This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and The Coca-Cola Company.
All opinions are mine alone. #ShareACokeHuddleUp #CollectiveBias
We live in a college town in the SEC and around here, tailgates and college football aren’t just a tradition, they are a religion. Every Saturday morning, neighborhoods start buzzing with friends loading up their vehicles with tailgate tents and chairs, bags of snacks and homemade tailgate food, and coolers full of ice cold Share a Coke bottles of Coca-Cola® from Walmart.
There is something special about game days and tailgating. You all descend on campus and you know you will be spending the day hanging out with friends and running into people you know everywhere you go. It a unique shared experience where all you have to do is show up and be there. Around here, Saturdays are for sharing touchdowns, tailgates, and traditions.
I’m sharing simple ideas to make your tailgate fun and delicious! Be sure to scroll down to all the details after the pictures, including steps to creating our backdrop in one easy step and our “Huddle Up” drink tub! You can make these in 5 minutes so don’t miss them.
The key to a successful tailgate in my book is one that you can pull together with minimal effort but includes details that make it look like you spent a lot of time planning and putting it together! Just follow these easy tips and you will be the tailgate winner!
1. One stop shop at Walmart.
When I am planning a party and need food and crafting supplies, Walmart is my go-to! I can get everything I need for my party in one stop and saving time prepping for my event gives me more time to enjoy it!
This fall, Share a Coke is back in Walmart with some new offerings! In addition to 20 oz Coke bottles featuring over 1,000 unique first names, you can also purchase bottles of Coca-Cola® and Coca-Cola® Zero Sugar with your favorite football team logos! How fun is that?
Once I have my drinks covered, I can shop for the rest of the food items for my menu and for my supplies to create my backdrop and drink tub. Be sure to see the tutorials down below. You won’t believe how easy these are!
In addition to the food, drinks and crafting supplies, I also found really fun football themed decor items as well. I purchased football shaped plates, napkins that look like referee shirts (how cute!) and football themed serving platters and party straws! One stop shopping is my favorite.
2. Keep your menu simple.
The best tailgate foods are ones that don’t require a plate to eat. I like to serve foods that are in single serve portions that you can graze on while you are enjoying socializing with friends and keep a hand free to hold your drink.
So, for this tailgate I served:
Touchdown Tacos
Swing Pass Sliders
First Down Dip & Chips
Playbook Poppers
Fair Catch Fruit
I even made fun printable labels for our football themed foods. You can print them out and use them for your tailgate too!
3. Keep your drinks ice cold with a fun drink tub!
Make a football themed drink tub by adding the phrase “HUDDLE UP” to a drink tub you already own. The tutorial is below so don’t miss it. This takes less than 3 minutes so it’s a winner in my book!
A tip for ensuring your drinks stay ice cold is to refrigerate them overnight so they start cold. Add a layer of ice to your drink bucket, then a layer of drinks. Continuing layering ice and drinks until all of your drinks are on ice. Enjoy!
4. Share your Saturdays with friends and your team this Fall.
Saturdays are the best days in the fall! Any time you can show up and know you’ll be surrounded by friends and family is a guaranteed good time. And now that you can pick up Share a Coke bottles of Coca-Cola® and Coca-Cola® Zero Sugar with your favorite football team logos, tailgating this fall just elevated to a whole new level! So Share a Coke with the team this fall!
TUTORIALS FOR YOUR BACKDROP & DRINK TUB
Create our printable tailgate backdrop.
Create our backdrop in 5 minutes.
What you need:
- 20″ x 30″ white foam board
- Double-sided tape
- Our printable tailgate poster
Download and print our tailgate poster. Attach it to a white foam board (20″ x 30″) using double sided tape. A tip: Tape the top edge first, then secure the top edge of the poster before adding more tape down the sides and bottom. This will allow you to easily position the poster on the board.
Create our "Huddle Up" drink tub.
How about a custom drink tub in less than 3 minutes?
What you need:
- Drink tub
- Alphabet Stickers
I purchased black alphabet stickers while I was at Walmart in the scrapbooking section of the store. They are extra large and come with several sheets of letters so you can spell out a variety of phrases. I chose to add the phrase HUDDLE UP to my drink tub since it is for our football tailgate.
Just peel and stick the letters on the drink tub, fill with ice and Coca-Cola® and Coca-Cola® Zero Sugar with your favorite football team logos and names. So easy!
How do you spend your Saturdays? I’d love to hear the traditions you share and your tailgate tips! Share them with me below in the comments.
Happy tailgating friends!
Leave a Reply