OREO Cookie Footballs – the PERFECT Snack for the Big Game

I’m a total fan of party planning. Ask Mr. Houseful, and you’ll hear how I really love getting into the nitty-gritty of making a party’s theme go through and through. With moving into the Nicholes Manor, I wanted to have friends over, but since the house is not fully decorated or functional, I wanted to do it as low-key as possible. Since we’re still decorating, the majority of my money needed to be spent on fabulous food and dessert, and not necessarily decorations. One of the things that did make a HUGE impact on this party was the addition of the Oreo truffles, and the fact that I made them into football shapes. What a great way to end with good food at a tailgating party.

My menu was simple. Wings, chips and dip, nacho bar, and sweets. No worries, I still had a crudite platter which was only eaten by the kids. I made buffalo, garlic buffalo, lemon pepper, and old bay wings, and homemade guacamole (which I will post a recipe for a little later this week) and the stars – OREO Cookie Balls.It was super easy to make the mix – which consists of 36 crushed OREO cookies, one 8 oz block of cream cheese, and 4 oz of melted baking chocolate. Crushing the OREO cookies definitely gave me a workout. I cheated a bit, and put them all in a gallon freezer bag and taking my rolling pin to it. It was therapeutic. I took the crushed cookies out, then used my handy dandy mixing spoon and crushed the rest into less chunky chunks. You know what I’m talking about! I then added cream cheese until everything came together just right. 

Making this a fantastic party had a lot to do with the simple decorations that we did. I used black and white to represent the referees in the game, and picked up football themed tablecloths and serving dishes to complete the look. Looking around Walmart after we picked up our OREO cookies, it was easy to find football themed items to complete our party! First off – the cookie aisle, is where we hit up first! It was also great to be able to pick up the rest of the food items within the store, in one trip. 

Getting home and trying to think about decorating presented me with some interesting scenarios, go all out, or focus on the food. I’m sure you can guess where my loyalties lie. I love a good spread. All of this chicken and the chips and the dip. Just yum. I did use what I had. Tables, my counter space, and my ceiling, believe it or not. Streamers in black and white provided just enough of a focal background to look elegant, without being girly. Sticking with a black and white theme allowed me to not have to worry about specialized colors. The cups, tablecloth and napkins were all varying colors of black,white, green and brown. Nothing too bright or too garish. What I love most about my party is that among all of the paint and construction that we’re still doing, family and friends came through and we LOVED IT! I had help to pull this together as well. Having friends who are giving enough to come and help you prepare so that you can mingle WITH your guests instead of having to be stuck in the kitchen is priceless. I also decorated the night before with the help of Mr. Houseful. Saved me a lot of headache. The #OREOCookieBalls were prepped the night before as well. Chicken sauces were mixed and ready to be slathered on hot wings as soon as they came out of the frying pan, or the oven. It made my entire event a breeze to host, and not labor intensive. I loved every moment. 

Friends also offered to bring appetizers and desserts, like Samantha from The Peanuts Gang ( I just love it when folks I meet online become friends in real life) brought an awesome cheesecake, and friends that I also met online but through a wedding planning site brought the drinks and the fruit platter! I have the greatest friends! 

While we had no stakes in this game, we sure were pleased with the outcome! I’m sure you can tell by the colors that we decorated with, who we were NOT here for. Since we live in Chicago, our loyalties lie with grizzly looking fellows, and I’m okay with that! So – tell me – are you hosting a party for the big game this year?