5 Tips to Have the Best Family Picnic Ever
There’s no better way to dine than with the sun shining on your skin, the wind gently blowing in your hair and with nature all around you. You could be sitting in a meadow, by a lake or even in a little parklet smack dab in a bustling city — a picnic just rules. No joke, enjoying a meal in the great outdoors is one of the great pleasures in life, and one that you should, nay, NEED to share with your kids. It doesn’t have to be a big production. Sometimes the most simple picnics are the best, but you should PLUS IT when you can. We have five tips on how to have the best picnic ever with the kids.
1. Location, location, location: Seriously, this is important, and it varies for the ages of your kids. For little ones, it’s a good idea to picnic adjacent to a playground (and a potty). Playtime in the park will be their reward if they sit patiently during your picnic (and eat all their veggies). If you have older kids, then find a place with oodles of Pokestops nearby, but make sure to limit their Pokemon hunting; again, that will be a reward for AFTER the family bonding and dining!
2. Get rad gear. If picnicking will be part of your family lifestyle (and it totes should be), ya gotta invest in some sweet gear. It won’t just make the process of going on a picnic easier — some of the items are so cute that it’ll inspire you to eat outdoors more often. For some inspo, check out these ways to decorate your summer picnic, or these amazingly stylish picnic baskets. While you could pull out all the Martha Stewart stops, as long as you have a blanket and a picnic basket, you’ll be set (although one of these utility wagons is super handy, especially with kids in tow).
3. Bring delish eats. The picnic is really merely an excuse to chow down on scrumptious foods. Make a few whimsical picnic dishes for your feast, like finger sandwiches in the shape of flowers, melon slices on popsicle sticks or fruit kabobs. If your kids are old enough, have them help make the foods as well.
4. Create a themed picnic. Make the picnic a more magical event for your wide-eyed little ones and create a theme around the outing. A teddy bear picnic would be a sweet one to pull off. Bring your child’s teddy bears to join the party, have various honey-flavored treats and then read the book We’re Going on a Bear Hunt (and if you’d like, hide little bears around and have your kids search for them). Other themes to try: Alice in Wonderland, bugs or an enchanted fairy picnic.
5. Let the games begin. Have a game or two in your arsenal of fun for your kiddies. A few easy and delightful options are arranging a scavenger hunt (find a bug, find five different kinds of trees, locate three things that start with the letter A), bring your own DIY cornhole game or make one of these DIY outdoor games (we have a list of 50 to choose from — yes, 50!).
What’s your favorite thing to bring to a picnic? Tweet us by mentioning @BritandCo.
(Photos via Getty)
