Don your favorite football team's colors and get ready for the Big Game by tailgating before and after. An American tradition, tailgating can be as simple or as complicated as you want. (Simple: Get invited to someone else's party; complicated: marinate three different typess of meat along with veggies all week.)

Here are some of the basics you must have if you are going to attempt to eat out of the back of your car in a parking lot somewhere.

~~ Dips: Any and all kinds including French onion, guacamole, cheezy beer, spinach etc.

~~ Chili: Bring along a big pot and serve with all the fixins' like sour cream cheddar cheese, sliced green onions, hot peppers.

~~ Chicken wings: These never taste as good as when they are eaten out of a trunk. Bring along a LOT of napkins to mop up the mess.

~~ Salads: The old standbys work really well here like macaroni, potato, cole slaw, pasta, taco.

~~ Anything served neatly on a stick like chicken, pork, lamb, beef, veggies, fruit.

~~ Nachos: Can't ever get enough of these. Save yourself some money so instead buying them in the stadium, bring your own. Tostitos Salsa con Queso is really good.

~~ Pulled pork or beef with hearty buns and mayo, BBQ sauce, a variety of mustards, Heinz ketchup.

~~ Dessert: Football helmet-shaped cakes, cookies, pies, brownies, etc.

~~ All time favorite snacks like chips, pretzels, taco chips, nuts, along with pickles, olives and other hot and cool items.

~~ Drinks of all sorts to please everyone in your party: Wine, beer, soda pop, water, lemonade, iced tea, and coffee, which is hard to take along but always welcome!