When we have a picnic, we get to use all of my favorite things. Our lunch tins, glass straws, and the red and white checked cloth I used as a playhouse tablecloth when I was a little girl.
Picnics are a good way to enjoy the outdoors, spending time as a family. In many families' quick-paced lives, picnics are a fun way to savor a meal—and each other—together. Even with our own purposefully less-than-busy days, a picnic means easy clean-up. No sweeping, or wiping off a kitchen table. The birds and squirrels will get our less-than-neat little ones' crumbs.
We got ready for our picnic...quick, because the kids were so very eager to begin it. See our quick picnic packing tips at the end of this post. We grabbed what we had and put it all in a tray to bring outside. Our tray? A roasting pan we had on hand. Our oldest daughter creatively contributed a fabric flower from our play costume bin. Her cheery sunshine-yellow flower addition was lovely with our fresh golden mango chunks. I skipped to the fridge for drinks and already-made boiled eggs. Grabbed some green beans. And go! We were outside having our picnic 5 minutes later.
Those bean ends I never took the time to cut off? Our 9-year-old thought they would be perfect for a bean-end spitting contest. She had me practically convinced that since we had no watermelon for a seed-spitting contest—a classic picnic game—that bean spitting was as good as any alternative. It was perfectly fun for them. Can you almost hear their silly laughter?...
This was our first picnic of the spring (we had some inside, wishful, winter ones on a picnic blanket on the floor). Our little one's twinkly smile tells me there will be more picnics. Many more. And there was.
Want to have your own ready-in-5-minutes picnic?
For a spontaneous picnic, don't even bother building a sandwich. You need no-cook, quick, toss-in-a-lunch tin ideas. Gourmet? No, but fun grab-and-go even the kids can help throw together.
Our kids have fun with these quick finger foods Grape tomatoes, carrots, grapes, cheese sticks or slices, apples, nuts, trail mix, dried fruit, granola bars and nut butter. Spread nut butter on crackers or bread after you've laid out the picnic spread. Little picnickers will have more fun frolicking around the picnic area while you ready the food than if you did all the preparations in the kitchen.
A picnic that took only a quick 5-minutes to put together. That is the kind of picnic—the fun spontaneity—you hope the children will always remember. ©heather cahoon • wordplayhouse®
Our picnic packing picks, we use on our own picnics (Amazon Affiliate links):
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