Top Activities to do while Tailgating

1. Drinking
2. Grilling/BBQ
3. Drinking Games (Beer Pong, Flippy Cup)
4. Bag Toss
5. Socialize with the neighbors
6. Throw football around
7. Eating your food and possibly the neighbors
8. Yelling/Screaming/Cheering for your team (Setting the atmosphere)
9. Walk the Lots
10. Watch/Listen to pregame announcements

The first two are the most obvious and critical for having a fun filled day of tailgating. Without beverages and cooking supplies the rest of the activities may not even be possible. If you want to experience tailgating the right way, you definitely want to prepare for those two. Having a few drinks and eating delicious grilled food are, to me; have to be the most important part of planning for tailgating. This helps move onto the next category of drinking games, which are always fun to play with your immediate group of friends or to spread out and meet some other friendly tailgaters and ask them to join your group. Creates a bit of competition amongst tailgaters (could ask a rival team that you are playing that week), and gets you excited for the upcoming game. It also gives you time to relax and talk to some strangers see how they made their journey to the stadium. You would be surprised; I have met people at baseball games that traveled from the east coast up to Chicago to watch the Cubs. I think it is interesting listening to other peoples stories and journeys to the game because there is always that one trip that just has a ridiculous amount of problems but somehow they were still able to make it. Some games that are perfect for the tight quarters in the lots are bags and throwing a football around. All you need is a long, narrow section (typically the drives in the lots) to setup your boards for bags or to begin playing a little bit of catch. Not only does this keep your mind occupied for the game, it gets your body moving (for cold weather) and gets you ready for some action. Finally, by far my favorite of all the activities (even though I ranked it as nine) is walking around the lots. Again, you would be surprised to all the different people and sites you see. One time on the way into Soldier Field we stopped at another friends tailgate in a closer lot, and of all luck I got some free chicken kabobs. Man…those were so delicious. It is surprising how everyone’s grilling techniques might be slightly different, but in the end it all tastes good.

Happy Tailgating!