Tailgate Throwdown

Gator Girls Throw a Tailgate

2011-10-20T19:47:00.000-07:00

Last month I had the distinct pleasure of getting together with Nikki of Great Gatherings and Lauren McKinsey. It was such a pleasure meeting these wonderfully talented ladies. Even better than meeting them was throwing a {CUTE} Gator Tailgating Party! We had a blast, even if it was H.O.T. hot that day!
We can't wait to see what tailgate and football parties y'all having throwing this season! Don't forgot to link up your CUTE parties for your chance to win some really REALLY fabulous prizes!

**Warning, you are about to see A LOT of really cute photos**

printables by Lauren McKinsey

glittery goodness by The Purple Pug

kandy kones by Superchick Studios

handheld fans by She's{kinda}Crafty

custom lollies by Vintage Confections

balloons from Polka Dot Market

custom buttons made by Buttonhead

Styling by Great Gatherings

The ultimate tailgating bus!! some day, right?!?

Showing your School Spirit

2011-09-26T07:39:00.000-07:00

We are looking forward to sharing our Gator Girl Tailgate with you soon but in the mean time we wanted to show you that we love ALL things football! When it comes to Saturdays we might be pulling for the Orange and Blue but we are mostly fans of Team Spirit and making that spirit CUTE!
In the spirit of showing the love here is a USF wreath that I recently made!

See - school spirit looks good in ANY color!!

<a border="0" href="http://funkypolkadotgiraffe.blogspot.com/search/label/Too%20Cute%20Tuesday" target="_blank"><img src="http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p12/mormishgirl/Blog/TooCuteTuesdayNEW.jpg" /></a>

Getting Ready!

2011-09-14T16:43:00.000-07:00

The Gator Girls are getting ready to throw their big tailgate this weekend! We can't wait to show you everything we've been working on so that you can take some CUTE ideas and use them in your own tailgates!

Have you celebrated football yet this season? We want to see your parties!!

Football Attire?

2011-09-06T12:13:00.000-07:00

We've got you COVERED! They will NOT call the Fashion Police on you if you let us help!

Come check out the blog at:

Great Gatherings

Let us know what YOU will be wearing at your big TAILGATE THROWDOWN!

Nikki

Gator & Bama Fans

2011-09-02T17:31:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for some Gator or Alabama printables for your tailgate check out She's{kinda}Crafty for some free, funky, fun printables, just in time to kick off the season!

We hope that you have a fantastic, football-filled long weekend and we can't wait to get our first submissions! Remember to link them up HERE or email them us at sheskindacrafty (at) gmail (dot) com.

Link Up Here!!

2011-08-29T18:04:00.000-07:00

Once you have hosted your Tailgate Throwdown 2011 party - whether it be a tailgate, a viewing party, a kick off party, or a football themed birthday party - come back here to link up your party.
Also check back often to get inspiration for your own Football Bash!!

The deadline is October 31, 2011

Parties must be from the 2011 football season & preseason.

Any questions please leave a comment and one of our judges will get back to you!

Ideas

2011-08-25T03:41:00.000-07:00

Hello from Great Gatherings! So, this spring I did a 60th birthday for my dad. Since he is the BIG GATOR, we knew it had to be orange and blue to the maximum! Here are some details from the party to inspire you to "do it up" using your team colors and style of course! Any of these details would be PERFECT for a tailgate party! Here's my post from the party:

This weekend was the Great Gator party I had been working on for quite a while. I had a fantastic time putting this one together because it was for my DAD! He turned 60!

I love my dad (goes without saying really)! He is a hard-worker, type A personality, Gator/University of Florida fan-atic and a great provider. He's very smart and well-rounded, owns two businesses (along with my mom), works a full-time job, has a real estate license (just for kicks and giggles) and travels the state for all of these business ventures. It makes me tired just thinking about it all!

Anyway, when thinking about his party, we KNEW it had to be orange and blue/University of Florida Gator related. I worked with my talented friend Lauren McKinsey on this gator for the invitation, and he was PERFECT for my dad's party! I love him!

We had "Great Gator" Chocolate Cake, "Orange - Blue" Cupcake Bites, "Big Gator" cookies, "Big Orange" Cupcakes and "Blue"-Berry mini cheesecakes. No shortage of sugar! Of course, we also had barbecue, but who wants barbecue when you can have sugar?

I found this gator crayon holder that I used for my rocked-out kandy kones from The Superchick. I added my own bowtie to him, to make him perfectly complete for the occasion. I loved how it turned out!

I loved how the cupcake tower turned out. I used a tray I found at Hobby Lobby and wrapped it in ribbon, made the two top levels out of cake rounds glued together and added ribbon and paper and used two blue planters in between the levels. of course I added another gator to the top level in among the "grass" cupcake holders! I used cupcake toppers from The Purple Pug which she should be selling soon in her store. They really are GREAT! I love them, super sparkly and magnificent!

I also used these tulle pom-poms from TiTi's Tutu's. I think they are cute party decor and would work for most any party. Thank you Debra!

I looked everywhere for the perfect table cover and finally found fabric and sewed this tablecloth (thanks mom for the help!). I love how it turned out and can see it being used for future Gator events and tailgate parties!

It was a perfect evening and everyone had a great time, including the big Gator!

Additional Vendors:
Large Poms- Pom Flair
Flowers- http://www.theplantshoppe.com/
Chocolate Cake- Secret Garden Bakery
Gator Cookies- Dandy Delights

Thank you all!

Football Favors | Crayons

2011-08-23T08:20:00.000-07:00

I wanted to bring back an oldie - but a goodie! This is my very first tutorial post from She's{kinda}Crafty, but with a couple updated photos for your viewing pleasure (please excuse the poor older tutorial photos as they look like I took them with my old phone). These crayons would make wonderful favors for any tailgate or football party, especially when there are children invited. They would also be fun to have in an activity center/table to keep kids busy during the game!

