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With the NFL season winding down and the Super Bowl in the horizon, tailgating season is officially in full swing. Whether you’re shlepping out to a stadium, or even recreating the game day vibes by with a few friends and family members in your backyard, we’re always finding new ways to stretch a three hour game into a ten hour extravaganza — but all of it requires at least some amount of planning.
At A Glance: The Best Tailgating Essentials 2025
Best Party Speaker: JBL PartyBox Stage 320
Best Portable Speaker: Ultimate Ears Miniroll Bluetooth Speaker
Best Fire Pit: Solo Stove Bonfire 2.0
Best Folding Chair: Timber Ridge Oversized Folding Chair
Best Hard Cooler: Yeti’s Tundra 65
The best tailgating gear helps you turn the circumference of your parking lot area into a festival watering hole of grilled chicken, cornhole matches, and a nonzero amount of body paint. But you’re going to need your tailgating essentials to be mobile enough to pack up and go with ease, and durable enough to withstand the humid August start of the NCAA season and the freezing cold early January afternoons leading up to the NFL playoffs.
If you’re considering turning your spot at the stadium into a tailgate-ready space this season, you’ll need a couple things for all the sounds, food, and drinks you’ll bring to the huge parking lot crowd. We’ve collected everything you’ll need to get the project done, and made sure our top tailgating essentials will make your car the hottest spot in the lot, even in subzero conditions.
JBL PartyBox Stage 320
$549.95
$599.95
8% off
Buy Now On Amazon
$448
$599.95
25% off
Buy Now on walmart
JBL’s PartyBox Stage 320 is a massive party speaker that will work as your sound system before, during, and after the game. The speaker supports Bluetooth for wireless music streaming, and is equipped with an AUX input and RCA inputs if you want to plug a phone, tablet, or computer into it directly. It even has a 1/4-inch input, which lets you use the PartyBox 320 as an amp for your instrument.
Both of the PartyBox 310’s drivers have an illuminated ring around them, with four additional LEDs dotting the top, bottom, and sides of the speaker. This will add some fun ambiance to your tailgate once the sun goes down. A tailgate deserves a powerful sound system that’ll make you feel like you’re putting on your own halftime show, and JBL’s PartyBox 320 delivers.
Ultimate Ears Miniroll Ultra-Portable Bluetooth Speaker
$69.50
$79.99
13% off
Buy Now On Amazon
$79.99
Buy Now on walmart
We’ve tested many speakers from Ultimate Ears over the years, but the brand’s latest pint-sized wonder, the Miniroll, packs a huge punch. If you’re looking for something slightly more schlep-friendly, its super portable strap and lengthy range (up to 131 feet) makes the Miniroll great for hanging up on a tent or clipping it to a folding table. While it doesn’t boast the biggest bass, it’s softball-sized frame produces the loudest volume we’ve ever heard out of a speaker its size (which you’ll need if you’re trying to auditorily compete with everyone else around you who also brought their own speaker).
We also love its rugged design, which is dustproof and waterproof, making it a great speaker for enjoying your tunes at a tailgate in spite of the elements. You can control the volume from the buttons on the front of the speaker — no app necessary. Bonus: the Miniroll can even float (should you find that someone accidentally dropped it into the water cooler).
Solo Stove Bonfire 2.0
$249.99
Buy Now on solo stove
$279.98
Buy Now On Amazon
None of the fire pits we’ve tried hold a candle to Solo Stove’s Bonfire, which features an innovative design that prevents excess smoke from interrupting your event. The circular-shaped pit is made out of brushed stainless steel, which holds up to high heat without getting damaged. In our tests, the Solo Stove Bonfire succeeded at delivering roasty toasty heat with minimal cleanup, and became a mainstay of our autumn, winter, and summer (especially when you add the Cookout Kit, which converts this fire pit into a serious BBQ operation). Solo Stove’s Bonfire is an absolute must-have for anyone throwing a tailgate (not just because you can personalize your pit with the logo of your favorite NFL team), sure to become a central gathering point before and after the game.
Timber Ridge Oversized Folding Camping Chair
$82.99
$129.99
36% off
Buy Now On Amazon
$79.99
$99.99
20% off
Buy Now on walmart
Timber Ridge puts every other folding chair we’ve ever used for tailgating to shame due to its innovative design and supreme comfort. The seat is easy to unfold, and provides a surprising amount of lumbar support when sitting down. There’s no padding, but the company’s thick fabric has just the right amount of give to feel inviting (it holds up to 500 pounds too).
One of our favorite little touches about this chair is its cup holder and side pocket for storing things like your phone, remote, snacks and more. When the game is over, this chair folds up neatly, and can be stored in its included carry-bag. We were surprised at how comfortable the case’s shoulder strap was, which made it easy to take around.
Amazon
Yeti Tundra 65 Cooler
$350.00
Buy Now On Amazon
$280
$350
20% off
Buy Now on yeti
Yeti’s Tundra 65 is a highly insulated cooler that we love for making sure your drinks stay cold during the entire game. It has extra thick walls and pressure-injected polyurethane insulation, which will prevent outside heat from seeping inside.
You’ll still need to use ice to keep your beverages cold, and the sweet spot is usually a 2:1 ratio of ice to drinks (by volume) to ensure everything stays frosty. This cooler is hefty though, weighing 29 pounds when it’s empty, so you may want to pick a good spot before you start to fill it, and empty it at the end of the game.
