Super Bowl Party - How to Throw A Super Bowl Party; What You Need For A Super Bowl Party - EHow

A great guide article for anyone hosting a party!

How to Throw a Super Bowl Party - EHow

Look on the bright side - you may not have tickets to the event but unlike the fans in the stadium, you'll be able to see all the cool new multimillion-dollar commercials that debut during the game!
Instructions

STEP 1: Decorate the house in the colors of the team you're rooting for. If one of the teams playing is "your" team, put on all your paraphernalia.
STEP 2: Invest in a few foam "bad-call bricks" to throw at the TV so your guests can express their feelings about the refs without doing damage to your house.
STEP 3: If you're going to have guests who are rooting for different teams, establish an imaginary line (or for fun, "draw" one with masking tape) down the center of the room. Decorate each side in one team's colors.
STEP 4: Order a "Super Bowl Party in a Box" that includes plates, napkins, cups and a football snack bowl.
STEP 5: Pick up veggie, cheese and cold cut plates and a six-foot long sandwich or two from a deli and have all the food laid out on a table within sight of the TV. Don't make your guests choose between eating and watching the game.
STEP 6: Buy several six-packs of beer. Keep the beer in a cooler close by so you don't have to run to the fridge when it's third and inches. Restock the cooler at halftime.
STEP 7: Have everyone write down who they think will win and what the final score will be before the game starts. Award a silly prize, like a big football piñata, to the person who comes the closest.
Tips & Warnings

Since this is a drinking event, you may want to offer "free pick-up and delivery" so no one has to worry about drinking and driving. Arrange to pick everyone up before the game and drop everyone off after it's over.
Since this is a weekend, you may want to set up a kids' room in the back of the house that's stocked with treats, games, a TV and VCR.
Move any fragile or breakable items out of the room before the game starts. You don't want someone to leap up yelling, "You call that holding? He wasn't even touching him!" and break your wife's favorite vase.

Overall Things You'll Need

Tray Of Cold Cuts
Cheeses Tray
Ice Chests
Crackers
football pinatas
Soft Drinks
Beer
Two 6-foot Sub Sandwiches
Chips
Vegetables Tray
Super Bowl Decorations
Snack Dips

Super Bowl XLI - Miami Gets Ready To Play NFL Party Host

A view of Miami's skyline seen at dusk. Miami will host Super Bowl XLI at Dolphin Stadium on Feb. 4.

Updated: 8:00 a.m. AKT Jan 22, 2007

MIAMI - When 75,000 fans pack into Dolphin Stadium for the Super Bowl, when the coin is finally tossed and that ball is first kicked, this city will become, temporarily at least, the football capital of the world.

But no matter how many tens of millions of homes the game is beamed into, Miami is like a runway model wearing an oversized football jersey that hangs to her knees. This city can't hide its seductive, playful, sleepless nature behind a facade of pigskin and turf.

Those that descend here for the big game on Feb. 4 will be greeted by the sandy coastline and pulsating clubs that have long been synonymous with this tropical playground, but also a lively arts scene, distinct neighborhoods and surprisingly serene escapes.

As game day nears, the opportunities for a visitor are as diverse as this city that is both sleek and gritty, authentic and artificial, boisterous and serene.

Football

Game festivities kick off Jan. 29 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, with Hootie & the Blowfish performing and stars of Super Bowls past, including Jerry Rice, in attendance. Dozens of other events are scattered throughout game week, too, including Super Saturday Blast on Biscayne, a free pep rally at Bicentennial Park in Miami on Feb. 3 that is capped by fireworks.

Families

An interactive football theme park, "The NFL Experience," will be open in the Dolphin Stadium parking lot Jan. 27 and 28 and Feb. 1 through 4. Among other things, the NFL Experience offers visitors the chance to test their play-by-play broadcasting skills, experience a drive to the end zone while harnessed to a bungee and test their passing accuracy using special targets. Meanwhile, the Miami Children's Museum is offering its own football program, giving kids a chance to learn referees' signals, dress up in football gear and try to kick a field goal.

