Click here to see the full line of Kaskey Kids sports figures, such as Hockey Guys

Imaginative play is important for your kids’ mental and emotional development.  It helps improve their intelligence, fosters psychological resilience, and teaches them to handle diverse circumstances.

There aren’t too many high-quality, inexpensive toys that can help expand your kids’ ability to play imaginatively, while at the same time being fun over the long-term.  But that’s exactly what the sports figures from Kaskey Kids are able to do. 

Not only can these creative playthings encourage your children to put their imagination into play, they also teach kids the fundamentals of team sports and how to think strategically.  As a result, the Kaskey Kids Football Guys, Soccer Guys, Baseball Guys, and more have won awards and become a notable success story in the toy marketplace. 

=> Click here to check out the award-winning Kaskey Kids Football Guys, Hockey Guys, and other team sports action figures, along with their “Bop Bags” and Go!  Go! Sports Dolls.   And, since you’re going through my site, enter code “CJ10″ during checkout to get 10% off your order!

You remember the toy soldiers you played with as a kid?  That was a perfect example of the imagination at play as you made up elaborate scenarios and stories for your army of action figures. 

Well, Kaskey Kids is just like that, except instead of soldiers the figures are athletes — baseball players, hockey players, football players, and soccer players.   See the video below for an in-depth look at the fun kids can have with Kaskey Kids sports action figures available at Kaskeykids.com:

For kids in the age-range of 3 – 10 years old, the Kaskey Kids sports action figures can provide hours of fun, unstructured play — as well as giving you the opportunity to teach your son or daughter about a particular sport, the rules of the game, how a team works together on the field, and so on.  They make excellent instructional play sets for your budding soccer player, hockey player, football player, or baseball player.

In addition to free-form play, there are also several different structured games that the Kaskey Kids company has created that enable you (or their siblings or friends) to play with their football guys, soccer guys, and other action figures along with them in ways that encourage strategic thinking and planning (see the Kaskey Kids site for more details).  For parents and for kids, Kaskey Kids sports guys are a win-win toy!

Click to see all the styles of Kaskey Kids Football Guys

Kaskey Kids are the brainchild of Christy Kaskey, a mother of three who in 2002 was trying to find action figures that her sports-loving kids could play with. 

She couldn’t find anything on the market that fit the bill — action figures other than soldiers or superheroes that her kids could play with while also focusing on the sports they enjoyed — so she created sports figures herself.  The Kaskey Kids company was born; the first production run of the Football Guys sold out in a matter of weeks, and the rest, as they say, is history. 

Kaskey Kids Sports Figures are Award Winners

Since they became available, Kaskey Kids’ sports-figure toys have received many accolades from the toy industry, including the Gold Seal “Best Toy Award” from Oppenheim Toy Portfolio, the 2011 Brilliance Award from Brilliant Sky Toys & Books (in the imaginative play category), the 2007 Best Toy Award from Learning Express (for the Kaskey Kids Football Guys), a “Four Star Certified” rating from WTS Toy Review, a National Parenting Center “Seal of Approval” in 2011 for the Hockey Guys… and the list goes on.  

Enthusiastic press reviews and articles have also appeared in national media — including, most recently, the Sports Illustrated for Kids 2011 “Gotta Get It Guide,” which is featured on the Kaskey Kids homepage.  In the “Gotta Get It Guide,” the Kaskey Kids NHL Hockey Guys, Rangers Vs. Bruins, are recommended.

The Kaskey Kids Football Guys come in both “pro” football and college football versions (with teams such as Auburn, Michigan, Ohio State, and Texas).  The Hockey Guys come in both generic (blue versus yellow) and NHL figures.  The Baseball Guys are classic red vs. blue action figures.  Each team of sports figures comes with a field (for the football guys and soccer guys — and there are also soccer girls), a rink (for the hockey guys), and a diamond (for the baseball guys), along with referee figures and other equipment that enable your kid(s) to play with their action figures on a surface that matches the sport.  The “outdoor” fields are made of sturdy felt — much more durable and satisfying to play with than a plastic sheet.

