Coke.

If you’d like to view a few cringe-worthy ads, Fortune has put together the 10 worst Super Bowl commercials. With these disastrous entries, even a 55-10 Super Bowl game would have been more entertaining.

Watch all the Super Bowl Commercials Before the Big Game

One of the most popular aspects of the Super Bowl every year is figuring out which crazy Super Bowl bets Las Vegas is accepting on the big game. Called prop bets, the Las Vegas sports books are looking to draw attention from people who might not be the biggest football fans by placing odds on the silliest things surrounding the Super Bowl. And it works!

But if you aren’t traveling to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl weekend, you won’t be able to make wagers on these fun and crazy Super Bowl prop bets. (This is the part of the article where we all pretend that no one illegally gambles with overseas web-based sports books.) If you still want to have some fun with these wagers, consider incorporating them into pools you can use at the Super Bowl party you’re attending. Competing with other party goers on these pools can be a lot of fun, even if the game itself is not all that competitive or exciting.

Methods for Creating Pools

You can run the pools in a few different ways, making them fun and competitive. Feel free to create a gaudy trophy to go to the winner that could be re-awarded each year. Or if you want a little more of a cool factor for the winner, maybe pick up a Matt Ryan or Julian Edelman jersey; we have some coupons for the NFL Store that we’ve collected at Ben’s Bargains to help with the cost.

• Printed Sheet: Create a form with 10 to 30 prop bets that are yes/no questions. Whoever picks the most correctly wins. Predict the game score as a tie-breaker.
• Fake Wagers: Use the odds from the actual prop bets. Give each person $1,000 of fake money to split among the wagers, and whoever earns the most money based on the amount wagered and the actual odds wins.
• Dumb Luck: If all of the above seems like too much work, place the names of different players in a hat and have party goers each draw a few different names. Then when a player wins one of the prop bets, such as for scoring the first touchdown or the MVP trophy, whoever has that name receives a prize.

On the Field Prop Bets

The Patriots opened as a 3-point favorite over the Falcons, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg! Here are some of the crazy Super Bowl bets involving the on the field action that you can incorporate into your pools.

• Game winner: Patriots, 9/10; Falcons, 10/9
• Game MVP: Tom Brady, 3/2; Matt Ryan, 7/4; Julio Jones, 11/2; Someone else, 10/1
• Total points scored: Over 57.5, 1/1; Under 57.5, 1/1
• Who will score the most touchdowns or tie for the most: Julio Jones, 4/1; Devonta Freeman, 6/1; LaGarrette Blount, 7/1; Chris Hogan, 7/1; Someone else, 8/1
• What color of Gatorade will be dumped on the winning coach: Orange, 9/4; Blue, 3/1; Yellow, 7/2; Red, 6/1; Other color, 5/1; None, 10/1

Off the Field Prop Bets

You can wager on many aspects of the Super Bowl that have nothing to do with the game, including the commercials.

• How many commercials will Peyton Manning appear in: 2 or more, +120; 1 or zero, -150
• Will a fan run onto the field: Yes, +1500; No, -5000
• Number of times “Deflate-Gate” is said on game broadcast: 3 or more, -115; 2 or fewer, -115
• Number of times Tom Brady’s wife (Gisele Bundchen) is shown on broadcast: 2 or more, -120; 1 or zero, -110
• Time for National Anthem: Over 2:15, -115; 2:15 or under, -115

Halftime Show Prop Bets

Of course you can bet on numerous aspects of Lady Gaga’s halftime show. Don’t pretend to be surprised.

• Hair color: Blonde/Yellow, -170; Brown, +200; Green, +1000; another color, +300; changes colors during show, +750
• First song of the show: Bad Romance, -115; Born This Way, +800; The Edge of Glory, +900; Just Dance, +1100; another song, +200
• Will Lady Gaga say “Trump” at any point: Yes, -140; No, +110
• Will she appear on the stadium roof: Yes, +260; No, -375
• Will she have a wardrobe malfunction: Yes, +1500; No, -5000

If you need a primer on understanding betting odds and the money line, try this Wiki How article. We’ve only listed a handful of the prop bets available, so if you need more options for your Super Bowl party, just search Google as the game approaches, as more crazy bets are sure to become available.

If You Know Your Gatorade Colors, Try These Crazy Super Bowl Bets

As preparations for Super Bowl LI between the Patriots and Falcons continue, most of the attention is focusing on Tom Brady, New England’s star quarterback, who will make his NFL-record seventh Super Bowl start. And he’s looking to win a quarterback record fifth Super Bowl ring.

