Did you know tomorrow is National Picnic Day?

Picnics are so much fun and whether they’re at the beach, or the park or even in your own back garden they’re a fun way to spend time together as a family.

When the kids were younger, they used to have back garden and living room floor picnics as often as they could get away with and for fussy eating Master Frugal, a picnic was often the way to get him to try new foods as he’s saw picnics as a bit of an adventure.  This is a picture of a Teddy Bears picnic that we had in our back garden way back in 2011….

Now that the kids are older they’re not as keen on the back garden variety of picnics but they do still love a good picnic when we’re out and about somewhere which is great as it can save a fortune when you consider how much eating out can cost for the whole family on a day out!

To celebrate National Picnic Day, I thought I’d share some of my tips for what makes a good picnic….

1) First of all, remember that your picnic isn’t just about the food!  At the bottom of our picnic basket we have a frisbee and a small ball so the kids can play while we unpack the food and then again after we’ve eaten.  We have larger games that we take if we’re going somewhere like the beach for the day – we even have a badminton net that folds down into a teeny box when not in use so it’s great for taking out and about.

2) Another thing to mention before I get on to the food is suntan lotion, sunglasses and other outdoor essentials.  Making sure you have the important non-food stuff means you can relax without worrying that the kids are going to get burnt.

3) A good sized blanket that you can all fit on is essential because if it’s a nice enough day to have a picnic then you can guarantee you’ll struggle to get a picnic table as they’ll all be occupied.

4) Keep your food cool by freezing water bottles overnight the night before your picnic so you can pop them in the basket with the food to keep the food cool.  It also means your water won’t get warm too quickly and that when you’re done, you can just recycle the water bottles and you don’t have to carry cooler blocks around with you.

5) Pack your picnic basket upside down, so the items you need first are the last thing you pack.

6) Make your picnic food interesting!

The lovely guys from Tesco sent me a picnic hamper filled with lovely goodies to help us have a picnic of our own last weekend and it was filled with some of their amazing new deli range which is inspired by the flavours of the Mediterranean.  The range is on offer so you can buy 3 packs for £5 so for £10 you could get six packs which is perfect

(Feta and Spinach pastries, sweetcorn fritters, mozzarella balls with slow roasted tomatoes, chicken and chorizo pastries, olives with roasted red pepper in smoky chipotle dressing, feta stuffed peppers and some delicious alioli dip)

We found six packs was perfect for us to have a taster from each pack before moving on to the sweet stuff!  It’s all delicious and definitely made for a posher picnic than we’re used to at a great price!

6)  Paper or plastic plates and plastic cutlery are definitely the way to go when it comes to picnics because you don’t want to be carrying heavy things around with you all day.  We have some plastic cutlery and plastic plates that we keep in our picnic basket and they’re so lightweight and handy to have.

7) Avoid cake and sticky food because (a) it probably won’t travel well and will end up a squishy mess when you come to unpack your picnic and (b) it will more than likely be super messy to eat.  Which brings me to number 8….

8) Don’t forget to take baby wipes so you can clean everyone up when the inevitable mess is made.

9) A picnic is fun so don’t make everyone eat the savoury food first before moving on to pudding.  Just spread it all out and let everyone eat it in any order they want to.

10) Don’t forget to take a bag to put your rubbish in to make clean up easier afterwards.

Happy picnic!

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Photo by Bonnie Kittle on Unsplash

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