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Tailgating Ideas

Step-by-Step Checklist on How to Throw the Ultimate Tailgating Party

Are you ready for some football? It's that time of year again when the pigskins come out of hiding, the team flags are dusted off and placed in flagpoles and on garage doors and America is getting ready to start celebrating its favorite pastime...tailgating. Whether your favorite football team plays college ball or if you prefer the pros, after a couple of seasons, chances are you're not going to remember any one particular game. However, a properly executed ultimate tailgating party will be talked about for years. To help you prepare for the tailgating party of the year, we've put together a list of the top must-have ultimate tailgating ideas.

Ultimate Tailgating Party Checklist

Blankets
Water
Portable TV (For Pre-Game of Course)
Horseshoes, Frisbee, Football (Any of your Favorite Tailgating Games)
Fold-Out Chairs
Towels (For when spills happen, and yes, they WILL happen)
Large Trash Bags
Trash Bag Ties
Portable Grill
Propane Canister
Grilling Utensils
Umbrellas
Bottle Openers
Napkins
Paper Plates & Eating Utensils (No plastic drinking containers, if they need to use a glass, they should go to another party)
Cooler and Ice (Lots & Lots of Ice)
Canopy
Fold-Out Table for Food
Portable Seats
Coffee Pot
Portable Heater (or Fan if you live in Southern California)

Now that you have a basic tailgating party checklist down, it's time to plan the menu. When it comes to tailgating recipes, you'll want to stick to finger foods and foods that are easy to eat and share. Choose foods like chicken, sandwiches, sausages, hot dogs, burgers and side dishes like chips, corn-on-the-cob, and veggies (again for our Southern California fans). If you feel like your tailgaters can handle it, you can add some side dishes that require a fork and plate like baked beans, potato salad, macaroni salad, deviled eggs or even a hearty garden salad. Don't forget the condiments and if you're doing a sausage, you have to remember the peppers and onions. Pack up your big cooler and lay an instant ice pack on top. The instant ice pack is a perfect cooler accessory because it will keep your food cold without leaking and leaves more room in the cooler for the important stuff – like the food.

I don't think we need to even cover the drinks in preparing for your ultimate tailgating party - everyone has a favorite and I trust you have this section already memorized. But, as a backup, you might want to pack some extra water, sports drinks and even some coffee. You can pack up your drinks in your College Logo Metro Basket to transport them from your house to your tailgating party. This insulated basket is sized to hold up to 26 beverage cans and is designed to keep drinks either warm or cold – depending on if it's a night game or a day game. Use the zippered pocket on the front of the College Logo Metro Basket for a bottle opener, napkins, or any other smaller items that you need to store.

Tailgating Ideas - Packing Up

Now you're ready to pack up your food. You can also use the College Logo Metro Basket to store and carry your tailgating food. This collapsible basket has an expandable drawstring top, allowing you to pack up everything you need. Let's face it, you're not going to want to carry the heavier food loads - save your back and pack up a Folding Utility Wagon that will hold up to 150 lbs and you can easily transport your feast to your tailgating party location.

After you've found your place to park, it's time to set up your area for your tailgating party. Open up your table or your tailgate, whichever place you're using to serve your fellow tailgaters, and inflate your inflatable serving bar. Once the inflatable serving bar is ready to go, just add some ice and fill it up with any food or drinks that need to stay chilled. After all, you'll want to save the big coolers for the overstock of drinks that you have packed.

Tailgating Ideas - Setting Up

Set up your Portable Shelter and Chair Set that is the ultimate seating arrangement for tailgating parties. This tailgating seating set goes up in minutes and has a lightweight shelter with 3 closeable windows to cover you in the heat, yet provide cross ventilation when needed. The set includes 2 folding chairs with convenient cup holders, a folding table with a built-in ice chest and a portable floor – a definite must-have set-up when throwing your ultimate tailgating party. You can also set up an umbrella and chair set that comes with an umbrella and 2 chairs that are connected with a 6"deep cooler to keep your guests cool and hydrated while you fire up the grill.

