Throwing the big party; and what not to do

When it comes to throwing a big Super Bowl party, I need help. I am not a party kind of guy and rarely do them. So I set out on a journey to see what kind of help I could find throwing a big party here in Pahrump.

The key to throwing the greatest Super Bowl party lies in the food and drink and that is what I am sticking to and so I sought advice on that. I mean, what kind of food should I get? I wanted to talk to a Pahrump party planner, an expert and you know what, I didn't find one. While calling Pahrump party planners I called Sanders Winery because it says party planning on their phone book blurb. They don't do that. But then I thought, who better to ask about what type of food and drink to bring to a Super Bowl party but the owner of Sanders Winery, Jack Sanders. So he agreed to talk to me.

The first thing he said to me was, "I have no clue, I am not a party planner."

I thought, hmmm, this isn't going well. Then there was silence at the other end, but then we got to talking.

Sanders will surprise many because if he was to throw a Super Bowl party, there would be no wine. What? An owner of winery would not have any wine?

"I would take a break from wine, I need that sometimes and I would drink some beer," he said.

Sanders than said it's not necessary to have a lot of fancy food, which was a big surprise to me.

"I would keep the party as simple as possible, like chili," he said. "I would also recommend a lot of hamburgers and hot dogs and you don't have to go upscale on that. A hot dog is a hot dog, the important part is what you put on it. Maybe even some meatballs. But simplicity is the key."

I then pushed the wine, my wife likes a glass of wine. I mean how often do you get to talk to a guy who owns his own winery?

"Well, if I had to have it, I would have some sweet wines," Sanders said. "That's a must. Wines like a good rose wine or a pinot grigio. Wines from the area that are sweet are Symphony, a moscato, Desert Blush, Serenity or zinfandel."

At this point I am writing feverishly trying to keep up and not sound like an idiot. I had no idea what he was talking about. I am not a wine guy, I had to look up how to spell moscato and grigio.

He said also that cheese was necessary. I thought of string cheese and cheese sticks but again he was way out of my league there too. He mentioned cheeses like brie, which I have had and a few others that I had no clue.

Sanders did have a lot of good advice though and was a regular guy and I thought maybe he should open up a party planning outfit. He would do well.

I then thought of decorations, but I didn't really want to go to Walmart. Don't do that. Anyway, go to the Pahrump Party Supply. They will help you out and they give good advice there. They may not be party planners either but they know how to decorate and they are probably the closest thing to a party planner we have.

This store had everything I needed from tables to rent to commercial margarita mixers to rent. I was even impressed to find out that they rent out cotton candy machines and professional popcorn poppers.

Elisa Manning is the new manager there and pointed out all the football team colors they had and professional team decorations.

My journey ended there. My conclusion is, it may take a lot of work, but there is help to be had in Pahrump if you want to throw a big party for the Super Bowl, one just has to be creative.

-Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com