So, yesterday I hosted my first watch party ever. It was for the hotel, so essentially I got paid to do something I love – watch hockey. That’s a win for me. Because it was so last minute, it didn’t have a huge turnout, but there were some people. Also, because it was for the hotel, and I’m poor, I wasn’t able to host it the way I wanted to. This is what I think a successful watch party should look like. Disclaimer – this is nothing against my boss as it was a last minute thing and we didn’t have time to properly prepare.
Watch Party Snacks
You need good snacks as you cheer on your favourite teams to victory. Or, if they’re doing horribly, you need something to distract you from the fact that the game is not going well. A successful watch party needs snacks. We did have some, but if we do another, I know we need more, and something better. The snacks I was told we would have – popcorn and nachos. That is what we had, but clearly my fellow management and I have different views on nachos. The nachos were just chips and cheese, which everyone did eat. However, I think nachos need cheese, meat, tomatoes, jalapeno peppers and served with a side of salsa and sour cream. Those are nachos.
I also think that we should have had other things for people to purchase like pizza or sliders or poutine, maybe some wings. Those scream game day to me. Plus, it would have given me more to actually do if the people who came needed food during intermissions. We kept it dry, and I’m okay with that as it was supposed to be for families. Parents don’t want a bunch of rude, drunk people swearing up a storm in front of their young kids. People bought pop from the vending machines or helped themselves to the complimentary juice, coffee and tea.
Intermission Entertainment
The intermission is the perfect time to use the bathroom, get more snacks and drinks, and stretch your legs. However, that doesn’t always take the whole time and people are left waiting for the next period and they’re bored. Do you know what will fix that? Watch Party Intermission Entertainment. The next watch party I would love to have some games going, with small prizes to be won. We could set up a little shootout, or obstacle course. Sports trivia is another winner. Something quick and fun to pass the time while we wait for the next period to start.
Draws and 50/50
Who doesn’t like the chance to win something big? A few months ago I was selling most of my jerseys for extra cash. I didn’t sell all of them. It would have been cool to see if I could have, in a sense, auctioned off the jersey at a watch party. Then with the 50/50, we could have put half the money towards the hotel for, something. Maybe save it to make the next watch party, or event, bigger and better. People love to win things. If you think of socials, people put their bids on prizes all the time. It’s a great way to support the host, and potentially bring something new and exciting back home with them.
Building a Successful Watch Party
The first watch party wasn’t huge and glamorous. That’s okay. However, we were asked when we were going to do it again and so I would love to plan another one, but this time, make some improvements. I also think we need time to hype it up so that more people are excited about it. We may not be able to do all the things I mentioned, but we can certainly build up to it. And who knows, maybe we purchase a liquor license for the Stanley Cup final and sell alcohol at that one. I’m quite certain, if we build the watch party up until that point, we could have a packed house. But, we need to build or they won’t grow. And we know that anything can happen, if we try.