If your ultimate tailgating party has landed toward the end of the season, in the heart of winter, you might want to add some Heated Seat Cushions to your make your tailgating guests more comfortable. The rechargeable portable seat warmer quickly warms your seat up to a balmy 140-degrees, which will keep your fellow tailgater's "seats" warm in even the coldest of weather. Now, if your guests are chilly because it's close to the end of the season and their team is not going to the playoffs…yet again…the portable seat warmer may not help warm their spirit.

Tailgating Ideas - Grilling & Serving

If you've chosen to grill some hot dogs, chicken, burgers, steak or sausages for your ultimate tailgating party, you're sure to score some real points when you pull out the Collegiate Grill Toppers and brand your meat with your favorite college team. Simply set the Grill Topper on your existing grill rack, preheat, and place your food directly on the team logo. The Grill Topper will sear the design onto the meat as it cooks to perfection.

It's inevitable that your guests are going to want their steaks cooked at different temperatures and being the ideal host of the ultimate tailgating party, you'll want to accommodate their requests as easily as possible. Just pop in a Meat Temperature Marker and you'll know instantly the wellness of each steak – so everyone is happy and you can keep on cooking.

While you're grilling, you may find that you've worked up a bit of a thirst. You have your drink, but you really need to use both hands when creating your masterpieces on the grill, so you need a place to set your drink - that's when you get the outdoor drink holder out of the car. The outdoor drink holder adjusts between 19"-41" high, holds 2 bottles, glasses or cans (with or without cooler sleeves) and is made of sturdy steel. It's the ideal grilling mate! If you're having an NFL® ultimate tailgating party, you'll want to rest your cold beverage in your favorite team's NFL® beverage bucket that actually comes with four nicely sized 16-oz satin etched glasses so you can share your team spirit with your fellow tailgaters. The NFL® beverage bucket also comes with 12 coasters that have your favorite team's logo prominently displayed.

You can open up your condiments, veggies, and garnishes and place them in your condiment server that is divided into 5 removable trays and has a lid on top to keep any un-wanted pests out. Fill the outside portion with ice and let your guests dig in.

If you've found yourself in that all-too-familiar scenario where some food is already done and ready for consumption before your other tasty treats are ready to be served, no worries! You can cover your ultimate tailgating party food with a food tent so pests won't treat themselves to your meals. The food tent is available in a couple of sizes and is big enough for multiple dishes.

Serve up your ultimate tailgating feast on a large Personalized BBQ Platter made from hearty glazed stoneware that's hearty enough to hold a large amount of your gourmet meats. You can personalize this tailgating party food tray with whatever creative saying you want to present to your guests while they're tasting your grilled masterpieces.

After you've chopped up your veggies and fruit snacks, place them in a Rotating Thermal Tray that keeps your food properly chilled without getting soggy. The tailgating party tray is easy to set up – place the 3 included freezer packs on the bottom of the tray, sit the vented trays with the veggies and fruit in them on top of the freezer packs and the cold from the freezer packs will flow up through the vents and keep your food cold. Sit the tray on the table and let your guests rotate it around so they can pick and choose which veggies they want to add to their meal.

Tailgating Ideas - Cleaning Up

Usually when it's time to throw out your trash, you have to either pack it up and put it in the back of truck to take home or you have to waste time walking to the other side of the parking lot to dispose of your garbage. But the long walk is now over – simply pop open a Bag Buddy® Bag Holder, fold the plastic garbage bag around the top frame and you have an instant and conveniently placed trash can right where you need it.

When you've finished grilling and your ultimate tailgating party is in full swing, it's time to put the grill away and get ready to head off to the big game. Cover up your grill and support your favorite collegiate team by putting a College Grill Cover over it. Adapting to fit most large cart-style grills, the College Grill Cover is a real team player, helping to guard your grill from rain, snow, ice, and hot sun.

Now that your ultimate tailgating party has come to an end, it's time to paint your face (if you're so inclined), gather up your tickets and all other ancillary items that are necessary for you to show you're the ultimate fan and go enjoy yourself at the game. You can be happy knowing that next week, you get to do it all over again.

If you have any ideas on how to throw the ultimate tailgating party or if you have any tailgating party recipes that you would like to share, send them to tips@improvementscatalog.com or share them on the Improvements blog.