As you probably know, football games are a big part of the Penn State culture. What you might not know is that basically every other Saturday is a mini fashion show. No, there are no red carpets or spotlights, but instead there are rows of trucks and tents and, if you are lucky, a blazing hot sun. Finding the perfect outfit for a football game can prove challenging, especially freshman year when you don’t have all of last years outfits to fall back on. In this blog post I will talk about some tips on how look cute for football games and not spend all the money you earned this summer on a couple of outfits.
Tip #1: Cut your own T-shirts. Cut t-shirts are always a good go-to look for tailgates and football games. Cut shirts are especially nice for the first few games of the season aka the only time that you can have exposed skin and not be afraid of catching pneumonia. If you walk down College Ave you will see so many cute and trendy shops with adorable Penn State cropped T’s. Well if you want to spend $32 on a t-shirt no judgement, trust me I have been tempted to do so before, but if you want to recreate the same look, just keep walking down the street to McLanahan’s. If you don’t know about McLanahan’s yet, you will soon because even though it is probably one of the most overpriced convenience stores you will ever go to, it is also the place that has the most reasonably priced selection of t-shirts. Don’t get me wrong some of the other stores downtown have cheaper shirts (Lion and Cub is another good one,) but McLannys (as some of us like to call it) will reliably have a huge selection of basic Penn State t-shirts in every size you might want. (Quick tip: if you are small enough – children’s shirts are a lot cheaper than adults!) Once you buy the shirt just go on Pinterest, or if you don’t know how Pinterest works like me, go on google images and search cut t-shirts. There are so many pictures with instructions! Just find a sharp pair of scissors and have fun.
Tip #2: Cheek Tattoos, don’t move ‘em. If you have ever been to a PSU football game you will see that a lot of women sport the Penn State cheek sticker tattoos. I am pretty sure that I have worn one for about 90% of all the football games that I have attended. I know they are mainstream and maybe that is not your style but let me tell you they are CUTE. This tip may sound pretty obvious but I wish someone had told me because it took me a couple of times to learn my lesson. The tip is once you put the sticker on, don’t move it. Once you take it off it does not stick nearly as well when you put it back on. You probably can get away with one adjustment but after that leave it be, especially if you are wearing foundation. I made the mistake of moving my sticker too many times and those stickers are not cheap, so don’t waste them! (I once glued a sticker on that I had moved too many times with eyelash glue, which worked pretty well if you get desperate.)
Tip #3: Dress for the weather. This tip has less to do with saving money on clothes but more to do with saving money on medical bills. If you didn’t know Penn State gets cold, like really cold. I thought I knew that coming into college, but growing up in Virginia I do not think that I accurately grasped how cold it would be in October (snow in October? Who knew?) Even though I was naïve about how fast it would get cold in Pennsylvania, that actually became an asset to me. All of my friends who were used to colder weather would tell me I was silly for bringing a sweatshirt and a coat to games. Well when my roommates’ lips turned blue and she had to miss a solid 30 minutes of the game warming up in the bathroom, I thought to myself “who is silly now.” Never worry about bringing a coat, if you don’t wear it, just put it under your seat. Looking cute is not worth getting sick. You are in college now, you have enough to be dealing with without trudging across campus to University Health Services.
Tip #4: Do not wear nice shoes. As I am sure you know, shoes are very expensive. As someone who loves shoes very dearly and spends way too much money at DSW, I get very sad when my shoes get messy. And when I say messy I mean covered in mud or even ketchup. Tailgating and standing in the student section come at the risk of muddy fields and lots of people messily eating food, so save those cute new shoes you bought for another day. On the other hand, don’t wear shoes that are uncomfortable because standing for a day in uncomfy shoes is torture and you don’t deserve that. I recommend flip flops for warmer games and boots for when it gets colder that you can clean easily.
Tip #5: Don’t be afraid to be yourself. Don’t ever feel like the clothes that you brought from home are not cute or “hip” enough to wear to a football game. You don’t need to buy a whole new outfit each weak! Wear what you are comfortable wearing and what you want to wear. Just be you and enjoy one of, in my opinion, the best parts about fall semester!
I can’t wait to meet you at WEPO and I hope that you enjoy Penn State football as much as I do!
Liz Trautman
Team K Mentor
BME 2021
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