With all of the current talk about Brady’s quarterbacking skills and competitive nature and Deflate-gate, you may pretty tired of hearing about Brady on and off the field. So how about a twist on the Tom Brady information overload? We’ve compiled a list of Brady’s five best TV and movie appearances, where he appeared as himself. So consider streaming these shows instead of watching SportsCenter leading up to the Super Bowl and learning about what Brady ate for breakfast for the fifth straight day. (You can thank us later.)

1. Family Guy (TV)

Brady voiced himself during the Family Guy episode, Patriot Games, where he meets Peter Griffin at Peter’s high school reunion. After watching Peter sprint to the bathroom, clearing people out of the way easily, Brady invites him to try out for the Patriots as an offensive lineman.

Peter becomes a superstar, and Brady even eats dinner at the Griffin’s home. But Peter’s out of control ego leads to a falling out with Brady and with Peter being traded away from the Patriots to the London Sillinannies.

• Title: Patriot Games
• Season: 4
• Episode: 20
• First Aired: Jan. 29, 2006

References to Brady and the Patriots are common on Family Guy, as all of the show’s main characters are New England fans.

• Stewie mentions his displeasure that Brady did not play in Super Bowl XXXIII in the flashback episode, Back to the Pilot (aired Nov. 13, 2011), the joke being the Patriots didn’t play in that game and Brady wasn’t in the NFL yet.
• Peter makes himself feel better by imagining a photo of Brady ironing in Road to India (aired May 22, 2016).
• When Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski moves next door to the Griffins in the episode Gronkowsbees (aired Jan. 15, 2017), Brady is mentioned often, but he doesn’t appear.

2. The Simpsons (TV)

Brady voiced himself on The Simpsons, appearing in the same episode as LeBron James, Warren Sapp, Michelle Kwan, and Yao Ming, called Homer and Ned’s Hail Mary Pass. In the episode, Homer begins helping sports stars improve their celebration dances after making winning plays, and the dances, of course, become increasingly obnoxious.

Brady is one of the stars who hires Homer, and he ends up celebrating a touchdown while riding a Segway and towing a banner saying, “Everyone sucks but me!” The episode aired on Fox after Super Bowl XXXIX, a game in which Brady led New England to a 24-21 win against Philadelphia.

• 

  Image from The Simpsons Wiki

  Title: Homer and Ned’s Hail Mary Pass

• Season: 16
• Episode: 8
• First Aired: Feb. 6, 2005

The Simpsons have had numerous NFL and Super Bowl references during the long run of the show.

• The Atlanta Falcons receive a mention in the episode Sunday, Cruddy Sunday (aired Jan. 31, 1999), in which many characters from Springfield take a bus to the Super Bowl, only to discover their tickets are fake when they arrive. The writers made fun of the fact that the show had to be written months ahead of learning who would actually play in the game, so they used a voice over trick (YouTube clip) to insert the names of Atlanta and Denver, who played in Super Bowl XXXIII that year. The episode aired after the Super Bowl game on Fox.
• In the episode The Town (aired Oct. 9, 2016), the Springfield Atoms play a team from Boston, where the team colors are blue and red and the quarterback wears number 12. (Not exactly a subtle reference to the Patriots and Tom Brady.)

3. Ted 2 (movie)

Brady makes a cameo appearance in the movie Ted 2, where Ted the bear and John (played by Brady’s friend, Mark Wahlberg) seek Brady to become a sperm donor for a baby Ted wants to have.

The duo breaks into Brady’s home while he’s sleeping, hoping to “harvest” the sperm, leading Brady to throw them out a window.

• Year Released: 2015

4. Entourage (TV)

Brady and Wahlberg both make cameo appearances in the Entourage TV show, called Fore! During a celebrity golf tournament, the characters Vince and Drama are paired with Brady and Wahlberg. Drama ends up breaking Brady’s driver.

• Title: Fore!
• Season: 6
• Episode: 5
• First Aired: Aug. 9, 2009

5. Entourage (movie)

Brady returned to the Entourage franchise for its 2015 movie, where he appeared with Russell Wilson, Seattle’s quarterback, and Brady’s Patriots teammates, Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman. Brady’s cameo is brief, as he plays himself reacting to watching a viral video from Drama.

• Year Released: 2015
• YouTube Clip (NSFW)

Bonus! Tom Brady’s Wicked Accent (Web)

Tom appeared in a Funny or Die Short five years ago with a humorous twist on his celebrity status. See for yourself:

Patriots, Shmatriots: What about Tom Brady, the Actor?

