Free Printable: The Game Day Playbook

Game day at my house is not a casual event. There's a draft order. There are scouting reports. And exactly none of it involves football - it's all about the snacks.

So I built the thing I always wished existed: The Game Day Playbook - a free 8-page printable that runs your entire game day spread, from picking the lineup to the final grocery run, plus two coloring pages for whoever isn't actually watching the game. It's the first drop of Table Notes, and it's made to do one job: live on your fridge door with a pen nearby.

What's Inside the Game Day Playbook

The Menu Planner. Decide the spread first - guests, kickoff time, matchup, and six slots to fill. Everything else on these pages follows from it.

The Snack Draft Board. Post it, text a photo to the group chat, and let people claim a round. Twelve slots, and one house rule I stand by: two dips max, one of them cold. Whoever forgets is on ice and napkin duty.

The Shopping List. Sorted by aisle so you cross the store once, not four times. There's a Don't Forget column too - ice, foil pans, napkins, all the stuff you remember at 4pm.

The Make-Ahead Prep Plan. Two days out, day before, game day. Most of the cooking happens before Sunday. That's the whole trick.

The Feed-a-Crowd Cheat Sheet. Per-person quantities for wings, chili, pulled pork, sliders, queso, chips, drinks, and ice - already done for 12 people and for 24. This is the math nobody wants to do at 9am on a Saturday, and it's the page you'll use all season.

The Kickoff Timeline. Write your kickoff time in the box and count backwards - T-minus four hours through halftime and the fourth quarter, so the wings and the queso land hot at the same time. This is how restaurant kitchens think, shrunk to fridge-door size.

Two Coloring Pages. Because there is always at least one person at the party who does not care about the game. Hand them a page and a box of crayons and everybody wins - one is simple enough for little hands, one has enough detail to keep an adult busy through the third quarter.

How Table Notes Works

A new kitchen printable every month, built to actually get used - not the clip-art kind. I trained at Le Cordon Bleu, and I build each one the way I'd build a kitchen tool: cream paper, room to write, no ink-guzzling backgrounds. September's is the Playbook. October's is the Fall Kitchen Companion, and yes, there's a Smoke Log in it.

Put the Playbook to Work

Your draft board needs players. Start here - or head to the full game day recipe hub for everything at once.

• Smoked Queso Dip - 3 easy variations for game day - my season opener, every season
• Loaded Chili Mac - the halftime heavyweight
• The Charcuterie Board Guide - for the pregame grazing window
• Pellet Smoker Recipes: everything I cook on mine - if the smoker's coming off the bench
• Easy Pellet Smoker Recipes for Beginners - first season with a smoker? Start here.

💬 Game Day Playbook FAQ

One Last Thing

Print it, stick it on the fridge, and draft a lineup worth defending. And when someone asks where you got it - Table Notes is open to everyone.

Cheers, Tabi