The Academy Awards, aptly known as the Oscars, is like the Super Bowl for movie fans. After watching a year of good and bad films it is now time for the Academy to pick the best where you and your guests can be involved while watching the show. Here are a few suggestions in making your Oscar party a success.

E-vite: Invite guests by using evite.com which is a free site to send party invitations by email. All you need to do is set up an account then select a picture design. Evite.com already has Oscar designs available for you to choose. Fill out the invitation with your name, address, phone, the date and time then enter in your guests’ emails, send and wait for their RSVPs.

If you do not want to go through that whole ordeal, do it the old fashioned way by calling or texting your guests that you are having an Oscar party with all the details. Just make sure you know the amount of people coming to get an approximate count for the party accessories and food.

The theme is Hollywood so it is all about the glitz and glamour. Use black and gold as your colors for the napkins, plates, forks, cups and party decorations. Party City has party decorations that have the Hollywood sign on plates, film reels on plastic cups and anything else that you might need to help make your place look Hollywood at a good price.

After the decorations are set, now you need the food. Your guests will be hungry so put out a few snacks like tortilla chips with salsa or nacho cheese dip and a bowl of candy and chocolates. Since we are all on a budget, ordering pizza or making something simple for your guests to enjoy like quesadillas, tacos, or sandwiches with various lunch meats is an economical solution to the menu.

Bottled water, two different types of soda and homemade punch or lemonade are good options for any beverage station.

Make sure you have a television that works and place it in an open area like the living room. Use the sofa or put extra chairs around for your guests to sit. Since the Oscars are four hours long your guests need to be comfortable.

Find a big enough table to place the food and drinks. Place the table away from, but close enough to the seating area for guests to not block each other. Remind your guests to use commercials for bathroom breaks.

Red carpet entrance: The red carpet is a signature of all award shows. Make your guests feel like stars and get one of your own.  Look for red fabric at second-hand stores or even use red beach towels.  Position the mock red carpet  at the entrance of your front door leading to the television area.

Dressing up: Tell your guests beforehand to dress up in formal attire as if they were going to the actual awards show. To make it more interesting have your guests dress up as past winners.

Ballots & Pens: To engage your guests during the award show, print out ballots that are available on the Oscar website under the nominations link. Before the show starts, have your guests to check off their choices. At the end of the show whoever predicted the correct winners wins a goody bag of treats. Or to make it a little more fun, make or buy a gold statue and hand it to the person and have them give their own acceptance speech.

Box of tissues: Expect tears to roll if Mo’Nique wins for “Precious,” so have at least one or two tissue boxes around for those emotional speeches.

In the end, do not stress if things don’t go according to plan. The only thing that matters is having fun with your friends and finding out who wins for best picture.

The 82nd Annual Academy Awards will air March 7th at 5 p.m. on ABC.