Picnic Fun - Tips and Recipes

Send Summer Off with a Bang

Tips for Planning a Memorable Labor Day Party

Labor Day began in the year 1880 as a way to honor workers for their efforts.  In the years since, tradition has taken that idea and blended it with the transition between summer and fall to make the holiday what we know it as today.  Take this Labor Day weekend as a chance to throw a relaxing bash that allows your guests to really unwind.  As the host, you shouldn’t work too hard either – make it easy on yourself with these simple party planning tips.

No-stress food prep: Let the bounty of the summer harvest do the work for you.  Keep it fresh and simple with delicious cold salads made with juicy tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, corn, zucchini, watermelon and peaches.  Ask guests to bring side dishes, buns, and soft drinks.  Of course, the grill always takes center stage.  Cook up some hot dogs, burgers, barbecued chicken or fish.

Comfortable seating: Hammocks, portable sports chairs and lounge furniture with comfy cushions are ideal.  You could even bring your couch out onto your deck or patio and cover it with a colorful tapestry to liven it up and protect against spills.  Make sure there are enough spots for at least half of your guests to be seated at a time.

Easygoing vibe: Choose décor that melds the bright, vivid shades of summer with the golden hues of fall.  Yellow, orange and red are great colors to use.  Bright white tablecloths help colorful buffets and decorations pop.  Keep the mood casual with simple décor such as bowls of ripe lemons and peaches and galvanized buckets filled with daisies or sunflowers.  As the sun sets, tiki torches and fire pits will keep the party going and give it a relaxed atmosphere.

Cool drinks: Think Bellinis, margaritas, daiquiris, sweet tea, punch and other fruity summertime beverages.  Frozen or iced drinks that incorporate seasonal fruits and other flavors will be a hit.  You should also have some water, soft drinks and beer (unless you’d prefer to go the non-alcoholic route).

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Fun & Creative Summer Date Ideas

Summer’s almost over – only a month left, and many people feel that it unofficially ends with Labor Day weekend.  Take advantage of everything this season has to offer by going on fun, creative summer dates set in the great outdoors.  Whether you live in a large urban city or the countryside, one of these date ideas could be just the thing for a memorable night out.

Go on a city gallery walk.  Many cities have organized walks that local art galleries and shops participate in, generally held on Friday or Saturday night once or twice a month during the summer.  The art galleries often hold openings for new exhibits on these nights, offering complimentary wine and hors d’oeuvres.  It’s a great chance to get to know your city a little better, enjoy some beautiful art and meet new people.

Pick fruit at a local farm.  Strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, cherries, peaches – there are all kinds of different fruits you can choose from, depending on what grows in your area.  Many farms will give you a basket or bucket and allow you to stroll around their grounds, leisurely picking fruit and enjoying the sights.  Bring a picnic basket and some snacks and beverages along with disposable wipes to clean sticky hands. 

Take a scenic cruise around a lake, river or the ocean on a rented boat.  Many major bodies of water have companies along the shore that offer pontoons, paddle boats, canoes and sailboats that you can rent hourly or by the day.  If you don’t have prior boating experience, some boats are easy to learn, or you can have a captain come along.  Pack a picnic lunch and enjoy the scenery, fish, and go swimming.

Scope out the goods at a local flea market on a laid-back Saturday or Sunday afternoon.  This casual date is the perfect time to score some LPs, vintage clothing, kitschy knick-knacks and antique finds.  It’s fun to go through the bins at each table, never knowing what you’ll discover.

Enjoy a nighttime picnic with a map of the constellations, a comfy picnic blanket and some wine and cheese.  Choose a good lookout point like the beach, an overlook on a scenic road or a rooftop.  This informal yet impressive date makes an ideal setting for ultra-romantic and memorable proposals.  Take it up a notch with an elegant wine and cheese picnic set that includes real wine glasses, a cheese board and cloth napkins.

Escape Your Normal Routine with a Summer Girls’ Day Out

A day out with your girlfriends can be exhilarating, rejuvenating, and just what you needed.  Take some time to catch up, laugh, pamper yourselves and relive good memories from the past.  Plan a fun day that takes advantage of summer weather with these girls’ day out ideas.

