You Can Have A Delightful Picnic When You Plan Ahead Of Time

An impromptu picnic sounds like a good idea, until you arrive at a clearing, sit down on the grassy lawn and realize that you forgot to bring key items — it could be napkins, cutlery, blankets, or even enough food to eat. While it’s possible to pack your bags and head to the park on a whim, you will definitely have a better picnic if you take some time to plan and prepare.

The first step to planning the perfect picnic is to set aside a moment to make a checklist of items that you will need for the day because you won’t want to drive all the way to the park, unpack your items, realize something is missing and then hurry back home to pick it up. It’s easy to underestimate the number of items that you will need since they are readily available in your kitchen. To make sure that you have a pleasant experience, here are some essentials that you could use:

  • Picnic baskets, canvas bags and coolers with ice packs
  • Disposable or reusable plates, bowls, cups and cutlery
  • Napkins or wet wipes for messes
  • Blankets and pillows for comfortable sitting
  • Appetizers, main courses, desserts and condiments
  • Refreshing drinks in cans, bottles or tightly sealed thermoses

You will want to have blankets and cushions to feel comfortable throughout the picnic and to protect your clothes from unwanted stains. If you like knitting and crocheting, you can go to the website Yarnspirations to find their Pic-Knit lookbook and follow the patterns for their convenient summer accessories that will make your family cozy and clean for the entire afternoon. The lookbook will let you know what materials work best with the patterns, like Patons Canadiana yarn or Lily Sugar’n Cream cotton yarn — these materials can be easily found in the website’s massive yarn selection. You can make items like square knit cushions, spiral crochet pillows, gingham picnic blankets and crochet placemats.

The food that you make for your picnic should be easy for you to transport, set up and eat — you don’t want to put something in a picnic basket that will spill everywhere, that will quickly melt in the sunshine or spoil. Sandwiches, wraps and stuffed pitas are great ideas for hearty dishes that won’t be too fussy for outdoor dining. There are also plenty of filling make-ahead salad recipes that you can bring in Tupperware or individual mason jars like potato salad, crunchy cabbage slaw, quinoa and sugar snap peas, barley with parsley or couscous. If you are the type of person who feels like a meal is incomplete without a sweet finale, you should consider baking a batch of portable desserts like crisp cookies, hand pies, lemon bars, brownies or turnovers.

When you do some planning ahead of time, your clothes won’t get dirty, your food won’t get soggy and you won’t need to go back home to get forgotten items. Your act of foresight will make sure that you and your family have a delightful and delicious picnic under the sunshine.