Happy September! It’s that time of year that we’ve been so patiently waiting for because we can FINALLY unapologetically celebrate fall… even though we’ve definitely been doing so since mid-August. Beyond the pumpkin patches, pumpkin spice lattes and all of the other fun fall activities that this time of year brings, fall in our house also means football.
While we are definitely more of the “yay sports” type of girls and don’t know much about the game itself, we know a LOT about football food and how to throw a fun football party. So, whether you truly enjoy watching football or you’re like us and simply want to make it a little more fun for you during this time of year, we have all of our football game day party essentials that you can use all season long 🏈
First things first, let’s talk about football food 🍕
Break out the crock pot because you’re going to need it for these crowd pleaser tailgate recipes 😋
Buffalo Chicken Dip
- Ingredients
- 1 medium sized bottle of ranch
- 1 small bottle of hot sauce
- 1 cream cheese package
- 2 cans of drained canned chicken (or shredded rotisserie)
- 1 pack of shredded mexican cheese
- Directions
- Combine all ingredients together in a large bowl. Mix well.
- Transfer to a crockpot or 8×8 casserole dish.
- For the crockpot, cook on low heat until the mixture is melted together and warm.
- For the oven, preheat to 400 and cook for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Serve with crackers or tortilla chips.
Ham and Cheese Sliders
- Ingredients
- 1 package of deli honey ham (24 slices)
- 1 package of sliced swiss cheese
- 12 count King’s Hawaiian dinner rolls
- 1 ½ tbsp dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- ½ cup melted butter
- ½ tsp worcestershire sauce
- Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Cut King’s Hawaiian rolls in half. Place bottom half in a casserole dish or baking pan.
- Line the rolls with ham and cheese.
- Place the top half of the rolls.
- In a small bowl, combine dijon mustard, melted butter, onion powder and worchestire sauce.
- Brush top of rolls with the mixture.
- Cover with foil and bake for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Uncover foil and let bake for an additional 5-10 minutes or until tops are golden brown.
Pigs In A Blanket
- Ingredients
- 1 package of all beef lil’ smokies
- 2 cans of 8 count crescent rolls
- Directions
- Preheat the oven to 375.
- Unroll crescent rolls and cut each one in half (giving you double the crescent rolls per can)
- Place 1 lil’ smokie on the thick side of each triangle crescent roll. Gently roll to the thinner side.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until crescent rolls are fully cooked and golden brown.
Next, and our personal favorite, the decor 🎈
While decor is always an optional extra, we believe that it really elevates the vibe and creates a whole experience that everyone remembers. You can keep it as simple or make it as extravagant as you want. Either way, here’s our curated party kit so all you have to do is “add to cart” 🛒
Oh yeah, and you can’t forget the ACTUAL game 📺
If you’re hosting the party at your house and you’re worried that your living room will be overcrowded, we love the idea of having an outdoor screen setup with comfy chairs so everyone has their own space.
To create this, we encourage you to follow our outdoor movie night guide!
If you decide to keep things inside, we always bring out a few extra tables and chairs so that everyone feels like they have a place to sit and you can easily create your food displays with the extra space!
(full transparency: the extra chairs are usually fold out camping chairs and the tables are typically the generic white ones that frat boys use for beer pong – a true tailgate aesthetic if you will 🤣)
And finally, a few optional extras.
If you’ve been around awhile, you know that we’re proudly #extra in all that we do and if you want to hold that title too, we got you!
- Game Day Playlist 🎶
What’s a party without a good playlist? We compiled our favorite jams that get us hype on game day. Click here to subscribe on Spotify so you can use it at your next football game day party or tailgate!
- Game Day Signature Drink 🍾
Most of the time, football game day and tailgate parties are BYOB, but a great addition that you can provide for your guests is a signature drink and if you’re feeling #extra, you can match it to your team’s colors!
If you have a bar cart, it’s a great opportunity to re-decorate it to match the theme by using cute cocktail napkins, football themed drinkware, fun straws, etc.
- Party Games 🎯
And lastly, for those of us that don’t actually watch the football game, you can have a few party games available! We love all the traditional outdoor games such as, cornhole, Kan Jam and jumbo Jenga, plus we like to include our go to card games to keep people entertained!
Here’s to fall and football season, friend! Don’t forget to tag us on Instagram, @stellaselfieandsnooze, as you create fun moments like this for those in your life.
Cheers 🥂