The Kaskey Kids sports figures are made of sturdy molded plastic and are in compliance with the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.  They will stand up to years of play and are large enough for toddlers’ hands to easily grasp.

Customer (Parents’) reviews of Kaskey Kids Sports Guys

But what’s the bottom line?  What do parents have to say about how well their kids like the Kaskey Kids Football Guys, Baseball Guys, Hockey Guys, Soccer Guys and other toys?  Well, “5-star” reviews significantly outnumber any other rating for Kaskey Kids sports figures.  Here are excerpts from online customer reviews of Kaskey Kids creative playthings:

Kids of all ages can play with Kaskey Kids action figures in whatever ways they like (photo of an actual Kaskey Kids fan)

“So many toys advertise ‘hours of fun.’  This one should, because it is probably the most played-with toy my boys, ages 5 and 7, have.  We have the soccer guys, football guys, and baseball guys.  My boys play with them alone or together and have done so for several years.  This is one of our staple toys…”

“My nephew loves this [toy].  However, that being said, even without the [hockey rink] boards, he loved playing with the ice surface and players.  He would re-enact Bruins games and do the play by play.  As he grew, he wanted to have the side boards again and would often build them with blocks.  He plays with this toy so often that I wanted to give him a chance to have a new one now that he is older.  I love the fact that it is not an electronic [toy] but rather one that encourages his imagination…  He is now 7 and had the first one since he was 3 or 4 years old.”

“My boys use the field and baseball figures to track the the plays their ‘teams’ make on a baseball pinball game.  When used this way it brings the pinball game to life and adds the excitement of wondering what will happen next.”

“We’ve got three little boys, ages 8, 5, & 3, who love the hockey, soccer, football, and baseball guys.  For little ones who like ‘guys,’ these toys really encourage imaginative play.  For us, preferred over video games and movies.  Very fun to watch.”

“My 8-yr-old son has had the Baseball Guys for a couple of years, along with the Football Guys.  Great toys!  Very well designed and durable.  We love that one of the baseball teams is red (like our beloved Red Sox) and one blue (we pretend they are the Yankees).  The scoreboard that is included is so cute, you can adjust the score and it stands up.  Lots of imaginative fun with this toy!  Perfect for our little baseball fan.”

“My 5-year-old son absolutely loved [the Baseball Guys].  Although he received many other gifts for his birthday, many of which had pretty high ‘wow’ factor, this was far and away his favorite.  It won over Transformers, Star Wars figures, and Legos.  I’m still somewhat incredulous, but clearly he loves it.  One week later and he’s still happily playing and making up games.  In addition, it’s helped him understand some of the elements of the game that were beyond him.  He can position players and is starting to mimic the announcers he sees playing.  He’s even put #11 at short, since Jimmy Rollins is his favorite player.”

About the only critical comments reviewers made about the Kaskey Kids toys was that the carrying cases used to store the sets could be a little bigger — the size made it a bit hard for small kids (say, 3 years old) to put away.  Also, the play surface “fields” would sometimes tend to wrinkle, making it harder to stand the action figures up.  (However, those reviewers might not have followed the instructions from Kaskey Kids, which is to store the playing surfaces rolled up, and, when the new games are first opened and taken out of the box, let them sit flat for awhile to let the creases flatten out.  You can even iron the felt fields.)

Of course, Kaskey Kids sports figures not only encourage pretend play on the part of your kids, they’re also great for kids who have already developed a love of sports or an interest in a particular sport, such as football, hockey, or baseball.  Some kids — even 3-year-olds — take to such things early.  Just ask Christy Kaskey.  (Yes, 3-year-olds can understand the concept of a “body check.”) 

Click to see the Kaskey Kids Baseball Guys and accessories -- including field and scoreboard

And throughout the cold, short days and long nights of the winter months, letting your kids put their imagination to work with Football Guys or Soccer Guys will go a long way toward occupying their time when it’s hard for them to get outdoors and be active.

