This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #PrepareToParty #CollectiveBias. I love to throw a fun party and a football party is even better! In this post I’ll share my delicious Ritz® Crackers meatballs recipe and my memorable serving suggestions for DiGiorno Stuffed Crust® Pizza and Coca-Cola with fun, free Football Party Printables and a FREE Football Party Planner. And, Ritz and Coca-Cola are giving away 22 $100 gift cards – scroll down to read more.
We’ve had a wonderful season of football family fun and I’ve enjoyed coming up with new ways to make each and every football party new and exciting. We love gathering with friends and celebrating our favorite teams, and with this post I’ll share some fabulous game day recipes and football game party ideas.
If you’ve been following my blog than you know what a huge part of my life football has been. For nearly a decade I spent every weekend cheering on my hometown football team including The University of Alabama while I was in college. Nearly a decade of living out of a duffle bag and the generous smell of gym socks! It was so much fun and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I had the opportunity to travel, meet some wonderful people, and cheer on my favorite teams. So, football parties have been a big part of my life and I truly enjoy hosting Big Game parties with friends.
Serving up Game Day Party Food
Serving up a fun and delicious game day spread can be easy if you have the right foods to share. Since we often serve male party guests at a football party, I like to have lots of meat dishes available. This recipe for Ritz® Cracker Meatballs and hearty DiGiorno Stuffed Crust® Pizzas will more than fit the bill for your meat-eating guests. They’re delicious, easy-to make, and fun to display and eat.
The biggest hit of our football parties, according to my husband, are my Ritz® Cracker Meatballs with sweet and sour sauce. They taste better than a hamburger and make for a hearty appetizer. The flavor is buttery and rich, with garlic tones, and includes the sweet and savory flavor of scallions baked right in. I dare say you could easily add this recipe to your standard spaghetti noodles and sauce and create a fabulous meal for your family. So to me, this is more than a game day recipe, it’s the foundation of a hearty meal.
Football Party Set Up
We have a comfy cozy breakfast area with bench seating that makes for a relaxed set-up for our game day parties. I start out my party plan by laying out all my “ingredients” for the party on the table. I consider what dishes I’m making and I gather together the serving platters and our ice bucket to display our drinks and food in a way that makes them easily accessible for our guests. You’ll see the serving trays and ice bucket in use in some of the photos of the final set up of our football party. I always make sure to have plenty of party supplies like plates, napkins and serving-wear to make it simple to serve up our delicious football fare and disposable plates and napkins make for easy clean-up after the party.
I found all my party supplies, Coke, Ritz® Crackers and DiGiorno Stuffed Crust® Pizza at Walmart. I often shop with my two and four-year-olds in tow so It’s so nice when I can find everything I need in one stop! I picked up the Ritz® Crackers on the crackers and snacks aisle, the coke on the soft drinks aisle, the DiGiorno Stuffed Crust® Pizza in the freezer case, and the football party decorations and games in the party supplies section at Walmart.
Football Party Decorations
Before you take any ingredients out of the fridge, you’ll want to decorate the room and print out and display any party printables. Included in this post are some football helmets, and a printable football field so you can recreate the football scene with my Ritz® Cracker Meatballs at home.
I used a 1 & 1/2 inch hole punch to create the signage for the toothpick inserts for the meatballs. This enabled me to create a game day scene with the Ritz® Cracker Meatballs. I used the plastic football party platter to hold the extra meatballs and create a “stadium” of football fans, as well as hold my sweet and sour sauce for the meatballs. I used clear tape to tape the helmets onto the toothpicks which made for some adorable “players” on the football field.
Click the blue “Download Now” button to download your FREE copy of these football party printables for your next football party.
Ritz Cracker Meatballs and FREE Football Party Printables
I love the buttery flavor of Ritz crackers, and when serving a whole host of guests, I like to offer a hearty dish that will satisfy even the hungriest appetite through a three to four hour game. This recipe makes a ton of food – especially since the base is a 5 lb. roll of ground beef. If you are using this recipe to create a meal for a family of four, create only half the recipe unless you plan to freeze the extra meat balls. The meatballs freeze easily and can be served up later simply by using the defrost setting on your microwave.
Ingredients for Ritz Cracker Meatballs Recipe
2 – Boxes of Ritz Crackers
1 – 5 lb. package of Ground Beef (you could use ground turkey but it will not have as juicy a flavor)
1 – Package of Scallions – about a dozen scallion spears
3 – Tablespoons of minced garlic (about 18 clove pieces)
1/2 – Stick of Butter
1 – Tablespoon of cooking oil (vegetable oil is ok & is optional)
1 – Tablespoon Garlic Salt
1- Teaspoon Salt
2 – Eggs
1/2 – Cup of Water
1 – Jar of Sweet and Sour Sauce – pick your store-bought favorite
Directions to create the Ritz Cracker Meatballs Recipe
1. Step 1 – Wash scallions throughly.
2. Step 2 – Dice the scallions and garlic into small pieces. I chopped my garlic into “minced” sized pieces. You can also buy already minced garlic in a jar if you prefer. Scallions are best fresh so you’ll need to purchase those in the produce section and dice them at home. You can substitute onions if you would rather use onions but you won’t get that hearty green color in your meatballs if you sub out the scallions.
3. Step 3 – Saute the garlic and scallions in a pan of melted butter until nicely browned.
4. Step 4 – While the garlic and scallions are sautéing, crush two sleeves of Ritz Crackers in a glass bowl. Once crushed add your garlic salt (or plain salt) and mix.
5. Step 5 – In a separate, larger mixing bowl, add your ground beef and mix and chop until evenly separated. Add the breadcrumbs and seasoning mixture and mix throughly. I used a large deep pot for this task.
