Why the Super Bowl is good for rookie moms

Stuck on the couch nursing for most of the day? Then The Super Bowl is the perfect way to spend the afternoon.

Standards for food are so low for this special day, it’s an ideal opportunity to invite friends over without hostess stress. Just don’t look at Pinterest for ideas. Instead order pizza and artfully arrange cheese, crackers, pretzels and beer. Done.

The truly ambitious can make a big green salad. Those who prefer convenience can buy a tray of cut-up veggies.

Here are my Super Bowl experiences throughout the years.

With an infant. I arranged a place for myself to sit such that my ability to nurse in a room full of people is not a huge deal. (I sat in the front row with my back to nearly everyone.) My husband handled all the snack food and beer. For added entertainment, we let people try on a Baby Bjorn carrier with our baby in it.

With a toddler. TV on while our precious impressionable child is awake? Yes, we did. Make sure the TV is securely strapped to the wall or furniture. Because, toddlers.

With a preschooler and an infant. I’d like to be back on the couch, but this is my second time at motherhood, so I can actually walk around the house while nursing a baby. People alternate taking the little kids outside to burn off their energy. At least everyone can eat pizza now. A bowl of baby carrots, sliced apples, and some almonds on the coffee table elevates this meal to well-rounded.

With a gradeschooler and a preschooler. Some of the children can actually go play in another room unsupervised. Wow! When they hear loud cheering from their parents at exciting moments of the game, they come running in to demand, “What happened?” We put Football Guys out for decoration. We serve lasagna and pizza, and I actually made both because I no longer have a child hanging from my limbs whenever I’m in the kitchen.

With two gradeschoolers.Â Our Super Bowl party is now officially a kid-driven activity. The friends who are invited are the families with boys my son’s age, each with a little sister within a year of my daughter. We have a prize box for those who correctly predict scores at the end of each quarter. I’ve made iron-on shirts with team logos for everyone in my house.

My son knows more about football than many of the guests. My daughter is almost there, too. Since I don’t give a crap about football, I wonder how this became My Thing.

Invited somewhere for Super Bowl watching? Feel free to steal the football-brownie idea from me and Scarlett as your contribution.

Football fanatic? I’m obsessed with this football onesie, just $9.99 on zulily as of this writing.

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Whitney

RookieMoms.com co-founder Whitney lives with her husband, son, and daughter in the San Francisco Bay Area where she writes about parenting, crafts, and activities that moms can do with babies in tow. She and Heather also publish 510Families.com, a site for East Bay parents.