Simple Football Fete 2021
Are you ready for some football?!? After a relaxing holiday break I’m so excited to get back to table styling and event planning, even if we’re still in the “micro-gathering” phase for a while! January can sometimes feel a little bleak, but with the Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day on the horizon, it’s the perfect excuse to flex those party muscles and plan a little soiree, even if you’re just entertaining your spouse and kids (why not make things extra special in these weird times?!?).
I teamed up with the fabulous Molly Sohr to design the first several tables of 2021, starting with this cozy Super Bowl viewing. Molly is a fantastic wedding planner and lifestyle blogger here in Nashville, and her Instagram is full of fabulous inspiration. It was so fun to collaborate and use her beautiful home as a backdrop! I can’t wait for y’all to see everything we designed, but for now, let’s “kick off” with this Super Bowl Sunday Soiree. Go Chiefs!
Setting the Scene
The Super Bowl is an ideal time to break out the paper goods – it’s an inherently casual event, and who wants to do dishes late on Sunday night?? Of course, just because it’s paper doesn’t mean it can’t be chic. For this setup I turned to Momo Party, one of my favorite resources for elevated paper supplies. They have items for every holiday and theme under the sun (especially kids’ parties), and I love that you can buy things a la carte or as a “party in a box.” The plates, cups, napkins, straws, and cutlery we used here are all from the football edit.
For this table, we stuck with a mostly black and white theme to complement Molly’s beautiful living room (it’s also a fun nod to refs’ uniforms). I think the color combo strikes a more sophisticated tone, while the pops of green keep it just playful enough. The striped runner is from Hester & Cook and serves double duty: it anchors the whole vignette AND protects the coffee table from spills. Hester & Cook is another favorite resource for seriously chic paper goods – I can’t tell you how many of their pieces I own for instant table decor. Their Touchdown Runner and Football Placemats are also perfect for Super Bowl Sunday (I’ve used both on past tables).
The Food
Obviously I’m not cooking, so thank goodness I have Kristen’s Pantry on speed dial. This is the “gourmet to-go” arm of Kristen Winston Catering, and they offer everything from weeknight meals to specialty menus for holidays and events. Their Super Bowl menu is FANTASTIC and available for pickup and delivery on Feb. 6. Seriously y’all, we could not stop shoving sliders and dip into our mouths as soon as Lele was done photographing the table. I love Kristen’s approach to the food – it’s a menu of small bites, but they’re heavy enough to serve as a full dinner. You can replicate this approach with sandwiches, various dips, crudites, and maybe a cheese board and cookies. The best part is that none of these foods are very messy. Chili always seems like a great idea until someone’s eating it on your white couch!
Kristen was kind enough to style the food for this shoot, and I want to highlight a few tricks she used to make everything look extra fabulous:
Cake stands are your BFF. Adding height enlivens any table, and a cake stand or pedestal dish is the easiest way to do this. They’re not just for desserts! Here we used a cake stand for the sliders and embellished them with treat picks (think beyond cupcakes for these babies). You’ll notice that we echoed this height and dimension by styling the straws in a stack of paper cups and adding a tall vase of simple greenery. The drinks container also lends some height.
Vary your serving pieces. Kristen used a combination of round, square, and rectangular trays to present the food. The variety keeps it interesting and helps fit all the food on the table (there isn’t room for a bunch of the big round platters, for example, so the rectangular trays are key for smaller items). Plus, the black and white really make the food pop.
Make sure there’s something for everyone. Admittedly this isn’t a styling tip, but notice that vegetarians, the gluten-free crowd, and kids ALL have fab choices here. The nice thing about a menu of small bites is that it’s much easier to cater to guests’ individual needs, so go the extra mile and make sure everyone’s covered.
*All photos by Lele Fain Photography*