Build this easy to make football bar for your party.

If you’re lucky enough to go like me (sorry for the brag!), then you’ll be filled to the gills with parties, food and good times. The reality for most Americans is the throw fun and exciting Super Bowl bashes at home or attend a private party. We’ve all been to great parties, and then we’ve also been to duds.

If you’re hosting the big shindig this year, how do you avoid becoming “that guy” who had a crappy Super Bowl party?

Every Other Thursday turned to Mr. Handyman for some tips. For those of us who really enjoy being the man around the house and completing that never-ending “honey do” list but still lack some of the skill necessary to re-plumb a bathroom or install a ceiling fan, Mr. Handyman has you covered. As someone who didn’t have a father who taught him the ins-and-outs of home repair, I use their site all the time for tips and tricks – which allow me to avoid killing myself or flooding the house. The same experts also have created a pretty cool list of ways to make your party pretty cool.

The company released an easy to follow video to walk you throw some pretty cool – and easy – ways to make your party stand out. They include:

• Turn your dining room table into a football field-themed serving stadium in practically minutes
• Change your coffee table in the living room into a chalkboard playmaking conversation piece
• Build a football-themed bar for the big game
• Take the game outside with a cool project that builds a goalpost out of standard PVC pipe

Check out the embedded video for some great projects to make you the talk of suburbia. We like the approach and so to will your buds as they come over to drink, eat and yell about how annoying Madonna is as the halftime entertainment.

The food and the game (oh, and the BEER) may be the stars of the big Sunday, but using some of these tips and projects could make you the Super Bowl King of the Block in your neck of the woods.

Once my son was diagnosed 18 months ago, we immediately had to learn the world of gluten free food. Shortly thereafter, I founded the Gluten Free Father blog where I started sharing our thoughts about gluten free products and how they tasted.

Just a short time ago, I decided to move away from a separate gluten free review blog as the readership here at EOT is large enough and diverse enough I now feel this is the right spot to share those reviews. Many of our readers have children with food allergies, Autism or other health issues that require a special diet. I hope they will find these reviews helpful and accretive to the great content here on the blog.

Although our family hasn’t gone completely gluten free along with my son, most of our family meals are GF and as such we really began to search for the best products available. Reviewing these products for manufacturers has been a great joy to my family and I. So this 4th of July we decided to wrap several products into a family barbecue and share with our readers here our reviews of those products.

For our barbecue, we settled on good, old fashioned American hamburgers and grilled chicken. We did so primarily because the folks at both Canyon Bakehouse and Five Star Meat Marinade sent us products to try and then share our thoughts with my readers.

First, Canyon Bakehouse is a artisan bakery in Loveland, Colorado, and has quickly garnered a strong following in the gluten free and Celiac community. In fact, Christi Skow, one of the owners of Canyon Bakehouse was herself diagnosed with Celiac Disease back in 2007 so the business is personal. And her story is a great example of how entrepreneurs are remaking the gluten free food industry for the better.

Canyon sent us some very tasty hamburger buns. Since my son is young, he sometimes will eat the hamburger without the bun. Especially since many gluten free hamburger bun options just don’t taste that great – even for a toddler with simple palate. Despite this, my son at the entire bun and really liked it. The rest of us also had our burgers on this delightful bun and were amazed at how much like “real” bread it tasted. There was no after taste and the light and air texture had the entire family ready to buy our next batch.

The buns were simply great and we highly recommend them to anyone looking for a gluten free hamburger bun that won’t have them missing regular bread.

Family Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars.

In addition to our hamburgers, we also grilled some fresh organic chicken breasts. Thanks to the folks at Five Star Meat Marinade, we were able to marinate the chicken in this flavorful marinade overnight and tossed it on the grill right next to the burgers.

The marinade is full of great flavors from what appears to be paprika to even citrus overtones. It’s also not only gluten free, but also low in sodium and sugar free. That means its great for just about everyone on a restricted diet of some sort.

We found it to be amazingly flavorful with just a hint of spice. The tastes were a bit strong for our young ones but my older kids and my wife both loved the flavor it brought to the chicken. You can also use the marinade on seafood, pork and beef, which is something we plan to do when we buy our next bottle. We’re grilling fanatics during the summer and the tasty flavor of this all-purpose marinade has earned its way into our permanent collection.

One note: despite Five Star Marinade being gluten free, you have to look hard to find that fact on their website and its nowhere on the bottle. Our friendly advice to the nice folks at Five Star is to add it to the label so folks know for sure. Other than that, this is a product we too can recommend to our readers and friends.