Further information on the benefits of imaginative or “pretend” play

Many studies have been performed on how kids develop both physically and mentally through play, as well as analyses of the types of play that foster healthy development.  With regard to pretend play specifically, much scholarly research is available and you can find this research summarized online, such as this article on pretend play entitled The Role of Pretend Play in Children’s Cognitive Development.

The bottom line, as summarized in the relatively brief article linked to above, is that high-quality pretend play fosters “cognitive competence” in kids.  A growing body of research suggests that pretend play, or imaginative play, plays an important role in cognitive, social, and academic development, that it may facilitate higher-level thinking and creativity, and that there is a clear link between pretend play and social and linguistic competence. 

Studies also suggest that children who lack opportunities to play imaginatively experience a diminished capacity for problem solving and social interaction, as well as a decline in the ability to handle academic subjects such as math, literacy, and science.  Complex skills and multidimensional abilities are most likely to be fully developed and thrive in an environment where high-quality pretend play is encouraged.

Kaskey Kids has also posted an article on their site written by Kara Bowman, an educator associated with the Museum Tour Catalog, entitled The Joys of Open-Ended Play.

You know, there’s a reason kids like to actively imagine things as they play:  it’s turning them into better all-around human beings.

Sports action figures are just a part of the creative, sports-oriented toys Kaskey Kids offers

As mentioned above, Kaskey Kids also has “Bop Bags,” which are 40-inch tall Tackle Buddies and Checking Buddies that your little guys can knock around and have bounce back for more.  Kaskey also has Mini Packs of action sports figures in different colors, so you can add new players and teams to your collection of Baseball Guys, Hockey Guys, or whatever teams you have.  And they also have the Sports Girls dolls, which are 14-inch plush, soft cotton dolls — girls doing various sports and other activities, such as Basketball Doll Taye, Dancer Doll M. C., and Tennis Doll Gracie — a collection of 9 Sport Girls dolls in all.

As with all the Kaskey Kids creative playthings, the Bop Bags and Sports Girls dolls are well-made and very reasonably priced.

There’s a big difference in how a kid is thinking, imagining, and interacting when he’s playing with something such as a Nintendo 3DS or with a truly 3-dimensional toy like the Kaskey Kids sports action guys.  

Not that there’s anything wrong with a Nintendo 3DS…  But your kid is not developing or expanding his imaginative powers in the same way when he’s pushing the controller of a video game as he is when he’s playing with a tactile, colorful, reality-based toy like the Kaskey Kids action figures — when he’s setting them up, imagining the plays the teams are running, doing the play-by-play like an announcer, and learning actual sports strategies.  Plus he can play along with his siblings and/or friends and expand the scenarios and action even more.

Give Kaskey Kids Football Guys, Soccer Guys, Hockey Guys, and other creative toys strong consideration for your young athletes-to-be (or whatever they want to imagine themselves being).  It’s hard to find a toy these days that offers so many positive benefits at such a reasonable price.  Plus offers your kids fun and satisfaction over the long term.

Related posts:

1. Paper Jamz Has Fun Musical Toys for Not Much Money
2. An Easy Place to Find Gifts for Guys Is at “Presents For Men”

Coach Ditka's Baby Back Ribs - Chicago Steak Co.

The heart of any successful party is the food and drink.  The food you serve at your Super Bowl party should be at least as memorable as the game’s big plays and the commercials.

Of course, this is all about football, so your main dish should probably be meat.  The kind of meat is up to you, but you can’t go wrong by offering several choices to your guests.  The question then is:  where to get great meat? 

It may seem unusual that I’m recommending getting your Super Bowl party food online (after all, can’t you just go to the supermarket and pick up some ground beef?), especially if you’ve never ordered food online before, but it’s a sure way to get delicious eats that will impress your guests. 

