Try a self-serve theme bar. Stock yours with whatever suits your taste—beer, vodka, cosmo ingredients, milk shakes for the kids—but don’t forget instructions on how to make the drinks.
When it comes to beer, how can you outclass your neighbors?
Brew, bottle and label your own with an easy-to-use home kit. Nothing like pulling into Lambeau and cracking a chilled Packers Porter made from your own ingredients.
Wouldn’t you love to put your entire rec room in the parking lot?
U-Hauls rent for reasonable prices. Fill one with everything from couches and kegs to Foosball and Ping-Pong tables.
Relive them with a pregame party that includes costumes, food and entertainment.
Turn back the clock with vintage threads and tunes from the year you graduated, or plan your party around your team's glorious seasons of yore. Celebrate legends, whether they're coaches or players; dress and decorate for holidays like Halloween or Thanksgiving; or pepper the pregame with regional flavor.
If you wander into enemy territory, how do you find your way out?
Cellphones are the obvious answer, but service can be spotty. And what if your battery dies? Try carrying two-way radios, or create a unique flag to fly above each
of your party's vehicles. Also set a meeting point and time, in case anyone gets lost.
Who wants some booty?
To satiate everyone's thirst for competition, get a parking-lot contest going, and reward winners with creative prizes. Anything goes: putt-putt, Twister, Foosball, Ping-Pong, charades and even poker. For the Alex Trebek approach, create team trivia beforehand, and hold a tailgate quiz.
But shouldn’t any contest revolve around eating?
Take Preston Bailey's idea. Describing a bash of his, the party planner to the stars says, "We ordered 10 mac and cheeses from local restaurants, and we voted for the best one."
We haven't missed a home game in 15 years. How can we record that for posterity?
Commemorate your legacy. Have a plaque made listing the names of everyone in your group and when they joined the crowd, then hang it proudly at your site.
