Gee & Ursula: We need to talk about Super Bowl party rules, etiquette

Super Bowl LVIII, the biggest sporting event of the calendar year, will be held Sunday in Las Vegas as the Kansas City Chiefs try to win their second consecutive NFL championship. The San Francisco 49ers are standing in the Chiefs’ way.

The big game brings big parties with it as many friends, families and colleagues gather to celebrate the football, the halftime show — featuring Usher this year — and even the ads, which have become quite the spectacle in the last few decades.

Gatherings can be great fun for hosts and attendees alike, but there are a lot of ways to bring a party down, whether it’s bad or boorish behavior, dirty shoes or speaking ill of music superstar Taylor Swift in a room full of nonfootball fans who have no problem with her dating Chiefs star player Travis Kelce. (She is trying her best to make it to Vegas in time for the game to see him play, by the way.)

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So, avoid being the one who irritates the crowd and consider these tips from Gee Scott, host of the Gee & Ursula Show, and producer Andrew “Chef” Lanier to make the party as fun, and as smooth, as possible.

Gee Scott’s Super Bowl party tips

• Don’t come empty handed.
• Wear socks.
• Wash your hands before you eat. “There’s someone watching you, even if you don’t think so,” Gee said.
• Don’t go upstairs to use a restroom. “If something comes up missing, they’re gonna blame you,” he noted. “Don’t wander upstairs.”
• Don’t load your plate up with someone’s food that you’ve never had before. “It could be nasty,” Gee explained.
• If you’re gonna go up for seconds, get a new plate. Gee said this especially is true if everyone is using paper plates.
• If you have to relieve yourself, go somewhere else. “Anything other than No. 1, go to the gas station or go home,” he said. (Ursula and Chef poked back about this one.)
• Don’t talk to someone else’s significant other for the entire game. That’s especially true for single people.
• Don’t try to be Tony Romo, a longtime Dallas Cowboys quarterback who is now an NFL analyst for CBS, by trying to tell the room what play they’re getting ready to run next.
• Don’t be the person that talks the whole game.
• Be careful: That Taylor Swift conversation could go left.

Andrew “Chef” Lanier’s Super Bowl party dos and don’ts

• Those who are drinking should know how they’re getting home before they start drinking. That should be planned ahead of time.
• If there are gonna be a bunch of little kids running around, put a movie on in the other room. “Nobody wants the kids screaming and running around in the TV room … we’re all watching the big game,” Chef explained.
• Tip fatigue is not allowed on Super Bowl Sunday. Those ordering pizzas or DoorDash, the minimum tip is $20. Also, “You better not be the person that’s ordering in the middle of the second quarter hoping to get your food by halftime,” he added.
• Chef agreed with Gee on suggesting that guests  not be one of the “Xs and Os” guys. “Look, man … Ted in accounting and Lisa with her own Etsy store aren’t here to listen to your annual sports audition,” Chef exclaimed.
• For those who have been hogging the best spot on the couch, that spot is fair game when it is abandoned for more food or something else.
• Don’t be the guy who’s shouting at his girlfriend to get him food. Avoid being the person who says, “Hey, babe! Can you grab me another beer and some more wings and make sure it’s ranch this time! You know I hate blue cheese,” Chef said.
• If we went to high school together, and we weren’t friends then and we’re not friends now. Don’t tell me, “We should totally hang out some time.”

After a quick debate about whether party attendees should take their shoes off at a host’s house, Gee had one more bonus tip to bestow upon the listeners.

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“If you don’t like to go downtown Seattle, even if you haven’t been downtown Seattle for years. Don’t do this: “Oh my goodness. I’m just not going downtown Seattle anymore,'” Gee said. “They read into that and there’s somebody that’s gonna want to just go it’s gonna trigger something and trigger somebody.”

For some additional rules to consider, check out “The Ultimate Super Bowl Party Etiquette Guide” in Home & Texture and an earlier article from etiquette expert Diane Gottsman titled “The 10 Commandments of Super Bowl Party Etiquette” is a good source for suggestions.

Steve Coogan is the lead editor of MyNorthwest. You can read more of his stories here. Follow Steve on X, formerly known as Twitter, here and email him here.