Have you heard the term homegating? Whether you have or not, chances are you’re doing it. Homegating is tailgating on your home turf: the activities, recipes, hoopla, and traditions associated with game day without ticket costs or bathroom lines. Access to air conditioning certainly cannot be overrated, either.
Homegating can be a family affair or an occasion to welcome friends or neighbors into your home. We invited two families, so there were 19 of us total. We’re a baseball family and the Braves are our Atlanta hometown team, so they were the theme of our homegate party.
Easy or pre-prepared foods are key for keeping you in the party instead of in the kitchen. I marinaded the wings, sliced the veggies, and made the dessert a day ahead of time. Here is the menu and activities that our family used this weekend.
The Menu
We started with a selection of DiGiorno pizzas, both Cheese (which my littles like best) and Three Meat (pepperoni, sausage, beef). Tipsy Wings (recipe below), a veggie tray, fresh fruit, a layered ice cream sandwich dessert (recipe below), sweet tea, and assorted soft drinks rounded out the menu.
Here are the marinade ingredients for the Tipsy Wings: beer, soy sauce, olive oil, garlic salt, fresh garlic, and pepper (missing from the photo). I poured everything straight into a one gallon zipper storage bag, sealed and shook it up, and then added three pounds of raw wings, turning to coat. I even pressed the garlic straight into the bag.
The wings marinated overnight; I flipped the bags every time I opened the refrigerator. I prepped two bags, six pounds total, but I could have made more and they would have been devoured.
The pizza and the wings cooked at the same temperature, so we alternated between baking a tray of wings (cover the tray in foil for easier clean up) and two pizzas. Thankfully DiGiorno includes directions for cooking two pizzas at a time.
This ice cream sandwich dessert is so easy. Although you can get fancy and add cookie crumbs, etc., this recipe can be made quite simply in just a few minutes with only 3 ingredients.
(Of course, you have to unwrap the sandwiches. I place them in the dish at first to get a count and plan the layout.)
Pretty fancy, huh?
The Hoopla
Not only did we get our game on in the kitchen, but also we enjoyed traditional game day activities such as team apparel, face painting, tomahawk chopping, and doing the wave.
I had some fun in iMovie, too.
Although tailgating is primarily sports-related, I think homegating transcends sports. If the season premier or finale of your favorite TV show ignites a similar passion in your family, then that could easily be your focus instead of cheering on your favorite team.
{Disclosure: This post is part of a campaign for Collective Bias and DiGiorno. Opinions expressed are my own.}
Awesome story – I love the photo’s! You guys look like your are having so much fun. II like the ice cream sandwich cake — yum!
What a great post!! Your Homegating party looked like so much fun!!!!
LOVE the idea of homegating and the recipes sound fantastic – your post is added to my Evernote stash of hostessing ideas. Thanks for sharing!!
How fun; what a wonderful idea. Thanks for sharing the recipes!!
What a fun idea! We watch games at home, but haven’t gone all-out like this and had a home-gating… although we come close. You’ve given me some great ideas 🙂
Kathy, that ice cream sandwich dessert is super easy and everyone loves it!
Alissa, thanks for visiting—yes, we had a lot of fun!
Amy—your Evernote stash—I’m flattered! 🙂
Patti, you should be able to click on the recipes and save them.
Wendi, I think they enjoyed the face painting the most. We just threw a disposable table cloth on the kitchen table and let them have at it. 🙂
Your party looked like so much fun. You had such great pictures of the face painting! I am going to make some of those wings for my husband when he watches baseball this week!
that is just awesome, dawn! love it! too bad we aren’t big on team sports other than anything that is Team USA.
WOW! I LOVE your ideas, Dawn! We just bought our first house and look forward to hosting some homegates soon! Thanks for sharing!
We homegate for a lot of Auburn games (though I never knew to call it that!). I love the ideas here and hope to make a few of those recipes during football season!
Alli, I think homegating is a very new term for it. I hope the recipes work for you!
This looks like you had a riot! Love it!