5 Tips for a Successful Tailgate with Kids

I am a huge football fan. I root hard for my college Alma Mater and I support our local professional football team as well as a couple of others. I love football season. I think it is the best of all the seasons, not only because of football but because tailgating is fun! Now it is true that tailgating isn’t reserved for just one sport, but football season is when my family tailgates the most, and when we do it’s called “home gating” most of the time. Our great food and festivities take place at home because we don’t live close enough to go to the games. So before we gather around the television to watch the game we enjoy some great food and company. Since we enjoy this activity frequently, I’ve gather a few tips to help you have a successful tailgate with kids.

With the ease of Walmart pickup I got a few tailgating essentials to prepare. Coleman makes an awesome line of tailgate products to help make every tailgate be the best experience. I picked up a Coleman 5 gallon team cooler and a Coleman 25 piece enamelware dining set with stainless steel flatware. These two things were vital for my tips for success!

Without further ado, here are my 5 tips for a successful tailgate with kids.

Kid Friendly Food

I don’t know about your kids, but some of mine are extremely picky. Since they might not eat a lot of what is served, when we tailgate I make sure that some of their favorites are included in the food items so that they can get good and full. Watermelon, grapes and almost any kind of chip fit the bill here. Their favorite tailgate included us picking up some pizzas. That was an easy tailgate since we didn’t have to prepare any food. Kid friendly options will make the whole get-together run smoothly.

Make it Unbreakable

Coleman has this awesome 25 piece enamelware dining set with stainless steel flatware. This stuff is great for the kids to use because it’s heavy enough that it won’t be carried away by the wind, but tough enough not to break when it gets dropped or stepped on. How often do you go chasing paper plates when the wind gets them? Well no more! I love these dishes.

Stay Hydrated

While spending a lot of time outside in the sun and having a ton of fun while doing it, you might not realize that you or your kids are becoming dehydrated. This 5 gallon team cooler from Coleman is the perfect solution to stay hydrated for a long time. As I was filling the cooler I thought that it was so awesome because we would be able to extend our activities because of how much water it holds.

Make it Mobile

Sometimes your tailgate may be at home before a big game. Sometimes you might be lucky enough to be at the stadium. When I was growing up we would take a lot of road trips. Joining us on these road trips was the “dishes suitcase” which was filled with non-breakable cups, plates, silverware, bowls and napkins. Now that I have my own non-breakable dining set I’m going to make my own dishes suitcase for our tailgating and road trips. Making it easy to grab the necessities and go will make taking the tailgate on the road easy and less stressful.

Enjoy the Festivities

My favorite tailgate, put on by my Alma Mater, included some really fun activities. They had games, face painting, bounce houses and the team mascot. My family really enjoyed attending this big tailgate because it was so much fun and gave us great ideas to incorporate into our little family tailgates. Games like ladder golf and corn hole are easy to come by, face painting at home is really easy as well. There are a lot of ways to bring fun activities into your smaller home tailgate.

Whether your tailgating at home or at the stadium you can have a really fun time with just a little planning ahead. Taking these tips into consideration will help you feel like your tailgate was a success and get you excited for the next one!

What are your tailgating tips? What are you favorite foods, activities or events at a tailgate?