The Indy’s guide for the least aggravating Super Bowl party.
For plebs (read: broke college students) who cannot afford tickets to the 50th Super Bowl in Santa Clara’s Levi Stadium, The Indy brings you a comprehensive guide to help you host a fun viewing party or plan an outing to the most happening bars in Boston and Cambridge.
House Events:
The Super Bowl isn’t a vacation from the myriad of assignments that you put off until Sunday evening and planning an outing or viewing party might take too much effort. However, you know your chipper HoCo members will be planning a House-wide watch party. You won’t have to do anything but show up and hoard all of the snacks.
- If you are feeling antisocial or need to work on that p-set, you can steal food and bring it back to your own room.
- If you do decide to stay for the house-wide party, make sure you go early to claim a good seat. You want prime viewing for Beyoncé during halftime.
Dorm Parties:
Hosting Super Bowl party in your dorm room can seem like a daunting task. You have to balance the football die-hard’s desire to be as close to the television as possible and still make it social enough for the bandwagoners to take a break from pretending to care about sports.
- Fill out a party form. You don’t want tutors to bust you for an unregistered get together.
- Have a decent sized television. Don’t bother hosting a viewing party if you’ll just be streaming the game on your small laptop through Philo.
- Make Venmo requests early. We all know the struggle of being broke college students trying to rub two pennies together to make a handle of Rubi appear and hosting a party can be expensive. If you want your guests to chip in, let them know early to avoid any awkwardness.
- Have a variety of beverages. Not everyone at your party will be drinking (or will even be of age) so make sure you don’t just stock up on PBR.
- For cheap alcohol, venture down to Trader Joe’s for the (in)famous 2 Buck Chuck and other hipster beers. For even cheaper alcohol in larger quantities, take an Uber over to Blanchard’s Liquor Store in Allston.
- If you want the most bang for your buck when it comes to pizza, take Dominoes up on its $5.99 mix and match deal for two or more items including medium pizzas, eight-piece wings, and cheesy break.
- However, Harvard square does offer some more ‘upper-crust’ pizza options including Otto’s, Pinocchio’s, the Just Crust, Crazy Dough, and Harvard House of Pizza.
- Be sure to place your pizza order early. Don’t order as the Super Bowl starts. Your pizza will definitely be delivered late.
- Snag extra trash bags and recycling bins from your building manager to make clean up easy. No one wants an early Monday morning cleaning spree.
- Create a drinking game to go along with your party. For example, make everyone take a shot every time an announcer comments on Cam Newton’s dabbing. Everyone must finish his or her drink when Cam himself dabs.
- If you can’t splurge on food all by yourself, make your viewing party into a potluck. Every guest must bring in some sort of snack. Not only will you have a variety of foods, you also won’t be stuck with ten different open bags of chips at the end of the night.
- Room set up is key for a viewing party. If you common room is large enough, divide the space into two sections: one dedicated to serious sports fanatics and one dedicated to people who are present to ‘Super Bowl and Chill.’
- Be different from the various Facebook events your peers will create. Make a free Paperless Post account and choose from one of the many football-themed designs to request RSVPs from your friends.
- Utilize the dining hall. You don’t need to purchase essentials like ice or mixer when you can simply bring oversized cups to fill in the dining hall.
- Speaking of utilizing the dining hall, you can make your party classy by making wine spritzers using a splash of carbonated water, a standard pour of wine, and the new infused water that’s available.
- Have your close friends bring extra pillows or seats so you can fit everyone.
Out and About:
Harvard Square and Boston have plenty of options to get you out of your room for this year’s Super Bowl. If you need a change in scenery, hit up these options.
- Harvard Square’s Shake Shack will offer a Big Game Shack Pack that includes ten burgers, two pints of custard, and a mini football for $50. You can order by phone starting February 1st and pick up your order on February 7th. Call 617-758-8495 for more details.
- Looking for a classier Super Bowl eatery? Head over to Grafton Street for Sriracha garlic wings or an untraditional ‘poutine.’ Visit wwww.graftonstreetcambridge.com or call 617-497-0400 for more information.
- If cheap wings are your shtick, then Night Market will be serving up fifty-cent wings with the purchase of an alcoholic beverage. You’ll have the chance to try interesting flavors like coffee barbeque and ‘numb-numb.’
- For those who want the true Boston experience, get to Cask ‘N Flagon near Fenway Park early! The mega-sports bar boasts 60 high-definition televisions. There will even be a complimentary halftime buffet for patrons!
Etiquette:
- Everyone likes different parts of the Super Bowl experience. Football fanatics, be respectful of the people who come for the game but stay for the commercials and Halftime.
- Don’t talk during Beyoncé’s Halftime performance. It’s disrespectful to talk at the same time as Queen Bey.
- Don’t mess with the host’s television. If you want the channel changed, ask the host. If you want the volume adjusted, ask the host. If you want the TV at a different angle, ask the host.
- Try not to spill anything. Dorm room carpets are disgusting. Don’t add to the grossness.
- Don’t give the play-by-play when everyone else has just watched the same thing. Also, don’t get super technical to confuse everyone else watching the game.
- Don’t yell, “Yay Sports!”
- Don’t cheer for a team just because they are winning. Pick a team and see them through to the bitter end.
- Don’t get too schwasted. It’s a Sunday and ain’t nobody got time to clean up puke on a Sunday.
Shaquilla Harrigan ’16 (sharrigan01@college.harvard.edu) can’t wait to kick back with a cold brew and some hot wings.