The city's profile in the art world has grown exponentially since Art Basel, the decades-old Swiss festival, established an American outpost on Miami Beach five years ago. You're too late for the December event, but art lovers will find numerous other options, including the spectacular exhibit of glassblower Dale Chihuly's work at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables. Thousands of pieces of the artist's work hang from trees, rise from the ground and float on water; they're particularly impressive if you visit at night, though the Fairchild only stays open late on Thursdays. Elsewhere, Lorna Simpson's collection of photographic and video works closes at the Miami Art Museum on Super Bowl Sunday and "The Syringa Tree," a tale of growing up in apartheid-era South Africa, closes at the Rose & Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center in Fort Lauderdale a day earlier.

Music

From Fergie to the Florida Grand Opera, musicians are packing in for concerts surrounding the game. Dolphin Stadium will play host to the "Pepsi Smash Super Bowl Bash" on Feb. 1, with Kanye West and John Legend among the performers. The sounds of Caribbean and Latin American music will be featured in "Nations in Rhythm" in Dania Beach on Jan. 27. Mel Torme and the Hungarian Symphony Orchestra will both be in West Palm Beach on Jan. 30; "The Super Bowl Gospel Celebration" is in Miami on Jan. 27; and Willie Nelson takes the stage at the glittering new Carnival Center for the Performing Arts in Miami on Jan. 31.

Special events abound on Miami Beach during Super Bowl week. On Feb. 3, 350 top fashion models from around the world face off in Volleypalooza, which is billed as the "sexiest sporting event of the year." Clubs will likely be packed as game day nears, including Penthouse Magazine's "Going Deep" party at Mansion on Feb. 3 with Snoop Dogg performing. And in yet another "what it feels like to be in the NFL" type event, Ocean Drive between 5th and 15th Streets will shut down to vehicle traffic to create the Motorola Mile. Visitors can take a walk through exhibits highlighting Super Bowl milestones and step unto an interactive football field that allows a chance to experience scoring the winning touchdown or simply perform an end-zone dance. All that said, a visitor would be remiss to omit a day at the beach from their visit, as they would to leave without a nod to Cuban culture or Art Deco architecture.

The unexpected

For all the chaos the Super Bowl will unleash on South Florida, visitors will likely still be able to enjoy quiet escapes. A nighttime walk from South Pointe, along the South Beach shoreline is inescapably serene. The Holocaust Memorial is a moving, typically hushed spot that allows a guest to stand beside statues of the tortured, panicked and heartbroken. And Espanola Way on South Beach feels like a lower-key Mediterranean escape for dinner or drinks.

Visitors to the city will notice the massive construction - including dozens of new hotels, AmericanAirlines Arena and the Carnival Center - that have ascended since the last time the Super Bowl stopped here, seven years ago. And one look up, at countless cranes giving way to still more high rises, means the city will transform itself again before the big game returns in 2010.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Nikki Beach Club - Nikki is back and popping -- let's party - LESLEY ABRAVANEL

Nikki is back and popping -- let's party
BY LESLEY ABRAVANEL
lank@aol.com

It's been a decade since Nikki Beach Club opened the floodgates for afternoon hedonism, The Thong Song, and slews of celebrities basking under shady palm trees and tepees. Imagine that. While some bodies who were (über) present at the beach club's opening back then may not be as taut as they were back then (though some might be more taut thanks to the miracles/massacres of plastic surgery), we're happy to say that after a bit of a respite from the radar, Nikki is back and, the powers behind the beach club promise us, better than ever.

Starting on Saturday, Nikki Beach will host a celebratory dinner for 200 of its best customers upstairs at Pearl and, at 10 p.m., the gates will open to more than 2,000 of the beach club's closest friends for a splashy bash with open bar, food and fanfare. The celebration continues on Sunday, where a $30 brunch open to the public begins at 11 a. m., followed by the legendary Sunday afternoon and evening party spun up by spin doctors of both the publicity and musical practices. DJs Roman, Armand Pena, Snezana, Mitch and Christian will all provide the soundtrack to the soiree, which goes until 5 a.m. Dress code is scant -- it's a beach club -- which makes it all the more fun to observe.

