Star Search: Recapping The Weekend's Hottest Super Bowl Parties

Super Bowl XLV festivities wrapped up last night in North Texas, but not before a full weekend of parties. THE DAILY presents a final rundown of some of the hottest bashes.

THE NFL EXPERIENCE: The NFL for its official Super Bowl party on Friday night “took over a concrete floor ballroom the size of an airplane hangar at the Hilton Anatole,” the league’s hotel HQs. The VIP area was “hidden behind a curtain, where members” of Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones’ family, Patriots Owner Robert Kraft and Pro Football HOFer John Madden were among the guests. Country singer Martina McBride “played a set in a connecting ballroom.” A “walled off area with a rotating platform featured items from the Hall of Fame, including rings, cleats and the Lombardi trophy” (DALLASNEWS.com, 2/4)….The Ft. Worth Convention Center on Saturday "played host to the 20^th annual Taste of the NFL.” Thirty-two chefs -- representing each NFL city -- were on hand to “serve up a dish of their choice.” More than 3,000 guests “paid upward of $600 a ticket to attend” the event, which supports food banks across the U.S. (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 2/6).

FRIDAY PARTY HOPPING: The "elaborate decor" at ESPN The Magazine's NEXT Party at River Ranch in Ft. Worth -- "featuring a full-on Gold Rush-era Western town display combined with dancing cowgirls, a mechanical bull and Detroit's resident cowboy, Kid Rock -- would be enough to impress the surliest of cowboys." But some partygoers "may be a little less impressed in large part because of the less-than-expected celebrity guest list" (ESPN.com, 2/5). The “star-studded guest list that was expected never materialized.” But if the party “seemed a little low-wattage for an affair that was voted the No. 1 Super Bowl party last year in Miami, Kid Rock changed all that when he took the stage” (DFW.com, 2/5)…. Audi at its party “gave some guests an Audi car and driver for the night", making celebrities and non-celebrities feel "like VIPs.” It was “quite a bonus considering the lack of cabs in Dallas”….The Sports Illustrated Black Eyed Peas Friday Night B4 Party was a “solid bash,” but it was a “tad chaotic and unorganized”….At the GQ Super Bowl Party sponsored by Lacoste and Cadillac, GQ “gave away free magazines, while Lacoste provided the rest of the swag.” Gifts included “custom-made GQ/Lacoste T-shirts, full-size shopping bags filled with Lacoste shirts, shoes bags and other accessories”….The Reebok ZigTech Super Bowl Event featured athletes “showing off the new wave of technology for Reebok” (ESPN.com, 2/5)….Radio host Rush Limbaugh converted the private wine room at Nick & Sam’s steakhouse into a “private ESPN Zone to entertain about 50 people.” The floor was “changed to green and yard line markers were added.” NBC’s Al Michaels “gave a pre-dinner talk to the group that included some of Rush’s big sponsors,” and Pro Football HOFer Michael Irvin “gave the after-dinner chat.” Michaels left early, but later returned with Kraft (DALLASNEWS.com, 2/5)....Cheri Summerall, the wife of former broadcaster Pat Summerall, “fell through her attic ceiling early Friday morning and still managed to throw a private party for 100 that night without any of the guests suspecting she’d had anything to do but primp” (DALLASNEWS.com, 2/5).

SUPER BOWL EVE FESTIVITES: ESPN.com's Lane & White wrote the Maxim State Fair Party at Centennial Hall in Dallas' Fair Park was the "best party of the week by far." It was "literally a carnival brought to life with a ferris wheel, skee-ball, balloon darts, go-carts and other theme park staples" (ESPN.com, 2/6)....The DirecTV Celebrity Beach Bowl Saturday “drew a big crowd in Victory Park,” while Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban’s Super Bowl party presented in conjunction with HDNet and DirecTV was an “epic invitation-only event that had a massive line of people down Victory as far as the eye could see.” Meanwhile, the Leigh Steinberg Super Bowl Party at Eddie Deen’s Ranch was a “star-studded affair. With its “décor and tasty BBQ, the party had a really cool Texas vibe to it” (DFW.com, 2/6). The Steinberg bash "didn't have the overwhelming star power as some of his other previous events has, but Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher and George W. Bush" attended (ESPN.com, 2/6).… Jim McMahon’s Swang’n Bash, held at the Granada Theater in Dallas, featured “Taco Bell burritos and Grandma’s cookies” (DALLASNEWS.com, 2/6).

PARTY FOULS: The Event, scheduled to feature a performance by Prince, “was officially canceled moments before it was supposed to take place” Friday (DFW.com, 2/5). Refunds “will be available at the point of purchase” (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 2/6)….At the Rio Room in downtown Dallas Thursday, actress Amy Smart, actor Dave Annable, Saints RB Reggie Bush and Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon were “stranded at the DeLeon tequila-sponsored bash because no cabs or car services would drive out to pick them up.” Another party sponsor, GMC, “ended up shuttling guests home in SUVs.” A tour bus carrying Ludacris was “rear-ended by an 18-wheeler when the rapper/actor was on his way to meet” Cowboys QB Tony Romo for a charity event sponsored by Starter. And one party organizer “had to wait an hour for her bags when the airport conveyor belt got stuck” (N.Y. POST, 2/5).