Kate and I both attended Brigham Young University and the boys of our Alma mater beat Gonzaga last week, securing a spot in the Sweet 16. They take on the University of Florida this week- and guess where? The Big Easy. So of course we have to throw out a little Cougar-love on OBB! And if you’re not a BYU fan, no worries- I thought this was the perfect opportunity to show some things that can be customized for any school colors (High School Graduations are coming up!) and sports teams because it’s something we get asked about a lot.
But for us, it’s all about the Blue today. See that kid over there? (Oh my gosh, I just referred to a college student as a “kid”, I’m officially old.) That’s the Jimmer. I don’t know how anyone in the US right now doesn’t know who Jimmer Fredette is, but apparently they exist. A phenomenon known as “Jimmer Mania” is sweeping the country. Even President Obama loves the Jimmer! He’s the MWC’s all-time leading scorer, MWC player of the year, and in my husband’s humble opinion, the 2011 NCAA Basketball player of the year. All of that is just fancy talk for A-maz-ing. Grown men squeal like girls when they watch him play, and girls actually watch him play. But what I think is almost cooler than all of that is the fact that his name has become a part of the daily vocabulary of millions of Americans. As they just said on ESPN the other day, “Jimmer is a noun, a verb, and an adverb.” Want proof? His name has its own glossary. I’m pretty sure that’s a good sign that you’ve made something of yourself. Seriously. That’s so Jimmer.
Since we’re celebrating the Sweet 16, I thought a collection of sugary delights was in order. Have pizza for dinner and save room for the treats! (Okay, and hello- blue and white? Not too many options when it comes to savory foods. If your team is red or green you’re set. Us, not so much.)
You know how much we love our Sugar Cookies with Glace Icing. You can make just about anything your cookie-loving heart desires. But we also know that sugar cookies can be time-consuming and annoying sometimes too. So I will tell you a little secret.
Sometimes I cheat.
Not on important things like driver’s tests and board games, but on cookies? Yes. Sometimes. For a quickie thing like this I’ll just buy plain, un-frosted sugar cookies from the bakery at the grocery store. These cute basketball cookies took me 20 minutes start to finish. No joke people! And by finished, I mean dishes in the dishwasher and everything. Boo ya.
You could easily use your team colors and put player’s numbers on them too. There was a full-on battle at our house regarding who got to eat the Jimmer cookie. The kid who screamed the loudest won. Pretty sure it shouldn’t work like that, but at our house, sometimes it does.
Colorburst Cupcakes– also a great one to customize with team colors. You could get fancy and use our Striped Icing Tutorial , or just place 2 colors of frosting in your piping bag like I did here.
You’ll have to forgive the Carolina Blue (even though it IS my favorite color!) There’s only so much you can do with navy – shades of blue are okay in my book!
And if the rainbow version of these cupcakes seems labor intensive to you, a two-color scheme is easy breezy! You don’t even have to layer- I just spooned blobs of batter in the cups, alternating as they filled up.
For whatever reason, Dipped Pretzel Rods are always one of the first things to go when I do spreads like this. Kids especially love them, and they’re SO easy to make, and to customize. I used almond bark and blue candy melts, plus blue and white sprinkles to decorate these bad boys. Quick and easy.
Plus you can run around with them pretending they’re magic wands and cast imaginary spells on people. Not that I’ve ever done that, but it’s sounding really fun.
And hey- if you’re dippin’ anyway, toss some marshmallows in there too! You can never have enough dipped finger foods rolled in sprinkles. Seriously. The world needs more of that. Just like it needs more Jimmer.
Marshmallow Pops make me smile. They’re happy. They look cute all wrapped up if you want to give them out as favors too.
Here’s another trick- whenever I’m serving things on sticks, I like to use candies to hold them up in the container. I find that regular glass drinking cups are a great size for the pops, and colored jelly beans or M&M’s make the perfect base. Then people can eat those too! (If you don’t have anything fun and colorful for your cups, dry rice works great)
My last sweet is Fruity Candy Popcorn. One of my faves. There’s just one problem- the only flavor of Jello that doesn’t work (at least of all the ones I’ve tried) is blue. It actually looks okay when you first mix it up, but if you bake it, it’s turns green! Plus they usually only sell blue jello in the summer around the 4th of July. So to get around that, I cheated again. Man, I’m such a cheater. I made my favorite Caramel Corn recipe, but I used white sugar instead of brown. Then right before pouring the hot caramel on the popcorn, I added some blue food coloring. Worked great- just don’t bake it! The white will turn brown and the blue will turn green and suddenly you will be supporting the wrong team.
My other favorite table filler is M&M’s. You can usually find custom colors at good party supply stores, but if not (and you have a school with normal colors) you can always buy a few bags of regular M&M’s and pick out the colors you need!
And really, if you have some great food, you don’t need a ton of decorations. At the same time, a few things will really perk up the look of the food! So you definitely want a bit of both. My quickest and cheapest additions for parties are plain ol’ curling ribbon (makes anything look festive!) and computer print-outs.
