Planning a picnic or tailgate party? We’re sharing our “must-have” tailgating essentials that make any outdoor meal amazing when you’re on the go.
The past two weeks have been jam-packed with all kinds of blogging activities!
We launched our very first E-book filled with 60 pages of tips and ideas for Christmas and holiday cards.
If you’re a subscriber, you can get it for $5 off, the discount code is in our latest email.
Then we traveled to Waco, Texas for the first Achieve Conference that two of our friends put together.
We learned so much from all the speakers, and already have the first week of October in 2023 blocked off for the next one!
On Monday, we headed downtown to get new professional headshots taken by Laura of Laurel Belle Photography.
She made the whole experience not just painless, but fun, and we can’t wait to see how the photos turned out.
We’ll be sharing them with you soon…
AnnMarie’s daughter, Emma, and Anne’s daughter, Katy, were both home for their fall breaks this week and we enjoyed getting to spend some time with them!
The fixer upper house that Anne and her husband are renovating is finally starting to turn the corner: the demo is all done and they’ve started rebuilding.
She should probably write a post about it…
On the Blog
We’ve been thinking about all things Halloween on the blog.
You can find some easy and inexpensive ways to decorate your home, like this fun idea for your porch, or these dollar store ideas.
If you have a student in college, or a grandchild who lives out of town, or a loved one who could use a little pick-me-up, why not send them a spooktacular Halloween care package?
And Anne is planning to whip up a batch of this family favorite Halloween snack mix to take to their tailgate on Saturday.
It might not be healthy, but most of our fellow tailgaters don’t mind.
Oh, and we may have thought a little bit about another favorite holiday too…
Check out these 101 unique and creative greetings for Christmas!
You’re bound to find the perfect thing for your cards this year.
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Friday Favorites: Our Favorite Tailgating Essentials
One of our favorite fall activities is going to college football games at our kids’ schools.
We’ve both got season tickets and go to as many of the games as we possibly can.
Before the games, we love setting up amazing tailgates to feed our students and their friends.
Over the years, we’ve gotten better and better at making our tailgate spreads memorable!
Did you see Anne’s idea for keeping a tailgate bag packed and ready with all the essentials?
Her breakfast tailgating ideas post is becoming one of our most popular posts.
We’re headed to a game together this weekend and we’ll definitely be taking all of these favorites to make this our best tailgate yet!
22-inch Blackstone Griddle with Stand
Our newest favorite for tailgates is hands down this Blackstone Griddle!
Talk about the perfect grill for a breakfast tailgate!
No more taking pans and frying up 4-6 slices of bacon at a time on a grill with uneven heat.
Now we can fry a whole pound of bacon all at once!
We’ve made pancakes, hashbrowns, scrambled eggs, and French toast for breakfast tailgates.
And burgers, quesadillas, and even hibachi fried rice for lunch and dinner tailgates!
Seriously, it’s our favorite new addition to our tailgates this year.
Insulated Cooler for Hot Food
One of the questions we get most often about our tailgating essentials is how to keep hot food hot when you bring it from home.
We’ve discovered that using an insulated cooler for transporting hot food works perfectly!
So we bring one cooler to keep things cold, and another to keep things hot.
Simply cook the food before you leave, then stack the containers inside the insulated cooler.
Cookie sheets do a great job of separating the casserole dishes.
Last spring, Anne brought an entire Easter dinner to a tailgate using this hack: spiral ham, scalloped potatoes, macaroni and cheese, Southern-style green beans, and homemade biscuits.
The food is always still hot when we unpack it 2-1/2 hours after loading it up.
We also love our VT printed collapsible trashcan for tailgating! but you can get a simple black one from Amazon that does the same thing.
Champagne and Prosecco Bottle Stopper
When we go to a morning tailgate, we love setting up a make your own mimosa station!
I don’t have a picture of this stopper in action, but it’s the best one I’ve ever tried.
It keeps your champagne or prosecco nice and bubbly and has a latch that holds it onto the bottle really securely.
The Best Portable Tailgate Game
Everyone’s heard of corn hole at tailgates, but let’s face it, those corn hole boards take up a lot of room!
And they’re really heavy.
This is why Anne’s family loves bringing BulziBuckets to their tailgates!
It’s lightweight, compact, and one of the few semi-athletic activities Anne is a little good at playing… LOL
AnnMarie and her husband might not love it as much as Anne and Kevin!
Portable Tabletop Firepit
This might be one of our biggest conversation starters at a tailgate!
Our portable tabletop firepit is fueled by 91% isopropyl alcohol and is super fun for making s’mores.
We love inviting other tailgaters over to roast marshmallows with us!
In fact, we take this firepit with us lots of places, including our mountain trip a few weeks ago.
A few more of our favorite things for tailgating:
There are some other staples that make our tailgates comfortable and easy to set up each week.
Do you have any favorites for tailgating we should add to our stash?
We’d love to hear about it….just leave a comment below!
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If you have any questions or suggestions, contact us or leave a comment!
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