Sure, most people are still not terribly accustomed to ordering food online.  But you, being intelligent, realize that the companies that successfully sell food online must be putting out a great product.  How else would they stay in business?  That being the case, you can’t go wrong by going to the following online vendors.

Click for Steak Burgers from Chicago Steak Company

First, the meat.  Here your go-to source is Chicago Steak Company.  They have a track record of delivering  the highest-quality meats from some of America’s best butchers throughout the US. 

Chicago Steak Company offers only USDA Choice and USDA Prime steaks.  Their steaks are aged for up to 28 days to ensure outstanding taste.

When you place your order, your steaks are vacuum-packed and flash frozen in their own juices to guarantee the best flavor. They are placed in a cooler with enough dry ice to make sure that they make the journey safely and arrive at your door ready for grilling.  Chicago Steak Company guarantees to deliver the worlds finest beef, seafood, and desserts to their customers.

 For the most memorable steak experience, try their Kobe Wagyu Steaks, which are even better than USDA Prime. 

However, since this is a Super Bowl party and not the celebration of your company being bought by Google, you might want to go with their gourmet angus gourmet angus steak burgers — or try their special Tailgating Package, which includes 10 beef frankfurters (which were the official hotdogs of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City), 8 beer bratwurst, 24 4-ounce steak burgers, and 6 teriyaki chicken breasts.  That should fill up your friends.

You don’t have to stick only to traditional football fare, either.  Chicago Steak Company also offers chicken, turkey, ham, ribs, and seafood.  And when you’re done eating all that, they have gourmet desserts.

A side of smoked salmon from Mackenzie Limited

If you are having a really big Super Bowl shindig, you will score beaucoup points with your guests by offering several meat options.  To expand your fare, go to Mackenzie Limited.  Their claim to fame is smoked salmon.  I mean, really good smoked salmon, including smoked salmon from Scotland. 

In business since 1984, Mackenzie Limited has expanded its catalog over the years to include 350 of the best gourmet products available online.  (In fact, you might want to add to your bucket list:  “Eat every kind of food that Mackenzie Limited sells at least once.”)  They offer lamb, beef, pork, caviar, duck, turkey, and chicken — even vegetarian entrées (should for some reason you wish to go in that direction for a party celebrating football’s most intensive gladitorial mayhem).  They even have hors d’oeuvres — and for starters, you should definitely consider offering your guests some warm lobster spread and artichoke gruyere dip.  They have desserts, too.  For example, their Whoopie Pies, shaped like X’s and O’s – are perfect for a gridiron get-together.

If you’re a particular fan of hot dogs, you also might want to expand your links options with sausages, frankfurters, and knockwurst from Gourmet Food Store, such as the duck and pork sausage with figs (pictured at left).  They have a variety of sausages made in the old-world European style, including kielbasa and Spanish chorizo.  Get some good hot dog buns, a few condiments (from Gourmet Food Store — or see below for further condiment sources) and you’ll be set.  To purchase hot dog buns in quantity and save, you can go to Food Service Direct.  They have, for example, Mountain Farm whole grain hot dog buns.  And if you need additional kitchen implements or hard-to-find food items, Food Service Direct has about 50,000 high-quality products from which to choose.  Or try the gluten-free tapioca hot dog buns from ENER-G (from Buy.com in bulk).

How about lobster for your Super Bowl party?

If you want to go in a more premium direction — think surf-and-turf — you can add lobster to your steak burgers by going to Lobster Anywhere, a company located in New England that for over 3 decades has been shipping live lobsters, lobster meat, and other seafood throughout the USA.  For a truly impressive surf-and-turf feast, they also offer organic filet mignon, New York strip steaks, and Uncle Jimmy’s Baby Back Ribs.  Or just go for their chowder, shrimp, appetizers, and New England desserts (apple-blueberry crumb pie, anyone?).  Click here to see all their delicious offerings and to order (and to find out how to handle and cook your live lobsters after they’re delivered).