The Super Bowl is the most watched television event every year, drawing both fanatical NFL followers and those who only watch the football for something to do between commercials. If you’ve been invited to a Super Bowl party with people who are more interested in the football than the ads, you may want to spend a bit of time prepping so you don’t stick out as the Super Bowl novice.

Our collection of the seven best Super Bowl apps are free to use, and they’ll give you all of the information you need to know about the Patriots, the Falcons, Super Bowl history, and Lady Gaga. With your impressive knowledge from these Super Bowl apps, you might even be picked to host the Super Bowl LII party next February!

Fox Sports Go

True Super Bowl fans will be watching the big game on a huge HDTV. But even bigger fans will have a second option available, just in case. After all, you may have to get a second helping of hot wings from the kitchen at some point during the game, and you don’t want to miss one play … or one commercial.

You can use the Fox Sports Go app to stream Super Bowl LI on your smartphone. This app is free for both iOS and Android users. Those viewing the game on the app will not need to enter proof that they have a pay TV service, which is great for cord cutters. Viewers using the app will receive both national advertisements as well as local ads during breaks in the game.

• Google Play
• Apple iOS

Live Odds

Impress your friends by knowing all of the Las Vegas odds on the Super Bowl, including all of the crazy bets. After all, those are the most fun. Everyone knows the Patriots are a field goal favorite, but not everyone knows you can wager on the color of Gatorade that will soak the winning coach.

The Live Odds app from SportsInsights will give you real-time information on each possible wager the sports books in Las Vegas are offering. You also can see trending information on how the public is wagering on the game, making it sound as if you spent several hours watching the Super Bowl prep shows to garner the latest information.

Live Odds is free to download, but you can make in-app purchases for more detailed content and historical information.

• Google Play
• Apple iOS

Super Bowl LI Houston

The official on-site Super Bowl LI app is available from the NFL. This free app is designed for people attending the game to learn about all of the different functions and events going on around the game. The app also contains a QR code for gaining admission to events.

Even if you aren’t attending the game, you can impress those at your Super Bowl party by knowing about all of the different experiences available, such as meeting famous NFL players. Maybe you can even recreate a similar experience at your party: Signing a few autographs while wearing your Joe Montana jersey isn’t illegal, is it?

• Google Play
• Apple iOS

Super Bowl NFL Emojis

Want to show all of your friends how big of a Patriots or Falcons fan you are? The official NFL Emoji app provides a series of emoji-like stickers you can insert at the top of your text messages. You can select from any of the 32 NFL teams to see their stickers.

So whether you’ve been a Patriots or Falcons fan forever — or for just a week or two — you can make it appear as though you’ve been with the team all along with this app! And when your team is winning at halftime, sending 51 consecutive texts with your team’s sticker at the top to your buddy who’s a fan of the other team is not in bad form at all.

• Google Play
• Apple iOS

Official Team Apps

If you want to do a deep-dive into information about the Patriots and Falcons before the game, download the official team apps for both of them. These Super Bowl apps allow you to go back and see highlights from the season and read game recaps.

You’ll have access to the player and team statistics. There’s live talk show broadcasts leading up to the game, as well as live press conference feeds. (And to answer your question, yes, there’s a photo gallery of the team cheerleaders inside the app.)

If you need some new gear — say an NFC Champion Falcons sweatshirt — you can order gear through the teams’ e-commerce stores in the free app.

• Google Play – Patriots / Apple iOS – Patriots
• Google Play – Falcons / Apple iOS – Falcons

Super Bowl Trivia

If the game’s a blowout, the hot wings sauce barely has the kick of ketchup, and the commercials are a bore, perhaps you can still save your Super Bowl party with the Super Bowl Trivia app. With 50 Super Bowl games already in the books, developer Evel Bunny Studios has plenty of material to create dozens of trivia questions in its free app.

It’s in a multiple choice format, so even those who aren’t fanatical about the NFL or about the Super Bowl will have a chance. The app is free for Android users.

If you’re on the iOS format, consider the Super Bowl Quiz app. The quiz questions are sorted by category in this app, which is a nice feature.

• Google Play – Super Bowl Trivia
• Apple iOS – Super Bowl Quiz

Halftime Show

If you don’t know much about Lady Gaga, but you want to sound hip during the halftime show, you need to do your homework. The Gaga Daily app is free, and it will give you the latest news on Lady Gaga. With her appearance on the Super Bowl halftime show coming up, the app is loaded with current information. (As of this time, this app is only available for Android devices. An Apple iOS version is under development.)

