5 Fantasy Football Draft Party Ideas for a Successful Draft
Draft day is the greatest day of the year. It’s like Christmas for adults. And there’s nothing more fun than a really good draft day party. Good food, good friends, bitter rivalries, and endless hours of trash talk while your fellow owners make their picks.
We’ve compiled a list of some recommended will tips for hosting a successful fantasy football draft:
1. Get A Fantasy Football Draft Board
A draft board is a must-have. Along with kicking up the realism of draft day experience, it also aids in keeping things running smoothly. Instead of owners constantly asking “Who was just picked”, “Who’s on the clock”, “Who are the top QBs on the board”, or “What is this burning sensation?”…Ok maybe it can’t help with the last question, but having a draft board will answer ALL of those other questions and more. Not to mention, if you have a digital based draft board like FanDraft, you can really kick up the realism a notch.
2. Destination Draft
For some leagues, traveling is a requirement and not an option. I’m in a 12 owner league that was started over 20 years old, while we were all in high school. Now that we’re all a bunch of old-ass men, who are spread throughout the entire US, travel isn’t a choice for us. However, we almost prefer this situation.
Doing a destination draft turns the draft party into a full-on multi-day draft vacation.
Find a fun city like Las Vegas, LA, or Nashville and then get an AirBNB that will comfortably sleep your whole crew. The great thing about having 10-12 of your friends agree on this, is you get fantastic buying power. Head to some cheaper location like Arizona, and you can get a mansion with a pool, basketball court, and a kick-ass space to hold a draft — all for a pretty reasonable per-head cost.
Unfortunately, with the pandemic in full swing, 2020 brings us persistent uncertainty and limits the ability to do the destination draft. This very well may not be an option, but who knows. Maybe things will take a turn for the better, and what better way to celebrate than with a destination draft.
3. Draft Day Drinking Rules/Games
You need to be careful with this one.
I’m in a league where any time an owner takes an extension, drafts a New England Patriot, or tries to take a player already taken, that guilty owner must take a shot. Well, not really a “shot” per se, but they take a Chambong (a chugging device for champaign — because it’s a very classy league).
It’s all pretty innocent, and while people do get a little drunkish, it all happens slowly over the course of the draft.
What you don’t want to do is have someone do a shot of Everclear any time they take a player with the letter “a” is his name. It may sound fun at first, but having everybody drunk and belligerent by the 3rd round of your draft isn’t fun for everybody. Instead, use drinking rules responsibly. Or at the very least, make sure people aren’t drunk until the end of the draft.
4. Announce Your Draft Picks
I’m a huge fan of all rituals that help simulate an actual NFL Draft. While it may seem cumbersome, there is something special about having owners write down their picks and walk them up to the commissioner to have them announced. ”For the first pick in the 2020 League of Leagues Draft, the Randy Kittens select…” You get it.
You can kick it up another notch like these fellas (in the image above) , who went all out and even got a professionally designed podium! I’m aching with jealousy.
5. Take a smoke break. AKA: Stop and smell the roses.
I waited 364 days for this day, and I’ll be damned if we need to rush through it. There’s always some jerk that wants to blast through the draft for some unknown reason, constantly blabbering out “Hurry up! Let’s get this thing moving!!” Screw that guy. The draft is a day that needs to be sipped and savored like a fine scotch. Take your time and enjoy it with a break every few rounds. Doing this aids in a few functions. First, it allows everyone some time to breathe, grab some food / refill their cups without missing anything. Secondly, it calms people down that are in a rush. It (hopefully) forces them to stop and enjoy their peers, and momentarily forget their selfish urgency for the pick to hurry and get to themselves. Finally, it creates a moment for side chatter reflecting on the draft thus far. This can cultivate some interesting trade discussions, or maybe just some humorous shit talking.