Pommery Meaux Grain Mustard from Touch of Europe

Getting back to hors d’oeuvres and other things to complement your meal, I wanted to mention that Sur La Table, well-known by cooking aficionados for their extensive inventory of high-quality kitchen tools and equipment, also has food — quite a large selection of good things to eat. 

And in that regard, if you’re in any way a cheese lover — and, when you have some crackers around, who isn’t? — you should check out their collection.  They particularly feature cheeses from the Di Bruno Brothers company of  Philadelphia and Academia Barilla in Italy.  If you want some unusual, excellent cheese for your party, try the Di Bruno American Cheese Sampler.  And for sandwich condiments and meat marinades, check out Sur La Table’s condiments section —  blue cheese dijon mustard, cranberry horseradish sauce, and smoky apple barbecue sauce,  among others. 

Plus, if you need a charcoal starter, an indoor grill (could be raining or snowing that day, you know), a meat thermometer, or a grill pan, they’ve got that covered, as well.

A second excellent place to get all sorts of unusual appetizers, exotic foods, and condiments online is Touch of Europe, a company that imports many interesting products — including gourmet food items — that are almost impossible to find at stores in the United States.  As an example, click on the image of the Pommery Meaux Grain Mustard above to get some for your burgers and brats (trust me, this is great mustard).

Another online store known for their comprehensive supply of cooking equipment is Cooking.com but again, you might not be aware that they carry a lot of tasty food items, too, such as: a 2-pound sampler of favorite igourmet cheeses, Australian Watercrackers, Paula Deen Hot Sauce and Marsh Mud Cookies, etc.  And if you’re looking for some appetizing recipes, they have over 8,000 to browse, including football party appetizers.

Carnitas from MexGrocer

Click for a serving basket from Mex Grocer

Nowadays it’s hard to find a party anywhere in America that doesn’t include at least a bit of Mexican fare.  I mean, how did we get along, appetizer-wise, before tortilla chips and guacamole?  Tacos and burritos have become almost as popular as hamburgers.  Salsa can be found on top of almost anything, and then there are refried beans and carnitas…  If you want interesting Mexican food to spice up your Super Bowl shindig, check out MexGrocer, the popular and highly-rated site for anything and everything having to do with Mexican cuisine.  They offer, for example, complete kits for preparing your own tamales.  They have more brands of salsa than you can shake a piñata at (I like Herdez myself), as well as habanero sauces, many kinds of dried and canned peppers, and chorizo.  They have sections devoted to gourmet foods and Mexican recipes.   And, of course, all the hardware you need to cook the stuff.  Oh, and dozens of types of tortilla (and other) chips.  The site is easily navigated and the prices and customer service are good.

And if you want to get even more exotic in the food department with your appetizers and main dishes, go to La Tienda – authentic food and kitchen items from Spain:  paella, serrano ham, bread, wine, cheese, olives, and more.  Their site repays repeated exploration — you can feel yourself absorbing more worldliness as you wander through it (not to mention getting hungry).  Even if you choose another direction than Spanish food for your Super Bowl bash, you’ll want to come back to La Tienda for a future event or just to try something for yourself.  Once you do, you’ll likely be a customer for life.

Now for a bit different kind of service:  if you’re in Green Bay Packers land (i.e., most of Wisconsin), and environs, you can order groceries from Peapod – everything from brats to pizza to pickles to beer to soda.  They deliver within certain areas on the east coast, too.  Click here to take advantage of food and related items delivered to your door, including fully cooked meals.  Why go out and shop at various stores when you can order everything you want online – from meat to fresh vegetables — and have it brought over for a nominal fee?  You can use the time you save to make final adjustments to your fantasy football team.  Or to get creative in the kitchen.  Or for sleeping.  Once you experience the convenience of Peapod’s service, it becomes habit-forming.  You’ll wonder why you ever wasted all that time driving and shopping.  Go to their site now to see if they’re available in your area (and, for a limited time, get $10 off your first order using code PPAFF10).  If you’re in Manhattan, you can get $15 off your first order using code NYCJ15.  If you’re in the Philadelphia area, you can save $20 off your first order at Peapod.com using code AFFL20.

