10 Ways You're Tailgating Wrong

The sun is beating down on you, and your stomach is grumbling. There is a sea of humans lining up for hot dogs stand in front of the stadium. All of a sudden a wave of nausea hits you; maybe you shouldn't have taken those extra shots? Before you know it, it's halftime. The temperature drops, it starts to rain, and you're caught again without any jacket at an outdoor tailgate. You're suddenly miserable when you should be watching an awesome football game, and all you can think about is going home to eat and hop in a warm shower.

We can't stress this enough. There's nothing more essential to a perfect tailgate than beer. Even if you know your friends will supply some, always bring a little extra.  This ensures that you'll have a beverage you actually enjoy drinking at the tailgate.

Tailgates are the best time to sport your favorite jersey or team sweatshirt, but make sure your attire is appropriate for the day. Look up the weather in advance to make sure it won't rain before you put your leather cowboy boots on. Also, wearing dresses to game day is cute, but not if it's a breezy day outside. Always come prepared for a chilly or rainy game day with a rain jacket or throw-away poncho.

If you start tailgating at 8 a.m., there isn't a lot of time to put food in your stomach before you leave home. If you're planning to drink all day, make sure you're eating a snack every few hours to keep yourself from getting sick. Bring plenty of delicious pigs in a blanket to the tailgate for you and your friends.

Going to the bathroom at a tailgate is always a pain. Always bring some toilet paper folded up to keep in your back pocket. Porta-Potties often run out of toilet paper, and when you gotta go, you gotta go.

Make a tailgating game plan of the hours you're going to probably be in each area, and designate one area to meet up at after the game if you're not sitting together. Whether it's a house, a bar, or a landmark outside of the stadium, this will be important when everyone's phones have died after the game, and you're lost in a swarm of people exiting the stadium.

Thinking ahead isn't always easy on a game day with so much else going on, but taking time to make snacks the night before or the morning of will save you while you're watching the game. Your consumption of alcohol is going to start giving you the drunk-munchies soon enough, but you'll be prepared with your baggies of quick, delicious snacks if you get to a tailgate late and all the food is gone.

This may be the biggest struggle of any tailgate. There's nothing worse than the moment you expect a crisp, cool sip of beer, but you are met with a lukewarm mouthful of suds instead. When you're at your tailgate, make sure there is a cooler with ice at all times. When you're walking around without a cooler, create a cold compress with ice water and a napkin to wrap around your beer. It acts as a throw-away koozie that sustains the preferred temperature of your beer a bit longer.

Listen up because this is important. A night game is a totally different situation than a day game. You may enter the night game when it's 70 degrees and leave when it's in the low 50s, which is a big difference when you're in shorts and a cut-off t-shirt. Always bring a jacket for a night game.

Drinking goes hand in hand with a game day like wine goes with cheese, but that doesn't mean you have to consume alcohol like a bottomless pit trying to prove something. Pace yourself, even if you think you're only consuming a few beers. When the hot sun combines with an empty stomach filled with alcohol, it's a recipe for disaster.

If you're in charge of the tailgate and don't have the extra minutes to make a real meal, use your slow-cooker to make easy game-day recipes. Everything from cheesy Buffalo dips to juicy chicken wings can be made in a slow-cooker to help you eliminate the cooking stress for game-day snacks.