(our very first game together, what feels like decades ago)

 Here in the South, Tailgating is a way of life. When it comes to college football, we really roll out the Crazy Wagon complete with color coordinated table clothes, multiple crock pots filled with pre-determined dips to provide variety and professionally made tailgate banners to mark our territory. Back in my day, I spent all week planning the perfect outfit, whipping up Game Day confections from scratch and buying back up lids to my monogrammed Turvis Tumbler. Today, I am many years older, the mother of a toddler who has more energy than Britney in 2007 and my body isn’t quite as Tailgate Prime as it once was. Needless to say, while we love spending the day with friends and family in our favorite parking spot, things look a little different in the shadows of the stadium that they once did. Let’s discuss sha’ll we?
5 Ways That Tailgating Looks Different Now That I’m A Mom
1. Stamina. 

Once, many years ago, I was able to take on a 12 hour tailgate without batting an eye. With food, beverages and chairs to sit in, what more could I need to sustain a 12 hour marathon of being on my feet? Last year I attended one tailgate for a night game – and took a nap for two hours in my car half way through the day. And you wanna know a secret? As a mom to a then one-year-old who was being cared for elsewhere by his grandparents, that nap was the best that had happened to me in months. 
(me, napping in the car)

 2. Scratch No More
Ever make pumpkin whoopee pies (with cream cheese icing) from scratch? I have, at midnight on a Friday night, for a noon game the next day. They were good…but not that good and this mom does not have that kind of free time these days. These days I outsource – and am thankful for the talented maker who whips up my weekly sausage dip. Hey, it’s homemade, just not by me!
3, Buns In The Oven
Let’s just say that the options of non-alcoholic beverages are a lot more substantial than they were back in my early 20’s. These days we stock three flavors of La Croix, liters of filtered H2O and enough Diet Coke’s to float a boat. Now that we’re in our thirties, someone is always pregnant, someone is always nursing and all of us need to hydrate the living daylights out of our pores. Also, a tailgate without watermelon La Croix is not a tailgate I want to attend, am I right ladies?!
4. Booze
All I’ll say about this category is that I now tailgate with wine. 
And carry a wine corkscrew in my purse.  
The days of Jello shots are looooooong gone.
5. The Aftermath
In my prime, all I needed to bounce back from a long day of day imbibing in the sun was a solid started breakfast from McDonalds and potentially a follow up Brunch with friends. Today, my feet hurt 72 hours after returning home from campus, I can consume a gallon of water and still not pry my rings off and he bags under my eyes are no match for even the strongest Sephora mask. Concealer, coffee and carbs are my friends (and sexy blister band-aids because, you know, I’m old).
So take heart, other moms who try to hang, we had a good run but today we need to snag those two hour car naps when we can.