Another extensive online shopping service is offered by Ozbo.  And not only do they have hundreds of thousands of products, including popular brands of prepared foods and other groceries, they discount everything, sometimes quite impressively.  People are finding they can use Ozbo to get many of their most useful and perishable household items (such as diapers, pet supplies, batteries, and paper towels), save money, and have everything delivered right to their door.  Party-wise, they have popular brands of chips, condiments, snacks, olives, pickles, etc., not to mention balloons and decorative napkins.  Additionally, customers tend to rave about Ozbo’s customer service (they’re a Shopwiki approved store, for one thing).  There’s a reason Ozbo has experienced explosive growth since its founding over 30 years ago — they do things right, now offering over 1,000,000 products on the Web, and prompt shipping.  Use the search box below to find what you want at Ozbo.

Search over 100,000 products in All Products Automotive Baby Products Equine & Livestock Groceries Health & Beauty Home & Garden Pets Sporting Goods Tools & Hardware Toys & Hobbies

Chocolate-covered mini-pretzels from Chocolate.com

You know, thinking about snacks and appetizers, I want to make a suggestion here for something that would most likely be a hit at your party:  chocolate-covered pretzels.  What could be better than a combination of two of the most popular snack foods ever?  If you go with them, your party will become legendary.  You can serve them before kickoff, during halftime, and for dessert.  Some of your guests will gorge themselves and beg for more.  They will be grateful.  You will be known as a party-hosting god.  Find over 150 types of chocolate-covered pretzels at Chocolate.com.  Offer different versions, and you will become a legend among your friends.

Cookies from Dancing Deer Baking Co.

Speaking of dessert, have you thought about that?  You can’t have an outstanding feast without including something sweet at the end.  There are impressive dessert options available at the companies listed above.  However, I want to mention two more…  First:  Dancing Deer Baking Co..  In particular, their cookies are excellent, though they also carry brownies and cakes, too.  Cookies are easy to serve and everybody likes them (particularly from Dancing Deer). 

And second, if you want to go all out in a decadent direction, Savorique will supply the pièce de résistance your party deserves.  They have just about any sweet thing you can imagine, but their cheesecakes are a special, gourmet dessert treat.  (And this treat will help soothe the feelings of football fans if their team loses.  Though it might require more than one piece.)

I know I haven’t mentioned much about beverages until now.  Obviously, you’re gonna want something to drink.  You’ll probably have some ideas about that (and maybe have your guests simply BYOB) and you don’t necessarily need to find your soda, beer, and whatnot online, but there is one thing that you can get online that might be better than what you’ll find at your local supermarket:  wine. 

If you’re doing a more elegant and sophisticated Super Bowl party, then you’ll probably want to offer some wine (for example, to go with your Ribeye Steaks or Spanish ham).  And the place to go for wine recommendations and good prices on top-flight vintages is Personal Wine.  They have high-quality wine for as little as $15 a bottle (and you can add a personalized label, which might be fun for the party) and, if you’re not sure what to try, browse the recommendations and reviews by their expert staff.  For example, to go with steak:  ’04 Wings Napa Cabernet Sauvignon.

After so much good food, some people will want coffee (particularly if it’s a cold day).  The best choice here is Marley Coffee, a company run by Bob Marley’s son Rohan.  

Though some might prefer tea.  After all, it’s getting more popular and the health benefits are pretty significant.  Who says a nice cup of green tea won’t complement the 12 ounces of beef you just consumed?  It might add the crowning touch to your satiation.  One of the best places to get tea, from Earl Grey to Rainforest Mate, is Mighty Leaf Tea.

