Super Bowl Parties

     From time to time I throw a Super Bowl party.  Don't ask me why.  I don't get football.  I don't pay attention to the game.  I like the part where people come to the house, eat, and have a good time.  This year, I'm making all the food in advance and warming it up before the party.  Since people always ask what to bring, I asked half of those generous souls to bring appetizers and half to bring desserts.  Since the food is going to be so easy, I decided to spend a little time on the decorations.
     Check out my centerpiece.

I started with a gift box.

Next, I downloaded a picture of grass and printed it.

I began wrapping the box with two pieces of the grass design.  I used the white border for the 50 yard line.

I had to cut strips and piece together the sides of the box.  Now we have a playing field.

I downloaded some football clip art characters.  I had to do some experimentation to find the best size for printing them.  Once I decided on the size, I printed them on card stock.  I used my printing program to flip them (make a mirror image) and print a second copy.  I glued the two copies together so the image was on the front and the back.  It was fun coloring them with my markers.

Here are some of my little people.  The ones standing on the field will be anchored with tooth picks.  The ones around the edge have tabs on their feet.  I made a cut with a box cutter and inserted the tab.  I glued the tab to the side edge of the box.

It's not technically correct, but it's cute.  Mike tells me the team names should be reversed so they can be read from the 50 yard line.  The referee should also be closer to the center, but I liked the composition better when I placed "Ref" in the corner.  

The football is oversized.  I suspended it in air with jewelry wire.