Family Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

Lastly, although I was the only one who could enjoy our final gluten free barbecue review item, I did so with great pleasure. New Planet Gluten Free Beer is a fast rising star in the gluten free world with their tasty craft beers made with sorghum. The family owned business is producing what I believe to be the best gluten free beer in America. Dubbed “Old Style Beer for New Style Beer Drinkers,” New Planet not only produces great beer, but also is a good environmental citizen supporting renewable causes as well as running what would be considered a very green business.

New Planet sent a bottle of all three of their brews – Tread Lightly Ale, 3R Raspbery Ale, and Off Grid Pale Ale – for your brave correspondent to try. Not only could my kids not drink, by my wife, who is 7 months pregnant, could not enjoy these tasty beers. But I could and it was a great joy.

Starting first with the Tread Lightly Ale, I found its citrus tones highly enjoyable and even tastier than a Blue Moon standard Belgian White beer. In fact, I preferred the taste of the Tread Lightly Ale over most beers I drink on a regular basis. The taste was full and the boquet quite aromatic. If you like those beers and now find yourself on a gluten free diet, you’ll be amazed by its taste. Even if you aren’t gluten free and are a beer coniseur, I highly recommend that you try it.

Next I tried the 3R Raspberry Ale. Although I love citrus undertones in a beer, I am not a fan of stronger fruit tastes like raspberry or even apple. Yet despite that fact, the 3R Raspberry surprised me in a good way. Instead of strong fruity flavors, the special puree used by New Planet creates a beautiful body color with a natural raspberry flavor that isn’t too strong nor too sweet. They won be over and I’d definately try it again.

Last, I sampled New Planet’s full-bodied ale, Off Grid Ale. This is the closest beer I have ever tasted to a traditional craft pale ale. I happen to be a big pale ale drinker so I was especially patient and focused on drinking this one. It did not disappoint. It was hard to tell the difference between it and other craft pale ales (like Boulevard) I usually drink. The brown rice extract, molasses, tapioca, and spiciness are mixed to perfection. New Planet should be extremely proud of all their beers yet to me this takes the crown as their best.

Again, New Planet is hands down the best gluten free beer available today. It puts others like Redbridge, Bards Tale, New Grist, and Green’s to shame. If you’re GF and you’re looking for the best beer available in America, look no further than New Planet Beer.

Family Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars.

So that’s it. A great gluten free holidays spent with my family and some great gluten free food products. Just because you have to be gluten free doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy great times, great food, and great beer.

Next time I’ll review some tasty gluten free desserts from Ethel’s Edibles. Be sure to read if it will satisfy your gluten free sweet tooth.

Until next time remember: gluten free doesn’t mean taste free.

Disney is one of the most magical places on Earth, or so they say. Try spending seven or so days with kids under the age of 10 and let me know if the experience is still magical.

Yea, I’m speaking from personal experience. While Disney is a magical place, it does comes with its downsides. And, as a parent, those downsides are usually related to the temperament of your kids or yourself, believe it or not.

Despite all that you’ve read or heard about Disney, the experience does create life-long memories for both the kids and the parents. However, there are some simple things you can do to help make your experience somewhat sane — tips that can help parents get through the Disney World experience without wanting to pull their hair out or strangle one of the characters.

Take Physical and Mental Breaks
Disney is a working vacation. The place is massive and if you’re attending for the first time, there’s no way you’re going to see the entire place in seven days. This, of course, means that you’ll spend those seven days packing in as much activity as possible, which will then result in mental and physical fatigue. There’s a ton of walking and a ton of waiting in line, which weighs your down mentally.

As a result, it’s critically important to take breaks as much as possible. Take a seat, relax and chill out. If you’re dead tired, you’re kids are even more tired. Believe me.

Pack Snacks
Food is an essential part of the Disney experience. Why? Well, it fuels your drive. You’re so busy running around to attractions and shows that you forget to eat. While an adult can get by, kids can’t. You should know your kids eating habits and tell-tale signs that they are hungry. Bring enough snacks to keep them fueled throughout the day.

Strollers are Life Savers
If you want to lug around your own stroller, by all means do so. Renting one, while expensive, is just as critical as bringing your own. If your kids are small enough, be sure to have stroller in tow because the less walking they do, the quicker you can move around the park and the less tired they’ll get. Trust me on this one. The last thing you want to do is carry your kid around or hold them while waiting 45 minutes in line for a ride.

Plan Off Days
As a said, Disney is a working vacation, especially if you’ve never been there before. Be sure to build in an off day or two where you can take the kids to the pool and just have some fun in the sun. It’ll energize the kids and will break the monotony of waiting in those long lines.

Go with Friends or Family
The experience is so much nicer when you travel with friends or family. You’ll need your alone time at the pool, at the bar or just out on the balcony smoking a stogie. After all that time with the kids, walking around, listening to whining and crying, you’ll need some adult time (not to mention it’s nice for the kids to have other kids to play with).

