Set up a tailgate party in your own backyard
For many New Englanders, whether huge football fans or not, tailgating parties have always been one of the joys of fall. The company and conversation, the snacks, the hot cider and cold beer in the autumn air, and the drama of the game itself all add up to an afternoon full of warm fuzzies.
The time-honored tradition of pulling up to the stadium and pre-gaming may not be in the cards this fall, but your yard is still fair game. And, conveniently enough, tailgating is one of the only fall gatherings that usually takes place outdoors, so take advantage of the tradition and use it as a way to hang with friends safely.
Here are some key tips on how.
Invite a handful of friends — not a crowd, for obvious reasons — over outside your house. Send them a casual invitation in whatever form you like (Evite, Paperless Post, etc.), and make sure they know it will be outside and coronavirus-safe.
Let them know what food and drink to bring. The usual rule is, everyone brings either a six-pack of beer or, if they want to get fancy-ish, the makings for a cocktail. That changes in a pandemic: Everyone should bring their own drink and a small cooler for it.
Same goes for food. In a normal year, guests would bring a shareable platter of something they made — subs, puff-pastry pizza tarts and such — but this year everyone
stead of an entire platter of one thing, each guest should bring exactly what they want to eat: a sandwich or pizza or salad, for example. As the host, set out a table of napkins, paper plates, a bucket of ice, hand sanitizer and Clorox wipes.
Set up the game. Bring a flatscreen on a stand outside, and set it on a table — if you have a fire pit, somewhere near (but not too close to) that to keep guests warm and cozy. Use an outdoor extension cord for the TV, and then buy an antenna that plugs into the USB port and the cable port on the ($28.90 on amazon.com), which has a range of 200-plus miles and supports all kinds of TVs.
Set up the seating. If you don’t have enough chairs, ask guests to bring their own folding chairs. But either way, mark the space you want to put them in beforehand, 6 feet apart.
Check the weather. Get an easy-to-set-up canopy, and have it handy in case people want shade. And if it’s going to get cold, request that everyone bring their own blanket.
The barbecue. Move yours off to the side of the circle, so cooking (and getting warm) during the commercials.
Last but not least: If your urge to hang out turns out to be greater than your urge to cook, there’s always the easiest (and quite often most delicious) route: ordering out. At Bambara, for example, chef David Bazirgan — a huge Patriots fan himself — has whipped up a to-go, game-day, dining package that includes everything from St. Louis ribs and chili to clam chowder and pasta salad. ($25 per person on bbot.menu/bambaradeliveryorpickup/).
Let the game begin.