6 Tips for Your Next Picnic
I love summertime with my boys. I realize more and more everyday how quickly they are growing up. It just makes me want to treasure our summers together even more. The weather has been GORGEOUS lately. It has been perfect picnic weather. We recently spent the day at the nearby park to enjoy one of the best traditions of summer. I thought I would share with you some of the things I do to make a picnic easy. Easy to pack and clean-up and easy on the eyes!
Whether you are going to have a picnic before the kids go back to school or enjoy one on a fall weekend, here are my 6 tips for your next picnic.
I surprised the boys with a park picnic complete with a teepee. Your only young once, right? I just thought it would add to the fun of the day for them.
Tip #1 Make a sandwich wrap. When I pack for a picnic, I like to bring foods that are easy to transport and don’t require plates. Sandwiches are great for kids and adults alike. Everyone seems to enjoy them. One thing I do when packing sandwiches is I fold sheets of wax paper in thirds and roll the sandwiches up in them. I tie them with kitchen string and this makes them easy to pack in a basket and transport. I also throw chips into the basket.
Another great thing about serving them this way is that they don’t fall apart. My little guy, shall we say, is sandwich handicapped most of the time. And, as you can see we are a household of mustard people. My kids love this on their sandwiches, and since it’s 100% natural I know it is a good choice for them.
Tip #2 Bring a cutting board. I always grab my cutting board before we head out. In this case, I didn’t need to cut anything, but it served as a flat surface to set drinks on. There is nothing worse than having a picnic and then spilling your drinks all over your blanket.
Tip #3 Use lidded jars for drinks. You can use mason jars with lids or they sell them as glasses with the lids. All I did was poke a hole in the lid large enough for a straw. This is perfect for the outdoors because it keeps the bugs out of your drink.
Tip #4 Use paper bread pans. This is something that I just started doing lately. Paper bread pans are available in a lot of one-stop shop stores and kitchen stores. They sell them for baking bread, but you can use them for other things. They are the perfect size for fruit and chips. Plus, you can reuse them or recycle them. Easy clean-up for a picnic. Bonus that they are super cute!
Tip #5 Infused water and drinks. This is something you can do ahead of time and it just adds a little extra something to your drinks. I love to add strawberries and mint to water. For this picnic, since it was for the kiddos, I also made fresh lemonade and added lemon slices to it. Just thoroughly clean the lemons before you slice and add them.
Tip #6 Don’t forget dessert! To me, picnic day is a special day! Special days call for special meals and special meals always have dessert. Serving up a little treat just makes your picnic all the more special.
Those little white bowls are the perfect size for a small serving of ice cream. I just packed them in the little travel cooler with the ice cream. Everything just goes back in the cooler for the trip home.
I can’t wait to surprise them with another picnic day in the fall! They had so much fun and the teepee became the place to be when the meal was over.
I’d like to thank the makers of French’s Yellow Mustard for sponsoring this post as part of their Naturally Amazing Program. As always, I only share what I love and all opinions are 100% mine. We are French’s mustard fans in our household and my kids want it on every sandwich!