If you’d rather just be able to familiarize yourself with Gaga’s songs before the halftime show, consider the Lada Gaga Songs & Lyrics Android app. It’s a pretty simple app, and with the lyrics available, you can sing along during the halftime show.

For iPhone users, the My Artist Alerts for Lady Gaga is the best free app, containing news, related tweets, and song lyrics.

You’ll be a Monster before you know it with these apps!

• Google Play – Gaga Daily
• Google Play – Songs & Lyrics
• Apple iOS – My Artist Alerts

7 Super Bowl Apps to Download Before the Big Game

Are you ready for Super Bowl 50? With just a handful of days before the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos kick off Super Bowl 50 in San Francisco, you are probably already gearing up for your big Super Bowl party. If that’s the case, now is the time to get your house in order with the right tech as well as theming the hell out of your party with the proper food & drink.

We’ve put together the ultimate big game guide together to help you through the process.

Screens, Go Big or Go Home

If you have 20 people coming over to watch the game, hovering around a 42-inch television is so 2010. It’s time to upgrade your screen size, ideally 55 inches or higher. While 4K Ultra HD is getting ramped up right now, you don’t actually have to buy a 4K set this year. The Super Bowl is not going to to broadcast in Ultra HD this year, but it will likely be broadcast in 4K next year. Here are a few solid picks: (prices are subject to change)

• LG 65LF5700 65″ 1080p Roku HDTV at Best Buy for $800.
• VIZIO E60-C3 60″ 1080p 120Hz HDTV at Walmart for $499. (Refurbished)
• LG Electronics 55LF6100 55-Inch 1080p HDTV at Amazon for $598.

If you really want to impress everyone, consider stepping up to a projection system. If your weather is mild in your neck of the woods, you could also consider an outdoor party with an giant projection screen. Here are great options for both.

• Optoma GT1080 1080p 3D DLP Projector at Amazon for $700.
• Outdoor Big Screen 92″ Lite Portable Movie Screen at Target for $150.

But The Screen Isn’t Everything

What good is a giant screen if you are stuck using the low-powered speakers in the TV? Parties can get loud and you are going to need volume. Here are a couple deals to boost your audio profile:

• LG LAS454B – 2.1ch 300W Sound Bar with Wireless Sub at Best Buy for $130.
• VIZIO 38″ 5.1-Channel Sound Bar with Wireless Sub and Rear Satellites at Walmart for $188.

You should also consider how hungry your guests will be for the second screen experience. If they want stats or replays on demand, keeping a tablet on hand will be handy.

Another option is routing your cable signal though an Xbox One in order to watch the game within the NFL on Xbox app. That will give you real-time stats on the game on the screen as well as access to replays. Here are a couple good deals to accomplish that:

• Samsung Galaxy 9.7-Inch 16 GB Tablet at Amazon for $250.
• Xbox One 1TB Madden NFL 16 Bundle + Free Game at Microsoft Store for $399.

Who’s Thirsty?

While having a variety of popular beer and wine on hand will certainly please your party-goers, it’s certainly not going to keep them talking about your party around the water cooler on Monday morning.

You need to kick it up a notch with some mixed drinks themed to the teams playing in the Super Bowl. Our suggestions:

Carolina Panther Cocktails

• Carolina Sweet Tea: Recipe 1, Recipe 2, Recipe 3
• Blue Curacao Margarita: Recipe 1, Recipe 2
• Carolina Blue Whale: Recipe 1, Recipe 2, Recipe 3
• Moonshine Mint Julep: Recipe 1, Recipe 2
• Carolina Panther Punch: Recipe

Denver Bronco Cocktails

• The Orange Crush: Recipe 1, Recipe 2
• Broncos Zone Blitz: Recipe
• The Bronco Bulldog: Recipe 1, Recipe 2
• Tequila Sunrise: Recipe 1, Recipe 2
• Spiced Cider Punch: Recipe

Who’s Hungry?

I see you eyeballing that sad pack of frozen pizza pockets in the grocery store. Let’s call that a third-string backup because you are going to step it up on the food front this year.

