You’ll want to think of a space that’s welcoming for everyone. It should be spacious enough for guests to hang out, have room for food and decor placement and have floors that can be wiped up in case your friends get excited over a play and spill their beer again.

We may be biased, but a garage is perfect for this — provided it’s clean and organized!

Speaking of spills, a granite-like, stain-resistant polyaspartic floor coating from Hello Garage makes cleaning up before and after your football party a breeze. And with a variety of unique colors to choose from, this epoxy alternative suits a wide range of styles. You might even be able to match the color to your favorite team!

2. Send out an invite. 

Let the invite set the tone. Right out of the gate, let your attendees know this is a legit party and that they won’t want to miss it. You could go all out and send printed invites in the mail. Because, honestly, who expects that these days? Or there are websites like Evite with plenty of free themed options that you could send via email or text.

3.Make everyone dress the part.

Let’s face it, everyone has more fun and lets loose when they dress for a theme. So, ask your guests to dress for the occasion by wearing something related to their favorite team or sport or dressing like a mascot or referee — anything sports-related. If you want to ensure everyone does it, throw in a prize for best dressed! Make a fun football-themed basket full of goodies or craft a handmade traveling trophy they’ll fight over each year.

4. Deck out your space.

Invest in the decorations. Just do it. Amazon, Target, the Dollar Store — they’re all brimming with cheap and fun football and sports-related decor.

Here’s a hot tip: You could buy the $15 balloon arch package from Amazon and spend six hours trying to assemble it, ending with bloody fingers and a full swear jar — or you could just pay the $150 for a local and talented company to come in and install it in five minutes. It will become a talking point, and people will use it for photos that will be looked at for years.

5. Get creative with decor placement.

Your garage is filled with areas that you can transform with decorations. Hang a football garland or a photo backdrop from your track system, create a football chandelier out of balloons and hang it from your overhead storage or utilize your storage shelves and workbench for your game-day snacks.

6. Ambiance is key.

No one likes walking into a dead silent and stale party. Make sure you have background music playing before the game starts. Lighting is also essential when it comes to creating a welcoming space. Add some fun uplights or battery-operated LED strip lights to bring color into the mix.

7. Provide adequate seating.

There’s nothing worse than getting to a party and having to stand the entire game while fumbling around with your artichoke dip and beer. Get creative with what you have around your house to add seating. Dining room chairs, bean bags, camping chairs — use whatever you’ve got! And don’t forget to add height in the back to help with viewing. You could even use truck beds parked in the driveway for additional high seating in the back.

Incorporate game-day-themed props into your food displays. Some ideas include using large Gatorade cooler dispensers to dispense your favorite adult beverages, bringing out the footballs lying around in the garage and propping them up on buckets in between food items or investing in some turf placemats to use underneath your platters.

You can also label your food items with football lingo. Here are just a few examples:

Bucket of napkins = “Penalty Flags”

Bottled water = “Water Break”

Brownies = “Blitz Brownies”

Veggie tray = “Victory Veggies”

Taco or nacho bar = “What’s Your Play” and list the toppings

9. Provide props at the door.

As soon as your guests enter, set them up with game-day gear. Things like pom poms, large and mini foam fingers, branded stadium cups and football beads and an extra level of fun.

10. Provide things to do for guests who really just don’t like football.

Let’s face it; some people simply come for the snacks and the halftime show. Incorporating other forms of entertainment will keep everyone involved and prevent guests from getting bored. We’ve listed a few of our favorite ideas below.

Football trivia

Big-Game bingo

Rate the commercials

Tailgate game favorites, like cornhole, yard pong, ladder toss, etc.

And if you’re ready to really deck out that garage for the big game (and for a ton of future gatherings for family and friends), give Hello Garage a call at 1.888.59.GARAGE or click here to schedule a free estimate for a dream garage transformation!