If football weekends are already a big part of your life together, turn one of them into your wedding shower. Invite friends and family over, put the game on, fire up the grill and spend the afternoon celebrating your upcoming wedding.
A Tailgate & Celebrate party is a casual football themed couples wedding shower built around game day, with team colors, tailgate food, drinks and a few personal wedding details. Whether you call it a football themed bridal shower, a couples shower or simply a prewedding game day party, the idea is the same: make the celebration feel like the two of you rather than a traditional shower covered in football decorations.
Choose the game first and plan the timing around kickoff, giving everyone enough time to arrive, grab a drink and visit before the action starts. Saturday works naturally for college football fans, while Sunday may make more sense if your weekends revolve around the NFL. Hosting at home is usually easiest because guests can move between the television, patio and backyard, and you control the food, seating and drinks.
Set the Tone With a Tailgate & Celebrate Invitation
The invitation should make it immediately clear that guests are coming to celebrate both your upcoming wedding and game day. There are plenty of football shower invitations that can be personalized with your names, team colors and party details, whether you are planning a couples celebration or a more traditional football bridal shower.
If the party revolves around a particular game, include kickoff time and invite guests to wear jerseys or team colors. It sets the mood before anyone arrives and makes choosing what to wear very easy.
Let Your Team Colors Do the Decorating
Start with the team rather than a cart full of football decorations. Georgia gives you red, black and white. Auburn brings navy and orange. University of Southern California gives you cardinal and gold. Missouri works beautifully in black, white and gold. The same idea works for virtually any college or professional team.
We are showing several schools throughout the party to illustrate how easily the same Tailgate & Celebrate idea adapts to different teams. Team apparel, drinkware, serving pieces, lawn games and tailgate accessories are available for scores of teams, so choose a few pieces that work with yours and let the colors do most of the decorating. If the two of you support rival schools, even better. Mix both teams into the party and let your friends choose sides.
The team colors, one or two recognizable team pieces and a few well chosen game day details are usually enough. You do not need footballs on the plates, napkins, cups, tablecloth and every piece of food.
Fire Up the Grill
Burgers straight from the grill are hard to beat at a daytime football party, and this is a good place to keep the menu familiar. Burgers, sliders, sausages, grilled chicken and pulled pork sandwiches all work, with chips, dips, slaw or a simple salad alongside.
Then have a little fun with the presentation. Referee food pouches turn an ordinary burger or sandwich into part of the party, while a galvanized beverage tub keeps cold drinks within reach. The Auburn setup also shows how easily what you wear becomes part of the decorating. White team jerseys feel festive for a wedding shower while still looking completely natural at a football party.
Finish the setup with one small vase and a few flowers rather than a formal centerpiece. The food, team colors and people already give this area plenty of personality.
Set Up a Game Day Bar
A casual football party can still have a very good bar. Set up one spot where guests can help themselves to beer, wine, sparkling water and one easy cocktail. Keep a galvanized tub filled with cold drinks nearby, add lemonade or iced tea for an afternoon party and make sure there is plenty of ice. An outdoor bar cart or small bar keeps everything together and saves you from playing bartender all afternoon.
USC's cardinal and gold show how game day can be dressed up without becoming formal. The LoveShackFancy USC collection and Reyn Spooner men's shirts feel party worthy while still making sense for football, and a few team glasses, a decanter or stadium piece can carry the same idea into the bar. Choose pieces you will use again rather than buying something solely for the shower.
Serve Tailgate Food Beautifully
Before the heartier game day food comes out, set out a few appetizers so guests have something to enjoy with their first drink. Nothing needs to be complicated. A charcuterie board, deviled eggs, shrimp spoons and individual salads create a generous spread when the food is served thoughtfully.
The Mizzou table is a good example. Black, white and gold Cordoba plates coordinate beautifully with Missouri colors without adding another tiger logo. Mizzou tumblers become individual salad cups, while the black and white deviled egg tray makes something familiar one of the prettiest foods on the table. Stack appetizer plates within easy reach and let everyone help themselves.
A yellow orchid adds height and brings in Missouri gold without another arrangement of cut flowers, and the plant can continue to be enjoyed after the party. The same principle works with any team: choose the two or three details making the biggest visual impact and keep everything else simple.
Put Out a Few Backyard Games
You already have football for entertainment, so there is no need to organize an afternoon full of traditional shower games. Instead, put out a few things people can pick up whenever they feel like playing. Ring toss, cornhole, horseshoes and other simple lawn games work before kickoff, during halftime or whenever part of the group wanders outside.
Georgia red and black make this especially easy. Team clothes, a Georgia chair and a couple of game day pieces provide plenty of color without decorating the entire yard. As the afternoon turns into evening, light the fire pit and pull a few chairs closer so everyone has another place to gather after the game.
And yes, if you are celebrating Georgia football, a Bulldog gnome tucked into the garden is perfectly appropriate. Planning this one for Georgia fans? Find more University of Georgia game day grilling and tailgate ideas.
Add Just Enough Wedding
Football should still be the personality of the party, but a few wedding details will make the occasion feel special. An Other Than Our Wedding Day, Game Day Is the Best Day sign works especially well because it says something about the two of you rather than simply labeling the theme.
A personalized football, framed stadium print, favorite photographs or another piece you will keep after the party can add the same personal touch. There is no need for bridal white everywhere, elaborate centerpieces or wedding sayings scattered across every table. A few thoughtful details are enough to remind everyone that this particular game day is also a celebration of the two of you.
Finish With Football Themed Desserts
Keep dessert as easygoing as the rest of the party by letting a few simple sweets and the paper goods set the tone. Team plates and napkins instantly bring in school colors, while football shaped cookies, cake pops, brownies, cupcakes or chocolate dipped treats add just enough game day personality without turning dessert into a production.
If you root for different teams, dessert is an easy place to bring both sides together. Mix the team colors into the paper goods or sweets, add a few football details and stop there. It should look festive without becoming another project.
A Tailgate & Celebrate couples wedding shower does not need to feel like a traditional shower with a football theme added on top. Invite the people you love, cheer for your team, serve really good game day food and celebrate getting married in a way that feels natural to both of you.
Party Hearty!
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