Perking up your picnics with more pizzazz

By Stacie Gaetz

When someone brings up the idea of having a picnic, it might conjure up ideas of soggy sandwiches, dry crackers and warm lemonade.

But it doesn’t have to – there are plenty of ways to make eating in the great outdoors exciting.

If you do it right, your kids might even start asking for picnics and coming up with ideas on how to make them fun all by themselves.

Pick Your Spot

They say location is everything and that can definitely be the case with a picnic.

You don’t want to choose anywhere too crowded or with too many bugs, too much sun or too shady, finding that perfect picnic place isn’t easy.

What constitutes an outstanding picnic spot will be different for everyone depending on what you like but the good news is, you have all spring/summer to find yours!

Consider a quiet local park, field, garden, treed area, beach, playground or even your backyard.

Bonus points if your spot has picnic tables or a grill but they are not required. Bring your favorite blanket or cushions or even your own makeshift picnic table (out of a pallet or storage container flipped upside down) to transform a patch of grass to a decadent dining destination.

Try exploring outside of your usual comfort zone with a trip to a spot on the outskirts of Calgary (such as Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park, near Cochrane or Big Hill Springs Provincial Park, near Airdrie).

Themes

Where you eat is certainly important but how you eat can be too. Why not choose a theme and bring a little bit of originality to the picnic party?

An obvious one is Teddy Bears Picnic, where you invite all of your kids favorite stuffed toys (we don’t insist on bears only in our home) and let them in on the fun.

Another good one is High Tea where you can make your sandwiches pint-sized and add either hot or iced tea to the menu.

You can let the food drive the theme by making it a breakfast or dessert picnic or choose to make the food look like something. Maybe you flip the concept on its head and invite the bugs to your picnic by creating cherry tomato and bocconcini caterpillars, strawberry and chocolate lady bugs and gummy worms in “dirt” (chocolate pudding and cookie crumbs).

The theme possibilities truly are endless but some that work well include rainbow, safari, jungle, cowboy and floral. Make sure to tie your food choices into the theme for extra fun.

Why not use this opportunity to pull out some leftover decorations from birthdays gone by? Feel free to bring some accessories to the “table.” Balloons, teepees (which can be as simple as hanging a sheet over a tree branch), signs, candles and centrepieces all contribute to bringing your theme to life.

What to Pack

Food is an obvious must-have but there are ways to do it right and ways that it can go horribly wrong.

If you want to kick it old school and have sandwiches on your picnic, try bringing the ingredients to make them and putting them together once your spread is all set up to avoid them going soggy.

If it is salad you are craving, put all of the ingredients in a mason jar and then add the dressing and shake it up once you are ready to eat. Mason jars are also a great, mess-free way to serve desserts like yogurt parfaits and deconstructed cheesecakes.

You can’t go wrong with cheese and charcutier. This is a great option that offers a variety of foods if you aren’t sure what the guests of your picnic party like.

Almost as important as the food in some cases is utensils to eat it with. Don’t forget to think through what your guests will need to get the grub from the basket into their mouths.

Drinks are also an important addition to any picnic. The obvious choices are iced tea or lemonade, but the possibilities are endless, including an adult beverage or two for mom and dad if the location allows for it.

Always make sure that the food is kept in a cooler with ice or ice packs if you will be outdoors long enough for any perishables to spoil.

Lastly, make your picnic less about food and more about spending time together by bringing your favorite games and having some fun. Whether you are into card games, horseshoes, frisbee, lawn bowling or any other game that can be played outside, set it up and make some memories.