Plan Ahead
Up to 3 Months Before
- Make “Team Favorite” Make-Ahead Italian Meatballs and freeze according to directions.
Up to 2 Months Before
- Bake “Buzzer Beater” Brownie Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting, but do not frost; store tightly covered in freezer.
Up to 1 Week Before
- Make “Hoop It Up” Herbed Cashew Snack Mix, and store in an airtight container.
The Day Before
- Make “Courtside” Creamy Pesto Dip, and prepare veggies. Store tightly wrapped separately in refrigerator.
- Prepare “Nothing But Net” Cheesy Reuben Appetizer up to the point of baking. Cover and refrigerate.
- Frost and decorate the brownie cupcakes.
About 10 Hours Before Guests Arrive
- Make “Slam Dunk” Slow Cooker Barbecued Ribs.
About 1 Hour Before Guests Arrive
- Finish Make-Ahead Italian Meatballs.
- Finish “Slam Dunk” Slow Cooker Barbecued Ribs.
About 30 Minutes Before Guests Arrive
- Bake Cheesy Reuben Appetizer.
Just Before Guests Arrive
Party Guide
“Evites”
Email invitations if all the invitees are on-line, and include a score sheet for guessing the winning basketball teams. Everybody picks winners of the games and returns them to you to be in the hunt for a prize you’ll award. Post the tournament results on a wall where party-goers can view them as the games progress.
Pregame Party Time
Invite guests to arrive an hour before game time to have some pregame fun.
- Play the “Who am I?” mixer game. Pin names or photos of tournament players on guests’ backs as they arrive at the party. Guests have to guess who they are by asking other guests questions such as, “Do I play for the X team?” Answers can be only a yes or no. (Newspaper clippings and old game programs are good sources for the pinups.)
- Hold some friendly competitions. Purchase foam basketballs and a toy hoop and net on a stand from a toy store or sports store. As host, you may want to dress as referee, including a whistle around your neck for when you make those important calls! Award prizes such as chocolate candy balls wrapped to look like basketballs, a basketball bloopers video, team pennants or a package of NBA sports cards.
- Have a free-throw contest with a specified distance. Enforce a time limit.
- Sport a game of “pig” or “horse” (basketball fans will know the rules on these games and a few others, too!).
- Challenge guests to spin a foam basketball on one finger. Limit them to three tries.
- Organize two teams to compete to see which can pass a ball for the longest time without dropping it.
- Be a star sports announcer! Play sports videos with the mute on, and ask guests to call the plays using toy microphones from a party or toy store. Make a video of the announcing. Guests pick the winning up-and-coming announcer!
Slam-Dunk Decorations
- Sport team colors. Display team pennants, or make them out of colorful poster board. Hang from the ceiling, or attach to walls.
- Make a winning scoreboard from foam core or poster board, and place in a prominent place.
- Create a grand entry (used for introducing the basketball team) with team-colored streamers over a framework for guests to break through.
- Make or buy team-colored pom-poms using crepe paper from a paper or party store.
- Encourage alumni to sport former player or cheerleader uniforms, or ask all guests to come dressed as a team player, coach, ref or cheerleader.
- Create a dream team! Take photos of guests with an instant or digital camera, and tape photos on decorated poster board ready for the “dream team” placement.
- Remember the bathroom! Use team-colored linens. Place a radio or small TV in the bathroom so no one misses a shot!
Fast-Forward Food Fun
- Deck the table in team colors. Pom-poms make a great table centerpiece. Offer team-colored sports hand towels wrapped around silverware and tied with a toy “ref” whistle. The towel will be extra-absorbent for foods that dribble such as the ribs. Team-colored plasticware and plastic drinking cups can help make cleanup easy.
- Serve “Hoop It Up” Herbed Cashew Snack Mix in a large bowl wrapped in a new, clean basketball net.
- Serve the ribs right from the slow cooker they’re cooked in; they’ll hold for up to 2 hours. To make the ribs easier to eat, cut them between each rib rather than into 4-inch pieces. Offer an assortment of mild to spicy side sauces for dipping, which you can find at your supermarket.
- Keep “Nothing But Net” Cheesy Reuben Appetizer warm in a small slow cooker or fondue pot.
- Offer veggie dippers in team colors. Here are a few examples to get you started:
- Green and Yellow: broccoli, zucchini, yellow summer squash, yellow tomatoes, yellow bell peppers
- Purple and White: eggplant, purple bell peppers, jicama, white radishes
- Red and White: red tomatoes, red bell peppers, jicama
- Decorate tops of cupcake with black decorating gel or licorice laces to resemble basketballs, and insert miniature team pennants on toothpicks. (You can make mini-pennants by attaching colored paper to toothpicks.) Or cover frosting with candy-coated chocolate candies in team colors.
- Decorate the top of your cooler with construction paper to look like a basketball court, and fill with bottled and canned beverages.