Picnics are so underappreciated as a daytime activity. Picnic ideas are cute, low maintenance and the perfect date with friends or a partner. However, to really make the most of it you have to set the atmosphere and plan the day carefully. This page will be a guide to setting up the perfect cutesy picnic.

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1. Choose the right blanket

The perfect blanket has to be three things: cute, comfortable, and practical. To do this, I’d recommend using a decorative, low-snag material. This makes it easy to wipe any grass off the blanket once your finished, whilst still being soft to sit on and pretty. For the design, I would recommend a gingham design in bright colours like this one as it provides the sweetest backdrop for the rest of your picnic ideas.

Make sure you choose a blanket large enough for however many people you are inviting to your picnic, as well as all the food you intend to lay out. If you already have a blanket which is too small, you could instead bring outdoor pillows to place around the blanket and sit on.

2. Pick the perfect picnic basket

The best picnic baskets are one which contain their own utensils and placeholders. This helps you keep everything in place whilst carrying the basket to the area. Another thing to consider is the size. For larger picnic ideas, you may wish to bring one normal picnic basket and another, extra wicker basket for packing more food. If you’re packing fresh food and worried about the uncovered basket, you can always cover it with the picnic blanket. Another option is to cover it was a scarf as a quick fix.

3. Bring plates to display the food

With a picnic, presentation is half the fun. To make the food look better, and avoid putting it directly onto the blanket, bring some serving plates . These make the food seem much more appealing and thought out, even if it’s just finger food. Also, if this is a romantic date or something of an anniversary, you could bring a cake stand and a cake to make your celebration feel that much more special.

4. Set the picnic mood with candles and scents

Candles create an intimate atmosphere to a picnic, and offer light if you choose to stay after sunset. This is perfect as it serves both as decoration and a cute way to make sure the day keeps going if you’re not quite ready to leave. You don’t need many, but I cold recommend around three so that you can place them across the blanket.

Scents are less for you and more to attempt to keep flies and other insects away from the food. Smells like lavender and Eucalyptus can help keep flies away. So you could use candles with that scent such as this or just add drops of essential oils to different points of the picnic blanket. This should hopefully repel the flies enough for you to enjoy your food in peace.

5. Bring flowers for decoration

Flowers offer the perfect decoration for a picnic, making it feel slightly more put together than just laying out food. Flowers can be used both for friendly hang-outs and romantic dates.

For platonic hangouts, you can use bright and cutesy flowers like sunflowers, marigolds, and lilacs. These will brighten up the space and add a cutesy element to the whole picnic. Even better, marigolds can repel pests keeping your food safer. For a more romantic atmosphere, you can add more traditional love flowers such as roses, carnations or Peonies. These are gorgeously sweet and will as a sweet touch to a date, you could even surprise your partner with them before the date and pack the vase secretly.

Speaking of vases, you need to be cautious about the vase you pack. The ground may be uneven and a thin, tall vase is more prone to falling over and spilling onto the food. So, I would suggest using a short and wide vase such as this one. Also, make sure your bouquet isn’t too heavy, again in regards to the uneven ground. For water, I would recommend packing a bottle of water so that you can add it to the vase at the location. You won’t need lots of water as it only needs to last the evening, although water does serve as a good weight to keep the vase secure.

6. Pack the right picnic foods

Certain foods are amazing for picnics whilst others just… aren’t. The beauty of a picnic date is that it is supposed to be simple and easy; quick to set up and quick to pack up. To stick to this plan, I recommend some specific types of food.

a. Crackers

Crackers brilliant due to their light texture and minimal mess. They are good for grazing throughout the day which makes the perfect for picnic, which focus less on have a single meal and more on the experience of picking what you want. You can then pair these with different toppings, like cheese or honey, for taste. However, honey could potentially create a mess which is troublesome when you can’t wash your hands.

b. Fruit

Fruit is also a very good choice of food, as the sweet and fresh flavour are wonderful for an outdoor outing. However, this only applies to certain fruits as others are messier than their worth. I’d recommend fruits like grapes as they don’t have any left overs, Tangerines are also a good option for this. You can also choose fruits which do have leftovers but are less juicy like apples, bananas, and strawberries. Whilst some fruits like peaches are perfect flavours for picnics, they’re simply too mess. If your favourite fruit is too messy for a picnic you could compromise by bringing it in fruit juice form.

Perhaps, if you could even try your hand a growing your own strawberries using this guide.

c. Pastries

Pastries are perfect sweet desserts for a picnic, they’re kind of messy but easy to clean and super delicious. Some pastries, croissants have a delicate yet sweet flavour which matches the atmosphere (Afterall, vibe is formed through senses, including taste). They’re also quite light making them perfect for the grazing nature of picnics.

d. Loaded Pasta or Salads

These are perfect for forming the bulk of your food, since the others are only finger foods and won’t leave you feeling full. To get the most out of your pasta, add diced up salad vegetables like red peppers, cucumber and spring onions. You can also add a form of meat to this, perhaps a deli meat like ham or tuna for some healthy protein.

7. Choose the location and date of your picnic carefully.

The allure of a picnic is the ability to enjoy the beauty of nature whilst enjoying the comforts of a meal. Because of this, scenery and comfort are paramount when considering where to host your picnic. I personally would recommend castle grounds, if you have one near you. Their grounds are typically free to enter and are often well maintained with beautiful flower displays. The only downside is that these often have closing times so you may not be able to stay for the sunset.

For the date, you want to consider two things; the crowds and the weather. The ideal weather would be warm and sunny with no winds, but if that’s not possible I’d say the next best thing is sunny with no wind. You can always layer up against the cold and nothing is more annoying than rescuing your picnic basket from the wind’s clutches.

I hope you enjoyed this guide, if you end up using it as inspiration for your own picnic please let me know how it goes. Thank you for reading!