6. Step 6 – Once the glass bowl of crushed Ritz crackers is emptied into the meat mixture, crush another two sleeves of Ritz Crackers to use to coat the exterior of the meatballs. Set aside.
7. Step 7 – Once the meat mixture is completely mixed add your scallions and garlic from the sautee pan as well as your eggs to the meat mixture and mix again. I use my hands and a mix and chop tool to mix.
8. Step 8 – Add 1/2 water to meat mixture. Massage and mix throughly. It’s best just to use clean hands and knead until evenly mixed.
9. Step 9 – Meat mixture should be wet. Form meatballs from the meat mixture. The size of your meatball will affect the cooking time. I created meatballs that were about the size of a lemon, only in a sphere-shape. Smaller meatballs (ping pong size) will take about 15 minutes to bake, larger ones will take 20 to 22 minutes. Longer if larger.
10. Step 10 – Line a cookie sheet or broiling pan with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
11. Step 11 – Roll your meatballs into the crushed Ritz Crackers to coat them with Ritz Cracker pieces. Place cracker coated meatballs onto the parchment paper on the cookie sheet (if you prefer to drain the meatballs as they cook, use a broiling pan and place the meatballs on the grid with openings so the fat drains off the meatballs as they cook). Keep rolling and placing meatballs until the entire cookie sheet is filled. I recommend using a cookie sheet with sidewalls to prevent a mess on your oven floor.
12. Step 12 – Bake Meatballs 15-20 minutes. If you are unsure of doneness, use a meat thermometer to determine if the meatballs have reached 165 degrees at the center. Again, cooking time will depend upon how large your meatballs are.
13. Step 13 – Drain meatballs on a baking rack or broiling dish. See all that buttery flavor – yummy! And with the garlic and onion aromas, your football party room will fill with the smells of delicious party food!
14. Step 14 – Plate the meatballs by setting them on top of Ritz crackers. Position the meatball and Ritz crackers on the football field to create a football scene with football players.
15. Step 15 – Add the football helmets to the meatballs. The helmets included in the printable pack are created in such a way that you can print them onto any colored paper. You can customize the helmets to match your favorite football teams. I used blue and orange for our “meatball” players.
16. Step 16 – Create a football stadium of football fans with the rest of the meatballs. I added helmets to the fans to indicate who they are cheering for and to make for a more colorful display. Plus party guests can use the toothpicks to add the meatballs to their plates.
Yahoo! Now you have the perfect game day fare with your little meatball football players served up on easy to eat Ritz crackers.
I put together a shot Instagram video with some special Jazz music to sum up my football party plan and some of our party fun!
Additional Football Party Set Up with Food Displays
Jazz up your party food display by carefully cutting up and serving up your DiGiorno Stuffed Crust® Pizza and Coca-Cola. For the pizza tray display, I simply cut the pizza into rectangles. I then cut complete rectangles into triangles with a diagonal line down the middle going from corner to corner. The pizza I used in this photo is the DiGiorno Stuffed Crust® Pizza Supreme.
If you’ve ever been to a catered wedding, you may have noticed that the caterers rarely leave an empty plate. They almost always line the serving platters with lettuce or some other form of greenery to spruce up the food displays. The same holds true for my football party. By adding green leaf lettuce to the party displays, I was able to create a “fuller” table display. The pizza I used in this photo is the DiGiorno Stuffed Crust® Pizza Pepperoni.
By displaying the Coca-Cola in a clear ice bucket with loads of ice, guests can easily access their soft drinks. Clear ice buckets make refreshments easier to find and lend themselves to creative party displays.
Football Party Games and Half Time Photo Fun
Don’t miss some of the fun game day party extras at Walmart. I picked up a super fun Dry Erase Betting Squares Game that allows your guests to write their names in a block that represents what they believe will be the final score of the game. You can prepare a simple party prize by giving away a free football-themed prize or maybe some take-home meatballs for your party guests.
I also picked up some Photo Booth Props with football eyeglasses, goal posts, a football helmet, and some other fun football-themed props. Encourage guests to get in on the fun with some festive half-time photos. Everyone loves fun party pics from the Big Game!
Even the guys enjoyed a little half time photo op!
Win Prizes from Coca-Cola and Ritz
Ritz and Coca Cola have teamed up to give away twenty-two $100 prepaid gift cards (grand prize) – one for each day of the contest, starting at 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time (“ET”), January 12, 2015, and ending at 11:59 p.m. ET, February 2, 2015. In addition, they are giving away three $50 gift cards (first prize) per each day of the sweepstakes. For All Prizes: Terms and conditions of gift cards apply. No substitution, exchange or transfer of prize by any winner. Sponsor reserves the right to substitute any prize for one of equal or greater value. Each winner is responsible for all taxes and fees associated with prize receipt and/or use. Limit: 1 Grand prize and 1 First prize per person. Total ARV of all prizes: $5,500.
Enter to WIN at: www.homebowl.com (not an affiliate link)
More Party Planning Ideas
If you’d like even more game day ideas check out my FREE 40 Point Football Party Planner or visit one of the following social media channels for Ritz, DiGiorno, and Coca-Cola for even more football party food fun!
- Coke on Facebook
- Twitter: @CocaCola
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/cocacola
- Ritz Crackers on Facebook
- Twitter: @Ritzcrackers
- DiGiorno® on Facebook
- Twitter: @DiGiornoPizza
So what’s your game day plan?
Have a favorite game to play, or recipe to share for your football party? Maybe other HappyandBlessedHome.com readers would love to see your tips for the perfect game day below. Please leave a comment and join the fun. I always love hearing from my readers!
Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter /Google + / Bloglovin’/ Instagram
Fun Pinnable Image
Thanks for being a fan! Do you have a board for party fun or delicious food recipes on Pinterest? Help spread the word and PIN this post on Pinterest!
