Host a Kid Friendly Rose Bowl Party

For all of you Hawkeye football fans, what a great ride this year has been? And, capping off the season with a trip to the “granddaddy” of all bowl games, The Rose Bowl, will bring even more excitement! The game is sure to be one of the top bowl games of the season with the Iowa Hawkeyes taking on the Stanford Cardinal on Friday, January 1st, 2016. The game will be aired on ESPN at 4:00 pm CST.

For those of you not making the trip to Pasadena, why not celebrate with the fam with a party at home? Here are some ways your family can eat, drink, craft and play The Rose Bowl day away.

Pre-Game Planning

Invitation

Once you’ve decided to host a Rose Bowl party, you know it will be the hottest ticket in town! So, why not create one to invite your guests to the party. We’ve created a ticket invitation as part of our FREE Hawkeye Rosebowl Party Printables. Fill in the details, print and cut, quick easy and inexpensive. If that’s too much work for you a digital invitation or a quick email will also do the trick.

Decor

Decorating your home for the big game is a fun way to create a festive environment for the big day. For this party you will want to incorporate the Hawkeye’s team colors of black and gold into plates, napkins, food and desserts. You can also look to the football field for classic elements and shapes, like: footballs; the field itself; goal post; helmets; jerseys, etc. Lastly, you don’t want to forget to incorporate a few roses into your décor. The above banner is included in the FREE Party Printables packet.

Game Day

Suit Up

Host a Kid Friendly Rose Bowl Party - dsm4kids.com — Photo courtesy of the Johnson Family

Of course you’ll support the Hawkeyes by wearing black and gold! You can also take your game day attire up a notch and have some fun accessories available for little fans. My daughter loves to wear temporary tattoos or stickers on her face when we attend football games, why not wear them at the party? You could also have face paint available or even some colored hair spray to really fan up. There’s also tons of cute fingernail designs for football fans. Go all out and support your team!

Games & Activities

Keeping kids interested in the football game can be challenging. Here are some ideas to keep the kiddos at your Rose Bowl Party entertained and involved with the game.

Watch the Parade – The Rose Bowl Parade will air live Friday, January 1^st, 2016 at 10:00 am CST. It will be broadcast on ABC, NBC, Hallmark Channel, HGTV, RFD-TV and Univision.
Play Football Squares – We’ve included a grid to play the squares game with the party printables. Squares is a wagering competition in which people try to predict the last digit of the scores for both teams at the end of each quarter. Since this is a family party, if you don’t want to play for money, the hostess could offer up a small prize for the winner of each quarter. Prizes could include a small football, a foam finger, mardi gras style beads, temporary tattoos, etc.
Play Football Bingo – Kids can start to lose interest during the game. It can fun to engage them in a simple game, like football bingo. We included a bingo game with the party printables, but you can also find other options on-line or create your own.
Make Pom Poms – We created some pomp poms using plastic table cloths from the Dollar Tree. Check out the party printables for directions on how to make your own.
Make Signs – Purchase some large sheets of paper, lay out the markers and let kids design their own signs to root on their favorite team.
Coloring Pages – http://kidprintables.com/ has several football related coloring pages. Print a few out and put them on the tables along with crayons, so guests can color at their leisure.
Half-Time Show – Send the kids to another room to create a half-time show they will perform for the adults.
Pin the Football on the Goal Post – Use painter’s tape to create a goal post on a blank wall. Cut footballs from brown construction paper and attach some of the painter’s tape to them. Blindfold the kids and see if they can get the football between the uprights.

Food & Drink

What’s a Rose Bowl party without some refreshments? Fans will need to keep their energy up to cheer on the boys on the field. Following are some food and drink ideas:

“Hayden Fries” – Create a French fry bar. Cook up some frozen French fries and set out toppings like chili, sour cream, cheese, jalapenos, etc. to dress them up.
“Chuck Foot Longs” – Create a hot dog bar. Lay out hot dogs, buns and toppings and let guests serve themselves.
“Black & Gold Salad” – Black Bean & Corn Salad. (Substitute green peppers for the red).
Iced Sugar Cookies – Make or buy cookies in the shape of a football, helmet, or jersey.
Football Brownies – Make brownies and then cut and ice to look like a football.
Lemonade
Bottled Water
Adult Beverages