Southampton - I love throwing parties, and Super Bowl is one of my favorites! The food is easy, and decorations are super festive, and of course I know how to do it up gorgeously fun without spending much at all!

First, Let's Decorate

Use your computer printer to make custom pennant streamers that will dazzle your football fans! Google "images" of the teams' names. From there, print up full page logos, helmets, and all kinds of team flare. Trim to leave wide even white borders around each photo, like matting to set them off, fold over a corner and staple on a diagonal like a laundry line to team colored curling ribbon. Now string your fabulous custom pennants everywhere.

Decorate The Food

Print a few pages of thumbnail photos on your Google searches. Then, cut out and laminate the little photos using easy DIY stuff from an office supply store. Using clear packing tape, affix the laminated thumbnail photos to the ends of wooden skewers and trim with team colored curling ribbons. Use the skewers for fruit, shish-ka-bobs, and anything else for team flare. Stick the fruit skewers into a a whole uncut pineapple and arrange more fruit around the base. Gorgeous - fabulously fun, even classy, and did I say cheap? Print more pages of thumbnail photos, and use clear packing tape to adorn plastic cups for grab and go popcorn, or beverages. Once you get going on printing team paraphernalia, there's no limit to what you can do to add to your festive décor.

Use your computer printer to make custom pennant streamers that will dazzle your football fans. (Teri Gault)

On To That Food

A Super Bowl party is a "grazing party," nothing fancy. In fact, the traditional Super Bowl favorites should clog your arteries and give you heartburn. But hey, it's a party! For this one, it's a casual buffet in the kitchen, ready at all times to grab and go. I love this the most because "grazing parties" are easier than getting one big meal all hot and ready at once. You can just put out whatever is ready in no particular order. Trust me, they'll devour it. That's why "grazing parties" are my favorites, and my number one choice for party planning big crowds of 30 to 50 people - so easy.

Supermarkets have huge sales events for Super Bowl on everything you could ever want for the perfect party menu. So to save the most money, before you get any ideas of what you want to have, check the sales and plan your menu accordingly. Even drugstores get on the scoreboard with snacks and beverages.

Check the front page of the supermarket circular for your choice of meat. You'll probably find ground beef at half off or better. For this "grazing party," you need at least one hot dish ready for self-service for four or more hours. My first line of defense - Chili in a slow cooker to the rescue. Have bowls, spoons and napkins nearby. You can also find deals on cheese and corn chips to go with it! How easy is that??

You'll cater like a pro if you can borrow two more slow cookers. Fill another slow cooker with meatballs and BBQ sauce (probably part of the sales event) as a self-serve anytime hot appetizer. Put some nice rolls nearby, and your football fans will flock to mini BBQ meatball sandwiches, always hot and ready during commercial breaks. A third borrowed slow cooker can keep hot cheese dip for tortilla chips and anything else that needs some sauce. The best dip is just Velveeta cheese and a can of tomatoes with green chiles - it's the Super Bowl, and guests love it!

Go for spuds! Potatoes are always a cheap filler even without a sale, so a potato bar is the perfect fare. The Super Bowl sales events will give you lots of toppings at great discounts: cheese, bacon, green onions, salsa, and more, and if you have slow cookers with chili and cheese dip, guests will pile some of that on a big baked potato too.