By Margaret Goerig
MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE

The college football bowl season might be over, and the NFL playoffs have concluded, but there is still one big football game left, the grand encore on Sunday, Feb. 6: The Super Bowl.

For those who need a little boost to get through the competition, we think a party might cure you. Thus, here’s a guide to tell you how to host a bash.

Football is meant to be shared with others. There is just too much downtime to watch all four quarters alone.

Yet as casual as the sport might be, there are a few things to note if you’re planning on throwing a football party, according to the Society of Recovering Sorority Girls’ founders Deandra "Brooksie" Brooks and Kristina "Morgan" Rose.

Both women watch football regularly, especially since Brooks learned the rules from a Redskins fan she once dated, so they included a chapter on football-themed gatherings in their upcoming book, The Recovering Sorority Girls Guide to a Year’s Worth of Perfect Parties.

Most important: keep the guest list at a manageable size and ensure it includes people rooting for both teams. "Because you have not only the gridiron on the field," Brooks says, but there’s that chemistry in your home, too.

However, no matter which team your guests prefer, Rose says you want them to get a good view with sufficient amounts of seating and good sightlines. If your TV does not meet standards of adequacy, she says, consider offering a few separate viewing areas throughout the house where seven or eight can crowd around each screen.

Plan for your guests to arrive about 30 minutes before the game, Brooks says, to give them time to pour a drink and get into the pregame frenzy of interviews with coaches and old-fashioned rivalry.

Which brings us to the topic of drinks. Stick to beer and soft drinks.

"You can't really invite people over to watch football and offer them a flaming Harvey Wallbanger," Rose says. Similarly, don't get too wacky with the food. In this department, it's important to follow the duo's two basic rules of thumb: Serve things such as chili, sandwiches and sausages, that won’t wilt or congeal in a four-hour time period; try to incorporate the competing teams, for instance, serving Cuban sandwiches at a Tampa Bay game or beer-basted bratwurst at a Green Bay Packers match.

When cookbook author Nina Swan-Kohler hosts a football get-together, she keeps the food — and energy — fresh by bringing out the dishes in shifts, starting with an appetizer to serve with drinks, proceeding into the game with more options, and ending in the third or fourth quarter with dessert.

In Swan-Kohler's recently released Tailgates to Touchdowns: Fabulous Football Food, all of the recipes except four can be made in 30 minutes or less. No matter what you serve, though, Swan-Kohler says the main thing is to have fun, both with your food and with your decorations, trying to incorporate as much team spirit as possible. Also bear in mind that a football party merely provides an excuse for people to get together, even if they’re not sports fans.