I just printed those Y’s on regular paper, cut them out and scattered them. I’ve done hearts, flowers, stars, etc for other types of table spreads. Super easy and looks great!
So there you have it. Super easy, not too time consuming, and awesomely fun. Bust out your school spirit (whatever school it may be) and show some pride! It’s what The Jimmer would do.
Now I especially expect to hear from all my Cougar fans out there! Show some spirit by clicking the links below to share this post on Facebook and Twitter, or give it a stumble. And of course we’d love to hear a holla’ in a comment!
If you don’t bleed blue- give your own team a shout-out. Let’s see who’s got the loudest fans!
GO COUGS!
Gotta love those Cougs!!
RISE AND SHOUT! THE COUGS ARE OUT!!!
Rah, rah, rah rah rah! Goooooo COUGARS!
I bleed Blue. And I’m grabbing keys to go to the store and buy a white cake mix so we can have those excellent cupcakes for tomorrow! BYU! BYU! BYU!
I love the Cougars- but the ones from Washington State University (who didn’t make it very far in the tournament, unfortunately). Love your posts, and your cook book! I bought 2 so I could give one away. 🙂
The Zaga game was the first BYU game I’ve watched in years, and Jimmer was definitely a-maz-ing. I might have to throw us a BYU food party just to celebrate his awesomeness. Rah! Rah! Rahrahrah! Goooooooo Cougars!
Cougars rock!!! Go BYU!! I think we may have to have a party now with all your fun ideas.
Gotta love the COUGAR FOODS! We BYU types like our sugar, sad to say…and you’ve given lots of great ideas here. It was fun to be one of the many in the crowd and meet you (at the Orem Deseret Book) and buy your cookbook–I love your blog so much, and it always brings a smile to my lips and a satisfying feeling to my tummy. Thanks for the great blue & white treats ideas! Very fun.
Rise and shout the cougars are out! Go Cougars!
I loves’ me some Jimmer! You can bet that this house will be screaming come Thursday night. I might have to bump up my festive spread after seeing your ideas. Go COUGS!
WAY TO GO COUGARS!!! It’s in the blood baby!
Love the decor ideas and the cougar love! If only we weren’t still students on a student budget…thanks for the ideas for making the day a celebration even if we are still a 1000 miles away from the game. Rise up Cougs! Be Jimmers.
I was lovin’ on this website before. After this post, you can Fredette about any ounce of infidelity. There is no question in my mind of how truly converted I am to it. I had strong hunches you girls attended BYU, but the fact that you have been Jimmered and posted about it has truly made my entire year. GO COUGARS!!
The first song our kids learned was the fight song! Rah-rah-rah-rah-rah GOOOOOO Cougars! Love the basketball cookies and the swirl cupcakes! So, so, so cute!
We don’t really do the sport thing, but if I did it would BYU all the way. Regardless, I do appreciate a beautiful food display! 🙂
Speaking of which, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAUVV8BXwlI
wow, what great ideas…inspires me to get back in the kitchen for fun ideas. can you imagine using the same ideas for Easter,4th of July, Halloween, christmas?? lovet these idess…thanks Mark!
Great ideas for baby shower decorations too!
Love all the fun ideas. Thanks and GO COUGARS!!!
I love this!!! We are really needing a great party for the game tomorrow night to help us feel better about not actually being there. We even live in New Orleans, but it’s just too expensive for student loans. 🙁 Thanks so much for all the great ideas!
GO COUGS!!!!
What a cute little assemble of sports themed food! And it all looks so yummy too!
JImmermania is happening at our house!! Love the timing of the post. I will definitely be using these ideas at our Sweet 16 party tomorrow! Bleeding blue and love Jimmer too!!
I feel kind of sorry for #3 on the Zags. He made it on the cover of Sports Illustrated and he was totally “posterized”. Ha! Gotta love how the Cougar team is playing right now, don’t ya?
What cute ideas! We taught my two-year-old how to sing “teach me how to Jimmer”. Hilarious.
Haha, I love it! I’ve been singing that all day, lol
go cougs! i’m going to throw a party just so i can make these fun treats! 🙂
Teach me how to Jimmer!…. Lovin me some Jimmer… What great ideas, THANKS
Rise and Shout the Cougars are out! Love your ideas, as always!
Yes, finally a post that my husband can get excited about (he does not get the whole food blog thing, however my cooking skills beg to differ). The hubby thinks kid number three will be named Jimmer no matter the gender 🙁 Thanks for the great ideas for our Thursday night get together! Go Cougs!
This might be the cutest post on the planet! GO JIMMER! I decided if I ever went to a game, I’d make a sign that said, “JIMMER JIMMER CHICKEN DINNER!” Get? HAHAH! I’m so punny.
I admit that I think of you two like friends and then I have to remind myself that we’ve never met and you don’t know me and you might think that is a little creepy. Love your posts and humor. Your site is the first I head to when I need a delicious recipe.
We’ve got Jimmer-mania here too, GOOOOOO COUGARS!!
Go Cougs! Love the post!