A game day tailgate can have all the energy and fun of a spontaneous get-together, especially if you’re a fan of a team known for tailgating culture. Many tailgates, however, are anything but spontaneously executed. In fact, the true tailgating champion knows that the most successful tailgate parties are often the best-planned ones! So, what are the secrets to mastering this most American skill? How do you ensure you’ve got enough food for everyone, while creating a comfortable campsite, while making sure you bring the grilling accessories and all of the other little must-haves for game day? We’re here to help — as long as you’ll hook us up with a couple of wings when we stop by your tailgate tent.
Tailgate Planning Basics
The planning process for a successful tailgate starts well before game day. Get these key aspects squared away as far in advance as you reasonably can:
- Tailgating Spot: Stadiums handle tailgate parking differently. Often, it’s first come first served, but you might be able to reserve a spot. Check the stadium’s website and make sure everyone bringing a vehicle coordinates so you can park together.
- Tailgating Rules: Make sure to also read the stadium’s policies on things like canopy sizes, when campsites have to be broken down, types of grills allowed and where you can drink alcohol.
- Responsibilities: Tailgating is best with a little teamwork, so don’t try to shoulder it alone! Divide up important jobs like food, beverages and tableware and keep track of who’s doing what.
- Campsite Setup: A great tailgate campsite needs to be comfy and functional. At least one folding table for snacks and drinks is a great idea, and more can be extremely helpful if you’re cooking onsite. Bring some folding camp chairs, too, or make sure your guests are bringing their own so people aren’t left without a place to sit.
Planning Food for a Tailgate
For a lot of people, food is the most important part of a tailgate! After all, whether or not your team prevails, no one can ever take that delicious full rack of baby back ribs you crushed away from you. Consider these factors to make sure you’ve got plenty of delicious food for everybody:
- Recipes: Hearty, flavorful and relatively simple — those are the right descriptors for a tailgate recipe. Crowd-friendly foods like wings, ribs and tacos are popular because they’re easy to make and serve in big batches and because you don’t need to sit down for a full meal to enjoy them.
- Portions: Go in with a rough idea of how many people you want to feed, and plan to make extra to give yourself wiggle room. Anything you don’t eat can always be packed into a food storage container and put in your cooler.
- Grilling: If you’re cooking at the campsite, think about what you’ll be cooking on. Many different types of portable grills are available, from tailgater wood pellet grills to charcoal grills, but check stadium regulations and make sure your preferred style is permitted. Be sure that you’ve got a set of grill tools (like tongs and a spatula) ready to go.
- Power: Some types of grills, including pellet grills, require an electric power source. You likely won’t have access to a wall outlet at a tailgate, so picking up a small generator or heavy-duty battery bank is the way to go.
- Food Prep: The less prep you have to do at your campsite, the better. Chopping veggies, making sauces and marinating meats are all easier if you do them at home, and you can even partially cook some foods ahead of time.
- Coolers: If you have perishable ingredients, make sure to bring a cooler to keep them at a safe temperature before cooking. Use sealable containers if you can; meat juice all over the cooler is contamination waiting to happen. On that note, remember that you want separate coolers for food and beverages, possibly with raw ingredients separated into a smaller cooler on their own.
The Beverage Situation
Having a couple of drinks is a fun part of the tailgating ritual for many people, but even those who aren’t drinking alcohol will need something to wash down their third BBQ slider! Here are some tips for getting beverages right when tailgating:
- Alcoholic Drinks: Beer is almost always a good idea, and hard seltzers are increasingly popular. Depending on your guests’ preferences and what the stadium allows, you might also add wine or liquor to your tailgate bar. If you bring liquor, make sure to have plenty of mixers on hand!
- Non-Alcoholic Drinks: Water is definitely the number one must-have. A cooler full of water bottles or a construction site-style water cooler with cups can both work for encouraging everyone to hydrate. However, it’s also worth keeping some other beverages like soda or sparkling water for those who want something tasty but non-alcoholic.
- Refrigeration: Ice is crucial for both food and beverages, so bring more than you think you’ll need! Standard bagged ice and ice packs both work well, although ice packs leave less mess to clean up. One classic tailgater’s hack is to freeze water bottles and use them as ice — then, when they melt, you’ve got clean, drinkable water instead of dirty ice water that has to be dumped out.
Game Day Tips
You can only look at the playbooks for so long — eventually, you’ve gotta get in the game! When it’s time to rumble, remember these tips:
- Give your group plenty of time for setup and breakdown. Allow at least an extra hour on each end so you’re not rushed, and remember that a lot of stadiums require you to finish packing up your campsite by the time the game starts.
- It’s easy to get lost in a stadium parking lot, so put up a flag or balloons to make your campsite easy to find. Take note of section markers if the parking lot has them.
- Don’t forget cleaning supplies. Before you head out, make sure to grab some paper towels, all-purpose spray cleaner and plenty of trash bags.
- Bring your banners, face paint, foam fingers, jerseys and whatever else you’ve got that shows team spirit! A tailgate is the time to turn up for your team, and you’ll be in good company with fellow fans.
- Grab a few classic tailgate games like cornhole or ring toss. A little friendly competition helps people get hyped up for the game, and it’s an awesome way to get to know new friends.
Believe it or not, tailgating is a fine art — but it’s one that’s amazingly rewarding to master! The food, fun and friends of tailgating create lifetime memories, and you can do it, too, come next game day.
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