Are you ready for some football?! In our house, opening week is kind of a big deal. Well, along with every other week of the season. And every other sports season. But the NFL is a big one in our house. Why, you may ask? Because I was born and bred in Green Bay, WI. My husband, on the other hand, is a die-hard Chicago Bears fan.  We had to compromise when we were married: For every one piece of Bears paraphernalia displayed, an equal sized Packers piece can be displayed (and vice versa). This rule is constantly challenged during the Packers/Bears weeks. So two (and if we’re lucky, three) weeks a year, our house gets really competitive. I hide his ugly orange and blue blankets and he tells me my green and gold things need to go.

One year, while we were still dating, I thought I’d have a little fun with him for Opening Week. I put together this basket with all sorts of teasing notes attached to items. I made them directly tied to Packers vs. Bears, and to say he loved it is an understatement. Since you might not relate to either team, I re-did all the tags to be neutral, so you can make your own Opening Week NFL Basket.

Ingredients for a Touchdown of a Basket (See what I did there?):

A Snickers Bar (For when others Snicker at your loss!)

A Crunch Bar (It’s Crunch Time!)

100 Grand Bar (Winning is just as good as 100 Grand!)

Gummy Fish (Your Team O’Fish-ally Lost!)

Rolo’s (Sometimes you just have to Rolo with the punches!)

Take 5 Bar (Take 5 for being a good sport!)

Starburst (In case you need to Burst into tears!)

Whoppers (That was a Whopper of a game!)

Tissues (In case of Loss: Break Plastic!)

You can download all the tags here: NFL Candy Bar Tags.

There were several other things I added without notes as well. Chips, salsa, pretzels, popcorn, football glasses, football coozie, and a football tray. I found all the football stuff at The Dollar Tree (big shocker) so they were cheap. One of my favorite things I added was the Gummy “BEARS.” I went to the candy store in the mall (you know the one: they have every candy you can think of in little plastic containers, and every time you walk by you wonder who buys it?), and I picked out each letter: B-E-A-R-S. I put them all together in a little bag and had that as the “centerpiece” of the basket. You should be able to find the same gummy letters for all the teams if you want to go the distance for the Touchdown.

Lastly, I really surprised him with the final piece. I secretly had photos taken (just by a friend) in Chicago Bears clothing (YUCK!). I had a puzzle printed from Wal-Mart (only $12.96) using the photo. It came in a neat little box, which I added to the basket. He had to put the puzzle together to see me “rooting” for his team. Although I will never officially root for his team, he smiled that day knowing he had blackmail.