Popcorn Bar Ideas (Football Party Theme)

Game Day Popcorn Bar

Hey football fans, it’s time to start planning your super bowl party! If you’re the hostess, that means food, drink, and festive party decorations.

Setting up a game day popcorn bar is a good place to start, and microwave popcorn makes it even easier to assemble.

Provide some sweet and salty toppings and let the games begin!

Football Themed Decorations

Create a fun buffet table as the focal point, with décor that carries out the theme.

• Stick with a black and white and green color palette to make it super easy and chic.
• Add some football-themed food picks, a DIY pennant banner, footballs, megaphones, and a bright yellow “penalty flag.”
• Black & white striped snack boxes mimic the look of the referee’s shirts. Or you can make paper cones for food using football themed scrapbook paper.
• Make a backdrop by spray painting a piece of plywood with chalkboard paint. Add white masking tape to create the lines of a football field. Craft number and letter stickers define the yard lines and end zone.

Best Popcorn to Use

The base of your toppings bar is going to be popcorn of course. And the easiest thing to use is microwave popcorn bags.

• Pop two bags of lightly salted popcorn. I recommend Orville Redenbacher’s Simply Salted Naturals popcorn. It’s got just enough salt for flavor but leaves it open to salty add-ins too.
• Pop two bags of butter popcorn. For this I like Orville Redenbacher Butter, or Pop-Secret Homestyle Butter. They give you a nice butter base without overpowering the toppings.

Those four bags are enough to fill two large jars, and plenty enough to feed a small crowd.

Popcorn Mix-Ins

The add-ins are where you can get creative and have fun mixing and matching flavors. Here are 4 topping ideas that don’t require any additional work from you.

Just buy packages of trail mix or snack mix. Target has a great selection with more variety than the grocery store.

• Asian Nut Crunch Trail Mix. Includes rice crackers, sesame sticks, wasabi peas, and peanuts.
• Dried Tropical Fruit Mix. It has banana chips, papaya, coconut, almonds, and raisins.
• Peanut Butter & Salty Mix. This has a mix of pretzel sticks, peanut butter chips, Reese’s Pieces or similar brand, and salted peanuts.
• Chocolate candies. Use M&M’s candies or similar brand. For an extra festive touch, buy colors that represent the team’s colors.

Favorite Combinations

Start with a layer of popcorn, add a layer of mix-ins, add more popcorn, and a final topping layer. Try these delicious combos.

1. Lightly salted popcorn + tropical fruit mix + chocolates.
2. Butter flavored popcorn + Asian mix.
3. Lightly salted popcorn + peanut butter mix + chocolates.
4. Butter popcorn + tropical fruit mix.

Additional Options

• Prepare savory Chex Mix ahead of time and add it to the table.
• Make sweet sugared pecans to add in for a sweet and salty combo.
• These sweet & spicy pecans will add even more flavor with a hint of heat.
• Include the ingredients for my simple popcorn snack mix.
• You could even make sweet & salty Chex mx to serve by itself or use as a mix-in.
• Add some cereal for even more deliciousness. Some good ones to try are Cap’n Crunch, Cracklin’ Oat Bran, Golden Grahams, or Fruit Loops. They’re shapes and size are easy to pick up and eat with your fingers.

Super Bowl Snack Bar

These flavors cover a variety of salty and sweet options that can be combined in a multitude of ways.

• To round out the party buffet, serve slow cooker bbq beef sandwiches with homemade slaw.
• Setout a football themed charcuterie board to nosh on.
• Make a football shaped cheese ball a couple of days ahead for easy entertaining.
• Serve drinks on ice to quench your guest’s thirst.

I know your guests will love these popcorn bar ideas for a football party. They’re fun and delicious for people of all ages.