Spend a relaxing afternoon lounging on the beach with guilty-pleasure gossip rags, comfy lounge chairs and a cooler full of fruity drinks and snacks.  Naturally, the beach is most women’s number one choice for an all-girl get-together.  You get to work on your tan, sip summery refreshments and cool off in the crashing waves.  Pack a big, bright, colorful cooler like the Metro Basket (pictured left) full of cool treats like fruit salad, hummus and veggie sticks and avocado sandwiches.  Don’t forget a large, waterproof picnic mat for everyone to sit on (check out the new designs ‘Very Berry’, ‘Sea Breeze’, ‘Salsa Stripe’ and ‘All Spice’!).

Have an outdoor adventure – go canoeing, hiking, or charter a boat to take you on a 3 to 6 hour ocean or lake getaway.  You can have a blast enjoying nature, getting some exercise and stopping to enjoy a hard-earned picnic lunch.  Use a rugged, durable picnic backpack to tote all the necessities along, from food and beverages to swimsuits and towels.  Many chartered boat trips include a catered lunch; splitting the cost between a group of friends makes it a great, inexpensive option.

Spend the day shopping and dining in the closest big city with a chic shopping district.  Having friends along always makes shopping more enjoyable, especially when you’re trying on uber-expensive designer clothes just for fun.  Take a break halfway through the day to recharge and have some lunch at a sidewalk café. 

Have a picnic among the vineyards at a nearby winery.  You can go all stereotypical Hollywood-style girls’ day out and rent a convertible for the day, cruising down back roads and enjoying the journey as much as the destination.  Many wineries offer picnic lunches that allow you to relax on their grounds and enjoy the scenery after an afternoon of wine tasting.  You could also bring along your own chic picnic set to enjoy a bottle of the company’s finest along with some bread, cheese and fruit.  (Bordeaux Cottage Garden Picnic Basket for 4 pictured left).

See more stylish, feminine picnic and outdoor living items at PicnicFun.com.

Top 5 Picnic Baskets for Summer

PicnicFun.com has tons of new picnic baskets, just in time for the height of summer.  If you’ve been looking for a great picnic set for your family, now’s a great time to get one with this huge variety of styles and colors.  We’ve gathered five of our favorites, and it was really hard to choose!  Every year, the new picnic sets that come out get more elegant, sophisticated and practical.  Check out the rest in the picnic baskets category at PicnicFun.com.

Brittany Cottage Garden Casual Basket for 2 – This is the kind of picnic basket that makes you think of breezy afternoons meandering down a wooded path on a tandem bicycle.  It’s casual, fun, and fresh.  This hand woven basket features hand-stitched linens, plates adorned with hand-painted roses, tumblers, cutlery, a wine opener, a rose-colored insulated food cooler, and a cruet set.  Also available in a set for 4.

Bistro Picnic Set for 4 – Stylish and sophisticated, the Bistro set is made for people who take their wine drinking seriously.  Have some crudités, grapes, brie and a baguette on a city rooftop with your closest friends and two bottles of wine.  Inside you’ll find four each of ceramic plates, wine glasses, knives, forks, spoons and cloth napkins along with a tablecloth and salt & pepper set.

Weekender Shoulder Strap Picnic Basket for 4 – This sleek, austere set is sure to impress even the most elitist of picnickers.  With details reminiscent of turn of the 20th century British colonial style, the simplicity of design makes it seem fresh and modern.  Dark leather and brass accents complement the spare, muted hues of gray and tan.  The set includes enough wine glasses, ceramic plates, cutlery and napkins for four along with a wine opener, wooden cheese board, cheese knife, insulated wine pouch and salt & pepper shaker set.

Couture Willow Picnic Basket for 2 – This beautiful, uniquely shaped picnic basket is woven from natural willow and sea grass.  The cotton linen lining has a colorful red striped pattern, also found on the cloth napkins, tablecloth and insulated wine pouch.  It comes complete with everything you need for a sunny picnic for two including two plates, two wine glasses, flatware, a wine opener, wooden cheese board and portable salt and pepper shakers.

Coastal Wine & Cheese Basket for 4 – Perfect for the beach, park, or anywhere you’d like an al fresco meal for four, this picnic basket has classic style with a twist.  It has a traditional picnic basket shape and your choice of blue or red gingham lining, with a double-lidded top.  Ideal for picnic purists who like to treat friends and family to a meal with all the picnic trimmings, it comes with everything you need for four people.