On the other hand, maybe you just want to have a party focused almost exclusively on viewing the game — after all, that’s what everybody’s there for, right?  Football.  Some Super Bowl.  You want to concentrate on watching two of the most successful NFL franchises in history knock each other’s heads off.  Who has the bandwidth to eat much?  But you’ll still want some nosh, if only to have something to do with your hands when you’re not throwing them up in the air at the bad calls.  So:  popcorn.  That’s right, the snack that accompanies every quintessential American pastime.  But not just any popcorn…  you want popcorn made on your own popcorn machine from Stargate Cinema.  Delicious and plentiful.  Plus you can watch it pop.  Your buddies will be impressed.  Then, they’ll be even more impressed when it’s time to watch the game and you sit down on your Fortress Theater Seating chairs.

Popcorn, big overstuffed individual recliners, high-def TV, and the Super Bowl.  What could possibly be better?

Now you’re ready for some football.

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Related posts:

1. Get Ready for Your Super Bowl Party, Part 1: Party Supplies and Accessories
2. Hey Now! New Orleans Saints Win Super Bowl 44

Click here to get a Super Bowl XLVI pennant

The biggest football day of the year is coming up and you’re planning on having a Super Bowl party, aren’t you?  You know — whether it’s just a couple of your buds, a bag of chips and some brews, or you invite a crowd that fills every room of your house  — football goes better with a bunch of friends.  Following are ideas and resources for football-themed party supplies, decorations, and other stuff to help you host a Super Bowl party that you and your guests will enjoy.  (Even if the game itself doesn’t live up to the hype.)

There are some good places online to get supplies for football game parties or a Super Bowl party specifically.  I’ve combed the Internet to find the best deals and prices, plus suggestions for fun items you might want to include, from football-shaped serving trays to NFL Team gear to the right TV on which to watch the game…

First, you need some basic football party supplies — cups for beverages, plates for brats, pretzels, and burgers, bowls for chili, utensils to spear and scoop things, and napkins to save your couch from greasy fingerprints.  How elaborate you get after those basics (table cloth, balloons, inflatable cooler?) is up to you (and is probably somewhat determined by whether you share your abode with a female).  Where can you get Super-Bowl-themed eating equipment like that?  Why, from BuyCostumes, of course.

For example, Super Bowl XLV plastic cups: 

And a football-shaped serving tray:

Football-shaped serving tray

BuyCostumes is a lot more than just a costume store.  Think of them as your one-stop event shop.  They have everything you need to focus your Super Bowl party, to give it fun authenticity.  Plus make it convenient:  plastic silverware, paper plates — everything that can be thrown away (or recycled) afterwards, which is the American way.  Or simply order a football party kit that’s pre-made.  This year, you especially might want kits for the Green Bay Packers or the Pittsburgh Steelers.

On the other hand, if you take environmental considerations into account, you can get biodegradable plates, utensils, and other stuff at BuyGreen (which is also the American way).

Galvanized Tub for drinks

Want another good place to shop for sports-themed and football-themed decorations and gear?  Try Wayfair.

For example, get a Galvanized Drink Tub to fill up with ice and cold beverages:

And a personalized football bar sign with your name:

You can use Kaskey Kids football guys to decorate a cake...or whatever.

Another decoration option that you might not think of is to use the football guys action figures from Kaskey Kids to decorate a cake, or cupcakes, or just set them up for the kids to play with during the party, or put them out on your serving table.  They’ll lend a fun, almost “throwback” atmosphere, however you use them — the nostalgia for when you were first learning about the game as a kid.  And Kaskey Kids sports action figures are fun to play with the rest of the year, too.  See my in-depth post on all the fun things you can do with Kaskey Kids sports action figures.

A place that has more party supplies than Charlie Sheen is Target.  Go to their homepage, and search on “Super Bowl Party.”  You’ll find a lot of essential stuff at good prices and often with free shipping.

And another cost-effective place to get your Super Bowl accouterments is Buy.com.  For example, check their Super Bowl Tailgate Party Gift Basket and Green Bay Packers 60-oz. pitcher, among other things.

As you’re taking in the game, rooting for your favorite team, getting het up, fan gear helps.  For example, wouldn’t it be supportive to have an Aaron Rodgers jersey?

