The Perfect Tailgating Kit For Your VW
Fall in South Louisiana means football, and football means tailgating. But, tailgating doesn’t mean you need a big truck to get what you need out to the game. In fact, with the right game plan, you can get everything you need to campus in your Volkswagen.
For starters, you need to know what you’re working with in terms of storage space. If you drive a Beetle, you’ve got 15.4 cu ft. of space to work with, with the seats up. For the Jetta, that’s 15.5 cu ft. and the amount of available room goes up from there depending on the model you drive. So start with the basics, and build your perfect tailgating kit from there.
The basics:Table & Chairs – Fortunately, there are very few things that don’t come in a collapsible version meant for camping, outdoor use, or in this case, tailgating. Tables and chairs fall into that category. You should be able to find these at just about any sporting goods store.
Ice Chest – You will have plenty of room in the trunk of your Volkswagen to bring a 36qt ice chest. But, you will need to pack it efficiently to make sure everything you need for the day fits. Start by putting your beverages on the bottom, ice on top of the beverages, then food on top of the ice. This not only allows you easy access to the food when it’s time to cook, but also prevents water from potentially seeping in to any of your food containers.
Grill – If you want to cook while you’re tailgating (and who doesn’t), you can find a wide array of portable grills at any sporting goods store. If you don’t have a preference between charcoal and propane, we recommend buying a portable propane grill as the fuel tanks take up less trunk space than a bag of charcoal and the grill will cool down faster after you’re done cooking.
Toolbox – No, we aren’t recommending bringing actual tools out to tailgate. But we are recommending you pick up a toolbox to store all the little things you’ll need throughout the day. Utensils, cozies, plates, bottle opener, matches, napkins, bug spray, or anything else you need can be stored efficiently in separate drawers of a toolbox while taking
Lagniappe:
Once you’ve got the essentials covered, it’s time to utilize your remaining storage space with the items that you want, but don’t necessarily need.
Pop up tent – Just like the table and chairs, you can find a collapsible pop up tent at a sporting goods store. You may need to fold down one side of your backseat to fit it in your trunk, but that’s a small trade-off for all day relief from the South Louisiana sun.
TV – If you want to watch the games before or after your game, a flat screen TV should fit easily on top of some other tailgating materials in your trunk. If you are bringing a TV, you will need power. This doesn’t always mean you need a generator. To save space, you can bring a power inverter and plug it into the cigarette lighter in the car. *** If you do this, know that your TV will be running on your car’s battery. You may need to start your car and let it run from time to time to make sure the battery stays charged.
Games – We highly recommend bringing a game or two out to your tailgate site. Cornhole is one of the more popular tailgate games lately; and yes, it is available in a portable kit.
Infotainment System – Before you pack any speakers or music system to bring tailgating, remember you’ve got your Volkswagen Infotainment System you can plug into for your music.