Don’t get me wrong, you should have the staples. You can never have enough chips, dip and other snacks during the game. However, you can also prep a handful of items prior to the game that will blow away your guests. Our themed suggestions:

Carolina Panther Dishes

• Carolina Pulled Pork Sliders: Recipe 1, Recipe 2, Recipe 3
• Fried Pickles: Recipe 1, Recipe 2, Recipe 3
• Collard Green and Artichoke dip: Recipe 1, Recipe 2
• Southern Fried Hot Wings: Recipe 1, Recipe 2
• Carolina Panthers Choco Chip & Pecan Cookies: Recipe

Denver Bronco Dishes

• Rocky Mountain Oysters: Recipe 1, Recipe 2, Recipe 3
• Mini Taco Bites: Recipe 1, Recipe 2
• Buffalo Sliders: Recipe 1, Recipe 2
• Pork and Pinto Bean Nachos: Recipe
• Bronco Orange Butter Cookies: Recipe

If you can’t find anything you want to make above, I recommend checking out 103 Super Bowl Recipes at Brown Eyed Baker.

That’s pretty much it; you are now ready to host a kick-ass Super Bowl 50 party. Go forth and conquer. And pray the Super Bowl gods deliver unto us a halftime performance from Beyonce that we can mock for weeks to come.

How to Throw a Killer Panthers / Broncos Super Bowl 50 Party

Americans, rejoice, the culmination of ESPN’s fiscal year is upon us. The Super Bowl is a time for drinking, drunkenness, inebriation and other sports fan pastimes, especially those involving alcohol. Most importantly, though, it’s a time to listen to retired athletes make a case for their continued future in broadcast television, while behind those plastered smiles is years-built shame and regret over having not reached the big game themselves.

Surely, the psychopathy stirring underneath whitened teeth and custom-tailored mega-suits is enough to keep the broadcast interesting, if not the burly men hurling themselves at each other on the field. Because, really, aren’t we all here for the commercials and half-time show? If there was ever another time for a wardrobe malfunction, monotheistic deity willing, this is it.

Of all the fundamental truths about the Super Bowl, though, the one faithful constant is its quality of excess. This is the most of all the TV things that can happen in a year, save the inevitable, impending Mars landing and World War Cyber. In the spirit of excess, let’s buy stuff while we wait for some country lovers try to kill some water-dwelling birds, because that’s what football (the NFL) is all about.

(Don’t forget to click on the pictures to get to the stuff)

Stuff Your Face

As always, nourishment comes first. If you don’t already have one of these things, then you can’t call yourself a man, according to law. And if you’re a woman, feel free to berate this post for its sexist leanings. I only listen to people with grills.

That’s a grill, in case it’s wings threw you off. This one’s the Weber Q 2200, because HAL was taken. This entire website, BBQGuys, is devoted to all things BBQ. They’ve got a running list of the top 10 portable gas grills, headlined by our futuristic friend.

Once you do have a football-approved cooking apparatus, ignore it and make this stuff with your normal kitchen gear. Now you’re living in excess.

Bon Appetite put together a sweet list of chicken wing recipes. Don’t order out. It’s lazy.

From Real Simple comes a pleasing list of crowd-pleasing dips. Feel free to dip the wings.

Also, feel free to head over to our binge watching guide for some more eatery and comfort suggestions. Mini hot dogs, mini pretzels and normal sized things await.

True Team Pride

What Patriots and Seahawks fans wear on the big day is what’s predictable. They’re going to put on their jerseys or Conference Champions shirts and sweat straight through them for a couple of hours. The NFL has a dedicated hub for that stuff. Everyone else, on the other hand, who isn’t sweating, has a much larger wardrobe choice at their disposal. For instance:

If you need these shirts explain, then you’ll never find them worthwhile. You’ll need to devote a certain amount of time to an FX show called The League, which is supposedly about a group of people in a fantasy football league together. In fact it’s about an insane man named Rafi and his unknowing victims.

As for the first of these three shirts:

Lacking humor and a soul, if you’re stubborn and insist on reminding the world just how great your team is, go ahead and just dawn the disgusting, yellowing rag you kept from that one time your team did anything worth a damn.

And for fans of the following teams: Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, San Diego Chargers, Tennessee Titans, Cincinnati Bengals, Philadelphia Eagles, Minnesota Vikings, Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars. Here’s the shirt for the year you guys won:

Preparation

Ask any world-class athlete you know personally, and he or she will tell you the big day isn’t really about the big day, it’s about preparing for the big day. The Super Bowl is one such very large day. Luckily for the Joes of the world, staying in tip-top shape isn’t necessary to enjoying the Super Bowl for all that it is. Nope, all we have to do is watch our TVs very intently in the preceding week to make sure said TV doesn’t do something crazy like run away, or stop working. In the event that neither of those extremely likely things happen, you might as well watch one of these football-related movies over the course of your diligence.

