5 Easy Planning Tips for Your Family Picnic

Summer is the perfect time to plan a family picnic. With the longer days and warmer weather, it’s a great opportunity to get outside and let the kids run around while you enjoy some family fun.

Whether it’s in your backyard or at a local park, the community pool, a beach, or a lake, you’ll be creating memories that can last a lifetime.

Make planning your picnic easy peasy when you follow our five tips and use our family picnic checklist.

1. Prepare food ahead of time.

When you go on a picnic, you want to be able to enjoy, not slave over making or assembling the food. It’s best to keep things simple and bring easy family favorites. For example, if you’re going to have sandwiches, either make them ahead of time or slice everything up beforehand, so it’s a simple process to make them there.

2. Pack nonperishable items the day before.

You’ll have enough on your mind the day of the picnic, packing the food and making sure everyone is ready to go. Gather what you can on the day or days before. You don’t want to end up at the beach without towels or sunscreen. This is where our family picnic checklist will come in handy.

3. Plan how you’re going to carry everything.

Carrying a cooler, all the picnic gear, and potentially kids is not the way to start or end a picnic. Make it easy on yourself by having a plan. Will each member of the family carry something appropriate for their size? Will you bring along a wagon to make transporting everything a breeze? Or will you put some things in a stroller and have the rest in a backpack?

4. Have everyone help.

Give everyone in the family a job to help set up the picnic and help clean it up. When everyone has a job, things will go much quicker, and everyone will feel ownership of the outing. Even young kids can help by lending a hand when it comes time to spread out the blanket or pass napkins out.

5. Have a surprise treat at the end.

Whether you pack cookies or cupcakes or stop at an ice cream shop on the way home, having a treat at the end will be a welcome surprise and a great way to end your family picnic. If your family isn’t big on sweets, bring along a favorite game or a new one. Throwing a frisbee or learning to fly a kite can be a great way to end your family outing. Or if you have younger kids, bring along a favorite book and end with some family snuggling during story time.