Office Star Resin Rectangle Center-Folding Portable Table
$132.60
Buy Now On Amazon
Office Star’s folding table offers the serious durability and portability that you’re going to want during tailgating season. This isn’t just for around the house — this table is ready to go anywhere, but it can hold up to a whopping 350 pounds, so you can set out your entire BBQ spread, Bluetooth speaker, supplies and more.
Folding it up is fast, and there’s a handle for easy carrying, similar to how you’d carry around your briefcase. The steel tube legs help it remain steady on uneven terrain, and its resin surface is also waterproof, scratch, and impact-resistant. It’s awesome for tailgating but also for other outdoor uses too: think yard sales, camping, or just grilling outside on a nice day.
Cooshade 8 x 8 Pop Up Canopy Tent
$119.95
Buy Now On Amazon
The most important element of this COOSHADE pop-up canopy tent is that it can be assembled in as little as 60 seconds — perfect for those times when you just want to get your tailgating site set up so you can rush into the excitement of game day.
The tent’s frame is fully assembled in one piece, and setup requires only one person and one push. In addition to the canopy overhead, this tent comes with two sun walls that can be installed depending on if you need more shade. With 64-square-feet of coverage, this tailgating tent turns your parking spot into the haven you need. Once it’s time to pack up, the tent fits nicely inside its wear-resistant roller bag.
BioLite MPOWERD Luci Solar String Lights
$32.97
$54.95
40% off
Buy Now On Amazon
$32.97
Buy Now on biolite
BioLite’s MPOWERD Luci outdoor string lights are a great way to add some ambiance to your tailgate when it starts to get dark. There are 20 lights per string, and they recharge fully via solar or via USB — no batteries necessary. You can’t change their color, but the warm LEDS last up to 20 hours to create the right atmosphere as your tailgate goes on.
BioLite says its string lights can be exposed to water (think rain and snow) without getting damaged. Best of all? You can even charge your phone via the Luci String, so you when you choose to go back “on-the-grid”, you’ll always have the juice to check the score, answer some emails, or just post pictures of your rack of ribs. If you want to add some cool-looking ambiance to your tailgating spot, this is the set of string lights we recommend.
Facebook / Pit Barrel Cooker Co.
Pit Barrel Cooker Junior Package 14 Inch Drum Smoker
$299.99
Buy Now On Amazon
$299.99
Buy Now on home depot
Nothing complements live sports like tender, perfectly cooked meat, and Pit Barrel Cooker Co.’s Junior Pit Barrel Cooker can deliver enough food to feed over a dozen people while taking up far less space than a traditional grill.
The Pit Barrel Cooker is a charcoal grill and smoker shaped like a drum — instead of cooking your meat on a flat surface, you hang it on hooks. By thinking vertically, the Pit Barrel Cooker Co. came up with a smart way to cook for crowd within a tight area. Assembling the Pit Barrel Cooker takes only a few minutes, and the results speak for themselves. You can also use the included grill grate to cook burgers and hot dogs while using a poultry hanger to smoke whole racks of ribs or chickens. Once you get the hang of using the Pit Barrel Cooker, you may never want to use another smoker again.
Jackery Portable Power Station Explorer 500
$499.00
Buy Now On Amazon
$499
Buy Now on jackery
If you’re bringing more heavy-duty appliances to the tailgate cookout, then you’re going to need the Jackery Explorer 500. This Power Station’s 500-watt capacity is enough to power multiple major devices simultaneously, like an electric stove or mini cooler — all at the size of a basketball.
You’ll get an AC outlet, a carport, the USB-A ports and two DC ports here. An LCD display up front makes it clear to read stats like output and battery level. It’s significantly lighter than most others on the market, and has a built-in handle to easily carry it around when you’re ready to pack up your tailgating spot It can also be charged through AC power and via a car’s port, and supports pass-through charging without compromising on battery life.
Amazon
GoSports 3 x 2 ft Rustic Design Cornhole Game Set
$79.99
Buy Now On Amazon
Playing an outdoor game is a great way to spend halftime, and we recommend GoSport’s Classic Cornhole set if you have enough space (if you don’t, we recommend some of these more portable games to take with you to the stadium).
The game can be played with up to four people (in teams of two), with the objective being to throw a beanbag onto your opponent’s board. If your beanbag lands on top of the board, you get one point; if it goes through the hole located toward the top of the board, you get three points. The first team to reach 21 points is the winner. GoSports’ set comes with eight beanbags, two boards, and a carrying case to keep all of the pieces protected when you’re not playing.
Goldbelly Super Bowl LIX Tailgate Kits
$99+
Buy Now on goldbelly
We get it — not everyone is going to be the ultimate pitmaster on the stadium lot, or even want to set up a charcoal grill just to whip up some burgers and dogs. If you want to show up with everything you already need in hand for a game day-worthy spread (or even if you just want to have the “tailgating” experience in your backyard), then Goldbelly is offering curated, officially-licensed Tailgating Kits this year inspired by the flavors of New Orleans — the host of Super Bowl LIX.
Made for parties of 6-8, you can go as simple as Muffuletta sandwiches to a full crawfish boil, Jambalaya, or even a giant Cajun Turducken. Every kit also includes iconic tastes of the Big Easy, including a King Cake, sweet pecan pralines, Cafe du Monde Beignet Mix, Pat O’Brien’s Hurricane Mix (just add rum!), Central Grocery Olive Salad (for making a dip to serve with chips). You won’t even have to worry about the extras, since it already comes with Super BowlLIX-themed plates, souvenir cups, napkins, and a tablecloth.
