5 Tips For Hosting An Easy and Beautiful Summer Picnic

Happy official first day of summer! What better way to welcome the new season than with a summer picnic? I love spending as much time outdoors during the summer months as possible, to take advantage of the beautiful weather and scenery! So today I’m sharing with you my five tips for hosting a summer picnic!

Below you’ll find links to my favorite Juliska outdoor dinnerware, my fun and easy picnic menu, and tips for a perfect picnic. Enjoy, and happy summer!

1. Plan an easy and delicious menu!

I love picnics where all the items can be assembled before we leave the house, and are ready to go when we get to the park!

Last year when we visited Bordeaux, we had wonderful picnics with delicious and simple sandwiches. I made these with sliced baguette, salted butter, swiss cheese, turkey and fresh sliced tomato. So easy! I wrapped each sandwich in parchment paper, tied the paper with some twine, and tucked a stem of fresh lavender under the tied twine. Then I served them on this beautiful handled tray.

For our cocktail, I chose to serve my Fresh Strawberry Bellinis. It was so easy to mix ahead of time in the acrylic pitcher, and then everyone could serve themselves in their acrylic champagne flutes!

As you might imagine, dessert is one of my favorite parts of the meal! Since it was a beautiful summer day, I decided to serve Homemade Strawberry Shortcakes! This Sectioned Server was so perfect for it! I put divided the strawberries and shortcakes into the outside compartments, and served the whipped cream in the middle.

The Picnic Menu: 

• Fresh Strawberry Bellinis
• Homemade Strawberry Shortcakes
• French inspired sandwiches: Baguette, salted butter, meat and cheese
• Summer Salads

2. Invest In The Dishware!

In our house have been focusing on reducing waste and choosing eco-friendly options. That’s why I was so excited to see that Julisak has an entire line of beautiful melamine plates and serveware, and acrylic drinkware! Using real dishes elevates the picnic, making it feel so much more special for everyone attending. As they say, nobody lingers over a paper plate! And it’s not only nicer for your guests, it’s also nicer for the environment and your wallet since you only have to buy it once!

I instantly fell in love with the Al Fresco Collection from Juliska. All the items are perfectly suited for outdoor entertaining, and they’re all so beautiful! For this picnic, I used these gorgeous dinner plates, these salad plates, these tumblers, these champagne flutes, this melamine handled tray for the sandwiches, this Sectioned Server for the Homemade Strawberry Shortcakes, and this acrylic pitcher for the Strawberry Bellinis!

3. Have A Clean Up Plan

Since we’re using real dishes, we’ve got to get them home somehow! I like to use a few big cardboard boxes. (We usually have lots from our trips to Costco.) I designate one box as the “dirty” box, and all the dishes go in there so they can be easily brought right to the sink when we get home. Then the linens and clean dishes can go in another box and not get dirty! Super simple, right?

4. Pick A Good Spot

When I was looking for a spot for our picnic, I wanted to find a picnic table so that I didn’t have to worry about bringing my own table in. If you’re not worried about a table, just bring a nice big blanket and set up a casual spot on the grass! Just remember some cutting boards or other flat surfaces for people to set drinks on. My other requirement was a spot in the shade so that everyone was comfortable. The sun gets hot pretty fast, and with my Northern European skin I’m a bit of a wimp haha! I loved looking out at the pond from the table, it was so pretty and our table was even visited by a little family of ducks!

5. Don’t Forget To Plan For The Weather

You might have caught my wind fiasco on Instagram stories this past week! I didn’t realize that it was such a windy day when I set out for this picnic, and forget to grab tablecloth weights. Oops! It all worked out just fine, but I wished I had taken a quick look at the forecast. So learn from my mistake! It’s also great to know if you need a lightweight jacket or to pack the sunscreen!

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