10 Fun Picnic Games for Kids

Having a picnic lunch at the park, the beach or your yard is a great chance for kids to get together and get some exercise and fresh air while playing fun outdoor games.  Here’s a collection of games that will keep kids entertained for hours with a minimum of equipment.  Since many of the games involve water, it’s a great way for them to cool off, too.  Play the games before everyone eats, and after lunch, the younger kids will be ready to zonk out for a great afternoon nap!

Scavenger Hunt

You’ll need:  Pad of paper, pencil

Have a fun, nature-themed scavenger hunt.  This game should be held in an area where the kids can safely venture off looking for items on the list, and it’s best to have several adults around to supervise.  Make a list of things that can be found in the area (rocks, leaves, sticks, something purple, something yellow, etc.) and give a copy of the list to each child.  The child (or team, if there are a lot of kids present) to find all the items on the list first wins.

Hot Potato

You’ll need: A potato or other object to toss and a radio.

Have the kids sit in a circle.  Turn on the radio and have the kids toss the potato to the person next to them, going around the circle.  The person holding the potato when you turn off the music is out.  Continue until there’s only one child left in the circle.

Balloon Toss

You’ll need: Balloons and a source of water

Have the kids pair up into groups of two and stand opposite each other.  Each pair should be equal distance apart.  Give each pair a water balloon and have them toss it to each other.  After each toss, everyone takes one step back.  Keep tossing and stepping back until only one team is left with an intact water balloon.

Jump Rope Race

You’ll need:  3 jump ropes

This game pits two kids against each other at a time.  Divide the kids into equal teams and line them up in their teams behind a starting point.  Lay one jump rope in the grass at one end of the yard.  Have one kid from each team jump rope across the grass to the finish line and back.  When they reach the starting point, the next player goes and so forth.  The team that finishes first wins.

Water War

You’ll need:  Sprinkler, garden hose or rope

Place a sprinkler in a grassy area of your yard and turn it on.  The kids will be divided into two teams, with each team holding one end of the hose or rope.  The middle of the rope or hose should be directly over the sprinkler.  When you yell “Go!” each team tries to pull the other into the sprinkler.

Over/Under Game

You’ll need: Bucket of water, sponge, pitcher

This game has no winners or losers, it’s just about getting wet and having fun.  Have the kids stand in a single-file line.  The person at the front of the line dips a sponge into a bucket of water to get it as wet as they can, and passes it over their head to the next person.  That person tosses it under the legs, and so on.  The goal is to keep as much water in the sponge as possible.  The child at the back of the line squeezes the sponge out into a pitcher to see how much water they kept in the sponge.

Slippery Beach Ball

You’ll need: Beach ball, baby oil or shortening

This game is a bit messy!  It can also be played in a pool.  Rub baby oil or vegetable shortening on the beach ball and have the kids stand in a circle, or spread out within a boundary.  Have them toss the ball back and forth to each other; if a kid drops the ball, he’s out.  The last remaining child wins.

Soda Bottle Bowling

You’ll need:  Empty 2-liter soda bottles and a few tennis balls

Line up the empty 2-liter bottles in the middle of a court (if at the park) or driveway (carefully supervised by adults).  Divide the kids into two teams and have them stand on either side of the bottles, an equal distance away.  Each team will take turns rolling the tennis balls into the bottles, trying to knock as many down as possible, with an adult timing how long it takes to knock them all down.  Each child on the team gets a chance to try, and once they’ve all had their turn, the adult averages up the scores.  The team that knocked them all down fastest wins.

Egg and Spoon Race

You’ll need:  2 baskets of eggs, 2 empty baskets and 2 spoons

Divide the kids into two teams.  Have each team stand in a single file line behind a basket of eggs.  Set a ‘finish line’ where 2 empty baskets are placed opposite each team.  The first child in line places an egg on a spoon and holds it with one hand, the other hand behind his back.  On “Go!” he carries the egg to the basket at the finish line and returns, handing the spoon to the next person in line.  The team with the most unbroken eggs in their basket at the end of the game wins.

Blob Tag

This game is great for mixed-age groups to play.  The youngest child present gets to be ‘it’.  When he or she tags someone, they join hands and tag another.  Keep going until the whole group is holding hands.  The littlest ones may not understand the rules, but they’ll love chasing their friends.

For picnic baskets, picnic blankets, radios, coolers and other picnic supplies, check out PicnicFun.com.