However, pick and choose who you travel with very seriously because Disney is a high pressured vacation and adults will have their breakdowns and moments of insanity. People snap and more often than not, it happens in Disney mostly because of endless walking and waiting in line. That aggravation grows on you like a pimple on your ass. It’s there. You can feel it and there’s really nothing you can do about it but wait for it to pop.

Bonus Tip
Regardless of what you think of personal hygiene, load up on the deodorant and do yourself a big favor, go to Costco, Target, Walgreens or wherever you can buy items if massive quantities and get yourself a family sized thing of Gold Bond. No explanation needed for this purchase, but you’ll thank me for the tip later.

If you’re a parent, have been to Disney with your kids, how do you survive the week?

Don Martelli is just a dad, moonlighting as a PR exec, photographer and civilian journalist. He’s the executive editor for Technorati, a co-founder of Every Other Thursday and is a contributing writer for Shamable and the PR Finish Line. Connect with him at www.donmartelli.com or @bigguyd via Twitter. 

Article first published as Parent’s Guide to Surviving a Disney World Vacation on Technorati.

Yes, you read the headline correctly. Our latest Darwin Award Winner tried to swap his baby for beer.

According to Boston.com:

Chicopee police say a man faces a child endangerment charge after allegedly offering to swap his 3-month-old daughter for a pair of 40-ounce beers.

Police say 24-year-old Matthew Brace of Northampton made the offer to a maintenance man outside a gas station convenience store on Monday. The maintenance man called police, who say they found Brace hiding with the girl behind a trash container.

Contrary to belief, I do love beer but would never, ever, ever swap one of my kids for beer. That’s just insanely ridiculous and to put it bluntly, frickin’ idiotic. Is Brace that out of touch with reality that this kid/beer swap thing would actually work?

I mean, 40 ounce beers aren’t typically that good to begin with so if you’re going to make this attempt, try and get your hands on a case of 90-minute IPA from Dogfish.

Kidding.

Seriously though, this is exactly why we men are considered morons at times and why there should be a rigorous test for every man (and woman for that matter) who can have kids (because not everyone who can have kids, wants kids, if you know what I mean). There’s a lengthy approval process for just about everything we consume (food, merchandise, etc.). But when it comes to being a parent, any moron can be one. This winner proves that.

Impossible to find the entire ten-minute fight scene online due to copyright reasons, but here’s a good clip from Turner Classic Movies.com and as a consolation here’s the Dropkick Murphys’ “Barroom Hero.” Happy St. Pat’s, ya rummies!

Here’s your answer:

Us dads like all types of beer. We started out drinking the cheap stuff (i.e. anything we could get our hands on as teenagers and college kids). As we get older, we acquire taste for a variety of beers and start to cherish the those in-take moments like we were meeting your childhood idol (well, maybe not, but you get the picture).

When drinking beer, dads need one specific tool to help them on their journey down palate heaven — a good beer mug.

Now, there are all types of beer mugs, but here are my favorites:

The Classic Pint Glass
This type of beer mug is the one that you typically get in a bar. It is heavy and made of thick glass. They are stackable as well. They will come with all types of logos on them (beer brands, sports teams, etc.) These glasses are great for any occasion.

The Beer Flute
These types of beer glasses look more like trumpet horns than they do flutes. They are a bit more elegant than dads are used to but sometimes you’re just in that mood to step your game up. The beer also flows out of these glasses like syrup coming out of a bottle — nice and smooth.

The Guinness Glass
Guinness makes a specialty glass that is just like the classic pint glass, but has a gradual thicker top to it. The glass is typically bigger than a regular pint glass and makes Guinness look like a gift from the Gods when poured in this modern marvel. You just want to stare at it.

The Sam Adams Glass
Boston-favorite Sam Adams created a beer mug that is in the same class as the Guinness glass and is meant specifically to release the flavors of the beer you’re drinking. And as anyone who is a Sam Adams fan, you’ll know that it comes in a zillion, mouth watering flavors. Unlike the Guinness glass, this is pint sized. However, as with the Guinness glass, the Sam Adams glass has a small bottom that flares out slightly and then crests to a very fat middle and finishes with a lip curling top that seems to snuggle up with your pie hole and welcomes the beer in with open arms. As you can tell, this is my favorite glass to drink just about any beer in, but it works best with Sam Adams in my opinion.

The Random Glasses
Your beer mug selection won’t be complete unless you have a bunch of random, one-off mugs in there. You know the types — mugs with thick handles, frosted plastic mugs, mugs from other countries like beer steins from Germany, etc.

What’s your favorite beer mug? While you think about your answer, here’s a shot of just one of the shelves of beer mugs I have: