It’s football season and everybody’s favorite thing to do is go to football parties, or better, the game and the tailgating party. If you are the one hosting or you are going to be tailgating with a group, you may want to keep some of these tips in mind to have a successful party and make sure everyone has a good time.
Decorate
Set the tone for the party by getting a few decorations. Have coolers out labeled for beer, wine, water, soda and anything else you’re providing. Make sure the trash can is easily accessible for guests to throw plates away. If you want to go all out, get balloons and a banner to represent your team and put them in the room you’ll be watching the game. Have beer koozies available where guests will be enjoying the game. It’s pretty easy to find team-themed koozies, but you can design your own at Custom Ink too.
If you plan to have a sit down meal before or after the game, set up a long table with a football field tablecloth, plates and cups that look like footballs and add your decorations to this area including balloons and banners.
Food
This is the time to have fun with your spread. You can put out some of the traditional game day goodies and add some creativity as well. Football party food is almost as much of a cornerstone in a football get-together as the game itself.
Many people go with the classic pulled pork sandwich. Hamburgers, brats, hot dogs and ham and cheese sliders are common entrees for your football party. If you are working on the grill, why not try your hand at some sweet baby back ribs? Colder days may entice you to make a warm pot of chili. Don’t forget wings in different sauces, nachos with dip and chips on the side. Whichever you choose, make sure you place toppings and condiments out for everyone to choose from. Make sure to add a veggie tray and have plenty of beer and water available.
For something different, make a build-your-own-taco bar. You could also do this with pizzas and heat them up as people build their own with their favorite toppings. Another new trend is serving beef jerky because it’s such an easy snack to put out. This isn’t the 80’s either – today you can easily find organic jerky, jalapeno flavored jerky, BBQ flavored jerky, bacon flavored jerky and many more.
For dessert, this is your chance to have some fun. Many people make cupcakes in the colors of the team they are rooting for. You could also dip strawberries into chocolate and draw with white frosting to make them look like footballs. You could also make football shaped cookies and frost them to look like footballs. Make brownies and frost them like a green football field.
Want to skip the baking? Make a candy display where everyone can bag up their favorite candies. Have dark and milk chocolates out with a customized designed wrapper to represent your team, M&Ms in green and brown for the field and footballs and hard candies in the color of your team. You can even order custom M&Ms for the party here.
Things To Do
Along with eating, watching the game and socializing, play some games afterwards. You could bring everyone outside for some fun to play cornhole or on cold weather days, play football charades where all of the words used are football related.