Also fun is Amendment XXI's Thursday night Soul Boogie party where soul, funk, R&B and house classics have been known to wilt and warp even the most stalwart wallflowers. And get ready to get up and boogie at various Super Bowl events, some of which are already underway. Thursday's fourth annual Pure Rush Event at Bricks Nightclub has attracted the likes of Mariah Carey, Kid Rock, Ashton Kutcher and more during past Super Bowls. Although we doubt there will be any celebrities at Quarterdeck on Alton Road, they're offering an all-you-can-eat-and-drink Super Bowl viewing party on game day for $75 per person. Same goes for Karu & Y, where, for $75 per person, a swanky tailgate party will take place in the restaurant's event space, Tottem, which will be set up like a football field with stadium seating. From 4 p.m. until the third quarter, hot dogs, hamburgers, cotton candy, popcorn and nachos (the actual stuff, not fancy foams or gels resembling them) will be served with draft beer. As soon as the third quarter ends, however, it's a cash bar. Call 305-403-7850 for reservations. You can also watch the game in the swanky setting that is Acqualina, where a barbecue buffet at $125 a person includes all-you-can-drink beer, champagne and specialty drinks. On the 30th, The Fifth will host the Moves Magazine Super Bowl Event, hosted by NFL legends Jim Brown and Reggie Bush. Party is invite-only, they say. But more on Super Bowl mayhem next week.

In the meantime, you can still enjoy your local haunts in relative peace, but not quiet, of course -- especially at Jazid on Saturday night, when singer Carlos Bertonatti performs. Bertonatti's voice has been described as ''undeniably sexy and sultry.'' The singer, also praised for being a nice piece of eye candy, will be accompanied by singer Jessica Chirino and some of Miami's top Latin percussion, bass and guitar players. Show starts at 11 p.m. For more eye candy, check out Luxe Marine's Boats and Bikinis party on Thursday at the Village of Merrick Park. From 7-10 p.m., the purveyors of posh watercraft will debut three of their latest models while human models from Wilhelmina will work the catwalk in a Neiman Marcus swimwear runway show. There are free cocktails and food and, best of all, San Lorenzo Avenue will be closed to traffic, turning Merrick Park into the thriving scene business owners and developers have always hoped it would be, but for some reason hasn't yet happened. The event is being produced by Funkshion Music and Fashion, the same organization responsible for Fashion Week Miami Beach, so expect a splashy affair.

While some may not be ready to sport bikinis after the eagerly anticipated South Beach Wine & Food Festival Feb. 21-24, others are afraid they will starve because most of the events are already sold out. Fret not, because an online auction at www.sobeauction.cmarket.com or the festival's website, www.sobewineandfoodfest.com, will be offering a limited number of tickets to some of the most popular soldout events until Feb. 16. Among the events you can bid on: the popular Delano beach blanket bonanza known as Bubble Q, the Saturday Grand Tasting, Emeril's Kidz Kitchen and Rachael Ray's Kidz Kitchen. Also up for auction: a case of Motley Crue-man Vince Neil's Tres Rios Tequila, among other Neil memorabilia and opportunities to booze with -- and like -- the rock star, who will be here for the big festival.

And speaking of kitchens, we ran into chef Michael Jacobs at the opening of Johnny V South Beach, who told us he is the new culinary whiz at the soon-to-reopen Grass in the Design District. When we asked him if there'd be any of that door 'tude that Grass was so famous for, he said absolutely not. Michael, we're holding you to that! Also opening next weekend in the old Amika space is Sin, a renovated high-end club with supersonic sound systems and bathrooms that reportedly cost $80,000. While the jury's out on the place itself, at least there's something to justify its name. That aside, we're flush with curiosity.

See Lesley Abravanel's weblog, Scene in the Tropics -- updated nightly.