Throwing a Tailgate Party

Dan Henry explains step by step how to throw a professional tailgate party.

Dan Henry: Hi! My name is Dan Henry. I am with the Tailgating Pros. My partner and I run a website where you can order anything you need for the outdoor party, thetailgatingpros.com. I've worked in restaurants for 15, 20 years, I've tailgated for 25 years. Today I am going to show you how to run an easy and affordable tailgate party. What you'll need to get started is some good food, some good friends, and a football game. Remember, a tailgate party is basically moving your entire kitchen operations to a parking lot. So you are going to have hot grills, knives, and cars driving through your kitchen. So let's get started. Right now, we are going to talk about how to plan your menu. Best way to plan your menu is to come up with a theme. Is it thanksgiving, is it Halloween? You want to wear costumes? Is it somebody's birthday in the group? And where are you playing, if you are playing in New Orleans Saints, you want to make jambalaya and mix up some hurricanes. Today, I am outside the Lincoln, Philadelphia where the Eagles are going to play to Redskins. So we are going to cook some sausage and peppers because everybody knows that redskins are called the Hots. We all know where sausage comes from. We also have some soft pretzels here, and some rolos. We are going to make some cheese sticks, because we are in Philadelphia, and that's what they are famous for. Now, when you plan your menu, you are going to have to delegate to other people who brings what, because if you bring everything every time, it's going to get might expensive, and that's not fun. So you come up with the menu, write everything down, get a checklist, start making phone calls, tell people what to bring. You are also going to have to think about what kind of beverages to bring, who is bringing what? Not everybody drinks beer anymore. People might want mixed drinks, people might want hot shot, or people might want coffee, because it gets mighty cold, maybe not this time of year, but it's going to get cold. So plan your menu, delegate, and get party.