12 Easy Ways to Add Vintage Charm to Your Tailgate
Maybe it's because fall is the most sepia-toned of seasons, but autumn always has me feeling nostalgic, and that nostalgia extends to my approach to tailgating. It's no secret that I love the thrill of the hunt, and I have long had a soft spot for vintage collegiate anything—varsity sweaters, team portraits, felt pennants, you name it—so I'm always looking for a good reason to justify purchases in that spirit. As a Tennessee Vols fan, I've also found that pretty orange patina can be quite hard to come by, so I try to grab it when I see it!
If you're also interested in giving a vintage-infused game day the old college try, here are just a few of my favorite ways to get in the spirit.
MORE GAMEDAY MAINSTAYS:
Craft a Sentimental Tray
Corral team photos, event tickets, and other school ephemera under a piece of glass or clear plexiglass* set into a vintage tray. (Many hardware stores and glass companies will cut glass to your dimensions.) *Use a plastic cutting tool to cut the plexiglass.
Customize Stadium Blankets
Fun fact: Letterman sweaters date back to 1865, when
the Harvard baseball team sported H patches on
their uniforms. Chenille letters later rose to popularity during the 1930s. Personalize a wool blanket by “monogramming” it with your favorite found letters and patches. Topstitch onto the blanket or adhere with iron-on fusible tape.
Turn Old Pins Into Napkin Rings
Dress up your napkins by wrapping an unfinished wood ring with thin neutral twine. Open each pin back and thread the spear through a few strands of the twine, then close.
DIY a Ring Toss Game
Cornhole takes up so much room in a car. This all-vintage game alternative puts an old wooden crate, soda bottles, and mason jar rings to good use. (Because I'm obsessive, I'd probably seek out soda bottles in my team's colors—Orange Crush, anyone?)
Fill a Trophy with Flowers
Also known as loving cups, these two-handled trophies were often used for a celebratory sip. To repurpose them as vases, simply slip in a small bud vase or small jam jar filled with water and cut stems in your team colors.
Serve Chips in an Old Megaphone
Often made of cardboard, these smaller size megaphones come in handy to corral snacks (chips, popcorn, pretzels). Alternatively, you can flip them over and use them to shield salsas and dips from bugs.
Serve Snacks Out of Thermos Lids
Thermos collectors tend to geek about the thermoses themselves—the patterns, mainly—but those old lids also come in quite handy to corral and carry snacks. (Shown: Peanuts and cinnamon red hots, although I'd vote for peanuts and candy corn, which add a touch of orange and basically tastes like a Payday!)
Personalize Your Perch
For a truly custom touch, seek out chenille letters in your team colors that align with the first letter of each tailgater's name, then affix each one to a folding canvas director's chair. (While not vintage, I also love these chairs for a retro feel.)
Turn a Helmet Into a Vase
A vintage football helmet scores points as the perfect game day table topper. To keep it steady, wrap a 3-inch embroidery hoop with jute ribbon, and center the helmet on it upside-down. Fill a glass vase with water and place in the helmet; add flowers to vase (here, butterfly ranunculus, chamomile, and brown-eyed Susans).
Hang Your Pennants
Many of the oldest iterations of collegiate pennants were handmade and sprang up on Ivy League campuses but became more mass- produced in the ’30s, ’40s, and beyond. Pennants can vary in size (about six inches at their smallest, a few feet at their largest) and often display school seals or mascots, which makes them perfect for gameday decor. I like stringing them together, banner-style, but I've also seen them turned into triangular, bolster-esque pillows.
Note: Those with hand-stitched appliques and are very valuable (think $500 and up), so you may want to keep them away from the guacamole.
Turn a Crate Into a Snack Caddy
I feel strongly that you can never own too many soda crates, and they come in so many game day-friendly colors. (See if you can spot my Orange Crush crate below.) If yours is outfitted with slots, you can slip a glass jelly jar into each then add snack cones filled with Parmesan Tater Tots.
Get a Roomy Vehicle
You'll need plenty of space to load up your vintage finds! Special thanks to the roomy Kia Carnival, The Official Antiquing Vehicle of Country Living, for helping our editors tailgate in style. (Stay tuned for the Kia Carnival hybrid coming in 2025!) And head here for more for our favorite antiquing tips.
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