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Ok, so here it goes! My very first {TUTORIAL} ever!!
What are we making you ask? Shaped Crayons or Fun Crayons or whatever you want to call them.
I made a batch of Easter Egg crayons for my daughter and nieces and nephews this past spring and they were fun and easy to make. I was inspired to make this latest batch by a silicone cupcake pan I found on clearance at Walmart last month (well that, and football is a religion down in the south and {GATOR FOOTBALL} is a small obsession of mine :) )

Here are the supplies you need:

a mold - I like to use silicone baking pans, but you can also use an old muffin tin (or buy a new one specifically for making the crayons) *once you use it for crayons you can no longer use it for baking, so there's your warning about that.
2 - 24 packs of crayola crayons (don't try to use the cheap ones, it just doesn't work, I tried!) or you can use broken crayon bits you already have
exacto knife
cookie sheet
Pam (optional)
toothpicks if you are going to do a swirly crayon

1. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.
2. Painstakingly take the paper off all of your crayons. I like to use the exacto knife and cut a deep slit down the length of the crayon. You might still find some crayons that give you a fit, but overall I find that it is a very effective method and MUCH easier than trying to peel the darn things off, your fingernails will thank you if you go with the knife method. Also, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use extreme caution cutting the crayons lengthwise, I nearly sliced a finger off while doing this b/c I wasn't paying enough attention.

3. spray each of the mold cups with a little Pam (optional).
4. break your crayons into 4-6 pieces each and put them in a cup. I was doing specific color schemes with my crayons so I matched everything up and placed them into the cups before I went about breaking them. I find that using the palm of your hand to break them is the easiest way to go. For this large of a "cup" you will need 4 crayons (2 of each color if you were doing school colors). You can fill the cups up half way, but I wouldn't recommend any more than that. If you want to make a monochromatic crayon just make sure that your different shades are mixed well in each cup.

5. If you are using a silicone mold place it on top of an aluminum foil wrapped baking sheet (we are now the proud owners of a non-usable pizza crisping baking sheet because I didn't lay down any foil or parchment paper and one of the crayons leaked and is stuck in all those tiny little holes!!)
6. Pop those bad boys in the oven, for about 9-10 minutes depending on your oven. You will know when they are ready because you won't be able to see any individual round crayon parts anymore.

7. Take out of the oven and very carefully with a toothpick swirl the wax together if you are making swirly crayons or monochromatic crayons.

8. Let cool on your counter until they have completely set (approx 45 minutes). You can also pop them in the freezer if you have enough room. Putting them in the freezer might yield some condensation on the tops (well really the bottoms) of the crayons, just wipe off.
9. Pop the crayons out of the mold and brush off any lose ends.

I went ahead and made up this little gift bags for the crayons because I am going to be mailing them to little tykes. They would make an incredibly cute party favor, too!!

It's a THROWDOWN!

2011-08-15T17:47:00.000-07:00

We need you to Think Cute. Think Football.

THE CHALLENGE -

We want you to show us your best, most SPIRITED, FANtastically CUTE tailgate party! It doesn't have to be a traditional parking lot tailgate, either, it can be a viewing party at your house, celebrating in your yard, at the stadium....wherever it is you get ready to cheer on your favorite college, pro, or high school sports team! It is easy to enter just set it up, party down, and then send us your photos. The judges will decide (un-biased for whatever team you choose to root for) who had the best tailgate party of the season.

THE DETAILS -

Host a football tailgate, viewing party, or other football themed celebration - just whatever you do make it CUTE!!!
Take lots a great photos of your set up as well as some action shots from the party.
2 options to get entered a)E-mail your photos or a link to your tailgate party to sheskindacrafty@gmail.com or b) link your party down below
Deadline is midnight ~~October 31, 2011~~ NOVEMBER 30, 2011.
Our 3 judges will then have the hard task of deciding who we think really knows how to tailgate!
The challenge winner must live in the US (although we'd love to see parties from anywhere, the rewards can only be shipped domestically)

THE REWARDS - 

So what do you get for all your hard work?!? Well hopefully all your team spirit helped your team win and your friends and family had a blast, but even if your team didn't win the winner of the Tailgate Throwdown Challenge will receive:

A 10" custom Ribbon Wreath, in any school colors of your choice, handmade with love by She's{kinda}Crafty.

A custom cupcake package (your choice of team colors) from Great Gatherings which includes Betty Crocker’s Big Book of Cupcakes, cupcake liners, designer sprinkles, custom icing colors, piping bag and tip!

Any printables package available in the Lauren McKinsey online store!

A party tableware set for 8 from Polka Dot Market that includes Dinner Plates, Dessert Plates, Dinner Napkins and Luncheon Napkins of any of the large dot plate designs they have on their online store (which are all PERFECT to help you pull off the cutest tailgate party ever)!

A set of 10 poms in your choice of colors from Pom Flair

Glittery Football Junk (a set of cupcake toppers including footballs and your team's name) from The Purple Pug!

A custom GAME DAY Posie Jute Tote bag from Nest of Posies! (Everyone is a winner with a special discount code from Nest of Posies - enter the code FOOTBALLTIME at checkout and receive 15% off you bag purchase!)

1 dozen custom cookies from Dandy Delights! (please allow 4 weeks notice for November or December orders)

THE JUDGES -

Bios coming soon!!

Nikki from Great Gatherings

Stacy from She's{kinda}Crafty
Lauren McKinsey

Start your planning now, football season will be here before you know it and we can't wait to see how y'all party your team on to victory!!

Grab a button and let everyone know you are up for the challenge!