Spring is such a fantastic season. Not only do the flowers bloom and the grass turns bright green but the weather is simply gorgeous, not too hot and never too cold. This is when we all come out of our hibernation and start planning outdoor activities. This is the perfect excuse to get some friends together on a sunny afternoon and have a picnic.
Before you gather all your friends together, there are a few things we need to go over so you will be well prepared for this fun and joyous day. Here is a list to help you start planning the best spring picnic.
- Date: Obviously you are going to want to pick a day when all your guests can come and join in on the fun. Also make sure to check ahead on the weather forecast. I wouldn’t try and check too far in advance, the meteorologists can try to predict the weather, but there\'s never a 100% guarantee. Just keep your eyes open for any changes.
- Time: You want to schedule the picnic around having enough daylight for food and activities. If you have it on a Saturday you can pick whatever time you want for the picnic to start. A lot of people don’t have to wake up early on Sunday for work so none of your guests will feel pressed for time. However, if you decide to have the picnic on Sunday I suggest thinking about having your guests meet you around 11ish, that way you will have the whole afternoon to eat and enjoy the activities outside.
- Location: Nothing beats a great picnic in a big fantastic park. Usually parks have a special shaded picnic area for the public. If you have a park in mind, go check it out before you start telling your friends to go there. Also try and find a park with a lot of grass area so once everyone is done eating you can play some fun outdoor activities. If there will be children coming along, having a big playground would be key.
- Invitations: A simple phone call would work for this type of party but if you decide to send out invitations check out some of these links below. Don’t go out and buy invitations when you can just spend a few minutes on the computer and pick out some free printable cards to send out.
American Greetings.com
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Evite
MyCardMaker.com
NetFunCards.com
- More than just the picnic basket
Though food is what’s important at a picnic, you can also plan on bringing games and planning activities as well to keep your guests happy and having fun on this gorgeous spring day. Here are a few items you should think about packing and bringing with you to the park:
Deck of cards and poker chips
Football
Whiffle ball and bat along with some plastic baseball plates
Frisbee
Bocce Ball Set
You should also have a list made ahead of time with what supplies you need so you forget anything. You don’t want to get to the picnic site and realize your forgot something. Here is a starter list for you:
Sun Screen
Garbage Bags
Plastic Utensils (bring extra) and paper or plastic plates
Paper Napkins
Paper Towels
Corkscrew (if drinking wine)
Bottle Opener (for the beer drinkers)
Insect Repellent
Hand Sanitizer
Cooler for beverages and food
Now for the important part, the food. Since most parks don’t supply you will a grill, assume you don’t have one for this day. And considering you will be having a pretty decent amount of people coming, you will want to be able to socialize rather than cook all day. The easiest thing you can do is buy an assortment of deli meats along with French bread rolls and lots of condiments. Not only is this easy to pack but gives you more time to prepare and make some of the side dishes.
Side dishes:
Dips:
Spinach Dip
Fruit Dip
7-Layer Ranch Dip
Vegetable Dip
Layered Mexicali Dip
Leaf Salads:
Tomato, Mozzarella & Basil Vinaigrette
Summer Slaw Salad
Spring Salad
Caesar Salad
Fruit Dishes:
Heavenly 24-Hour Salad
Fresh Fruit Salad
Sunny Summer Salad
Potato Salads:
French Potato Salad
Tropical Sweet Potato Salad
American Classic Potato Salad
Red and White Potato Salad
Pasta Salads:
Pasta Salad and Fruit Salad
Ranch Pasta Salad
Italian Pasta Salad
When it comes to beverages, what you need to decide first off is whether you are supplying all the beverages or if you are asking your guests to bring something.
Once this is decided, make sure there is enough pop (diet and regular), water, beer and wine to go around. If you are supplying the wine, you should check out this new boxed wine made by Three Thieves. Instead of lugging around bottles of wine and worrying about them breaking, this new boxed wine is awesome and it tastes fresh and fantastic.
Most importantly, right before you get to the picnic site, go to a nearby gas station and stock up on plenty of ice to keep all your beverages and food (if needed to be refrigerated) cold.