Any Given Sunday – The Super Intense Football Movie

Jerry Maguire – The Love Story Shrouded Within a Football Movie, Movie

Remember the Titans – The One Where Denzel is the Best at What He Does

And if you’re really into the preparation stuff, maybe it’s a TV show to binge watch you need. There’s time, my friend, there’s always time, especially when that time is spent watching Tim Riggins be amazing at everything.

Friday Night Lights – When Teenagers are Way Too Emotionally Intelligent, But It’s Relatable Anyway

Playmakers – The Scripted Show ESPN Cancelled Because it Made the NFL Look Bad (read: it was realistic)

If you’re interested, here’s a great little rundown of the first and only season of Playmakers. A lot of stuff happened in that show that was more or less a precursor to real-life events in the sporting worlds. Gay athletes. Criminal athletes. Doped up athletes. It’s like the TV version of that NFL Blitz video game reboot, NFL Blitz: The League, where the camera would zoom in on bone-cracking injuries and managing your players’ drug intake was a part of the fun. For some reason neither NFL Blitz: The League or Playmakers could net officially licensed NFL team names for the final product.

And don’t forget, CNN put together a preview of the coveted commercials to air during the game this year. For some reason this is something CNN does now, but who am I to complain? Now I don’t even have to watch anything at all.

The Perfect Football

Your party attendees just might be in the football throwing mood. Don’t be the chump without the goods, man. How else will you tackle children without inciting legal recourse?

There’s the ridiculously overpriced “Official NFL Football” over at Dicks Sporting Goods. It’s $100. I won an official Washington Wizards game ball at an auction once for $40, but this was before John Wall, so it naturally went uncontested. You could go that route, or you could stand to have some friggin’ personality and get something like this:

Unless, of course, you’re the kind of guy who needs to be the quarterback, which means making sure those damned kids can’t grip the thing. If you aren’t an over-competitive middle-aged man still trying to prove he could have made it if he wanted to, just make the kids happy:

Just in Case

If the party does indeed transition to the outdoors, and there is that guy who really needs to use a man’s football, don’t shame in keeping the following products around, just in case the Patriots inspire more than love of country in your associates. Victory comes at a price, my friend, and that price is integrity.

Everything You Need to Prep for the Super Bowl

Yet another Super Bowl has come and gone. Denver fans are drowning their sorrows while new Seahawks fans are leaping onto the bandwagon. And of course, the entire Internet was ready to lampoon the losers as well as the commercials, halftime show and pretty much everything else that happened during Super Bowl XLVIII.

We have scoured the Web to find the 25 best memes and reactions that hit on everything in yesterday’s game. Feel free to take a look and be sure to post your favorite in our comments below. Enjoy!

Best Picture of the Game

So many highlights

Horrible Joke #1

Where’s OJ when you need him?

Call back next year

Happens every year

Horrible Joke #2

Serious First World Problems

Denver has been Zoidberged

Gandalf called it

Insanity Wolf Places a Bet

Surprise, Surprise

Poor Peyton

Probably got it from Han

Peyton must have lost his red stapler

That was quick

And he was quicker on his feet

Time to update the resume

It’s like lighting money on fire

Many years ago

At least he asked nicely

After watching the T-Mobile commercials

More First World Problems

But Peyton is a people person.

Same goes for the halftime show

25 Best Reactions and Memes for Super Bowl XLVIII

Who’s ready for the Super Bowl this year between Seahawks Coffee and those Apple-loving Broncos? With hipster culture in mind, artist David Rappoccio has resigned all the of NFL logos with all the stereotypes hipsters claim are now too mainstream. Rappoccio has tied in horn-rimmed glasses, bow ties, cigarettes, beanies, goatees, berets, the Apple logo, scarves, cheap beer and pretty much any other hipster-related jab that you can think of into these logos.

You can check out the full collection of NFL logos below as a pre-pregame Super Bowl appetizer as well as the rest of Rappoccio’s work on his site here.

Seahawks

Jaguars

49ers

Bears

Bengals

Bills

Broncos

Browns

Buccaneers

Cardinals

Chargers

Chiefs

Colts

Cowboys

Dolphins

Eagles

Falcons

Giants

Jets

Lions

Packers

Panthers

Patriots

Raiders

Rams

Ravens

Redskins

Saints

Steelers

Texans

Titans

Vikings

What if NFL logos were designed by hipsters?