Or a Pittsburgh Steelers hoodie?

Or any of a number of other pieces of gear?  The place to get all this is FansEdge.com, the one-stop shop to get everything related to fandom.

Along, that is, with Fathead.  How would you like to decorate you wall with a life-size graphic of Troy Polamalu?  Yeah, that’s what I thought.  Get that and many other exceptionally noticeable life-size sports guy emblems at Fathead.

The Right TV for Watching the Game

Of course, all the party supplies, delicious food, and fan gear will ultimately mean little if you don’t have a TV that lives up to the significance of the game.  You can’t watch the game on a 19-inch cathode ray tube television.  No, man, you need a good HDTV.  And if you’re going to get one, you may as well get the best:  the 54-inch Panasonic Viera TC-P54VT25 Plasma HDTV.   On this, the Super Bowl will become a religious experience:  Religious.  Experience.

And here’s a heads-up: Only until February 5, 2011, Sears has all Samsung and Panasonic TVs on sale for up to $1,000 off, plus free shipping on TVs $749 and up.

Not this.

This

Play Football at Your Party with an Official NFL Game Ball

Official NFL Game Football -- what the pros use

And, too, before the party you’ll want to work up a bit of an appetite so, after you become terminally bored with the 7-hour pre-game show, you’ll feel like going out and throwing the ol’ pigskin around with the boys (or girls).  For that, you’ll need a pigskin.  Don’t skimp on this.  Inspiration is not a factor to be trifled with.  Get the official Wilson F1100 Leather NFL Game Football from Online Sports — the place to fulfill virtually any sports-related need you have.

NFL Tickets

When it comes to not skimping on things, you might be one of those guys who wants to skip the home Super Bowl party entirely.  Instead, you’re the kind of guy who needs to be in the thick of things.  You want to be there, at the venue, live.  (Or even better, you want to throw your party in a luxury box at the stadium.)  If that’s the kind of guy you are, you’ll need tickets.  They’re still available.  Get them from TicketNetwork, one of the premier places online to acquire great tickets to the best sports events, including Super Bowl XLV packages.  If that’s the way you roll, check their website now.

And plan and book your trip to Dallas using Trip Advisor, probably the most trusted travel review and information site in the world.  For good deals on flights and lodging, you can also check Easy Click Travel.

Are you ready for some football?

Not quite — you still have to get the food for your party.

Related posts:

1. Get Ready for Your Super Bowl Party, Part 2: Food
2. Hey Now! New Orleans Saints Win Super Bowl 44

Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints on their first Super Bowl victory, 31-17 over the Indianapolis Colts!  To celebrate the victory, get Saints memorabilia and fan merchandise from FansEdge now.  (And if you’re a Colts fan, they’ve got you covered, too…)  FansEdge has a large selection of NFL apparel, hats, Super Bowl T-shirts, and more.  And you can find additional fan gear for NFL and other sports at Online Sports…

 
In a well-played and memorable game, the Saints came back from a 10-point first-quarter deficit to stun the favored Indianapolis Colts by two touchdowns.  With a relentless passing attack led by MVP Drew Brees, gutsy play-calling by Coach Sean Payton (going for it on 4th-and-goal, an on-side kick to start the second half, 2-point conversion), and staunch defense when it counted, the Saints today delivered an “At last!”, first-ever major pro sports championship to the city of New Orleans.  Who dat!

Celebrate with New Orleans Saints fan gear from Online Sports, the online sports merchandiser with a huge inventory of NFL fan merchandise and Super-Bowl-caliber customer service!

You can also click right here or on the image below to get your official Drew Brees replica jersey from Reebok…

Click for the Drew Brees replica jersey

Or how about a room-size wall graphic of Peyton Manning from the Fathead NFL Wall Graphic shop?

You can have a life-size graphic of Peyton Manning on your wall

Related posts:

1. Get Ready for Your Super Bowl Party, Part 1: Party Supplies and Accessories
2. Get Ready for Your Super Bowl Party, Part 2: Food