The Ultimate Tailgating Essentials

This post was sponsored by Look Beyond as part of an Influence Central campaign and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.
 Planning your tailgate party can be an overwhelming challenge as you make sure that you have the necessities to ensure a successful tailgating party.You’re going to want to make sure you have enough food to feed you and your tailgate neighbors that decide to drop by when they find out you’re headed to the stadium on Game Day. Planning ahead for extra people can indeed be a challenge make sure you have plenty of liquid refreshments on hand to host a few of your fellow tailgaters.
Here are a few must haves for your next tailgating party! 
Food: It's pretty essential that every tailgating feast requires a game plan. You're main go to is a portable grill or smoker to use! The grill is the centerpiece of the serious tailgate, and though there is a wide array of fine products offered for the cooking of meats, make sure your grill is portable so you can take with you. You also need a lighter, plastic storage containers for leftovers, a rubber serving utensils, a lighter, wet wipes and plastic plates and cups! Try and cook as much as you can before hand as well as some ready to eat snacks to keep those that come early happy before the main meal. Some of my favorites are chips and dips, trail mix and a veggie tray! Game Day Jerseys: Attending your event is one thing but make sure that you wear your favorite teams apparel. Depending on when the game starts, you might be getting up early to tailgate with your friends or waiting until later in the afternoon. You can grab jerseys, hats, accessories of all sorts to support your team! My favorite thing is to play up the colors of each team that I enjoy watching. If your colors are black and gold, I'll find cute jean shorts, a black and white stripped sweatshirt and comfortable sneakers to wear. 
Charged Those Phones: Today, many of our phones can give us anxiety when we reach a certain percentage. Make sure that you provide portable chargers for you and your friends to stay connected throughout the game. We also love bringing our bluetooth speaker to keep music playing and keeping our momentum up before the big game even begins! Some friends even bring a flat screen TV with a portable antenna for live game coverage if you don't have tickets but you still feel as if you're right there with everyone outside the stadium. 
Look Beyond The Tailgate! 
Guess what?! Did you know that all things items that you can bring to make it fun have one thing in common. They all contain various components made from rubber, plastic, waterproof and synthetic fibers like polyester, vinyl and so much more- all of which re byproducts of oil and natural gas.  There's an entire initiative dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of the gas and oil industries; Look Beyond. Did you know there is an even a Look BeyondTailgate blog to check out? The company is helping all of us look beyond what you think you know about the oil and gas industries and seeing how they actually make so many things possible for us to enjoy our football games! The next time you tailgate, take a look around and see if these items are part of your tailgating essentials.
How will you look beyond the tailgate?