Eating outside is better and everybody knows it, right up until the sandwiches go soggy and there is nowhere to put the cheese. These 13 DIY picnic ideas fix the logistics so the good part can happen. There is a blanket that folds into its own tote with a shoulder strap and a built in pillow, mason jar lids drilled for straws, a carrier made from three thrift store belts, bowl covers that keep the wasps out of the potato salad, and layered mason jar meals that travel upright in a car boot without turning into salad soup. Some are sewing. Some are packing tricks. All of them take less time than the drive to the park.
1. Wrap Sandwiches In Parchment
Parchment and baker’s twine instead of a plastic bag, and the difference is not only that it looks better on a board. Parchment breathes, so a crusty baguette stays crusty instead of sweating itself soft inside plastic on a warm drive. Wrap like a parcel with the seam underneath and tie once around each way, and the twine gives you something to hold while eating. It also solves the question of which sandwich is which, because a label tucked under the twine stays put.
Get the full tutorial at A Night Owl Blog.
2. DIY Mason Jar Straw Lids
Rest a mason jar lid on a scrap of wood, drill slowly through it with a three eighths inch bit, and trim any sharp burr with metal snips. A five sixteenths rubber grommet pushes into the hole and gives the straw something to sit in that is not a raw metal edge. The hole does not have to be centered; offset looks better. The grommets are not food grade, but they sit above the liquid line and never touch the drink, which is worth knowing before anyone asks.
Get the full tutorial at That's What Che Said.
3. DIY Bowl Covers
Fabric covers that stretch over a bowl and stay put, which is the difference between a bowl of potato salad and a bowl of potato salad with a wasp in it. They are a small sewing project with an outsized return on an outdoor table, and they replace the roll of plastic wrap entirely. Make them in a couple of sizes rather than one, because the bowl you reach for at a picnic is never the one you measured. Cotton washes hot and comes out flat.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
4. DIY Picnic Boxed Lunch
A box per person, which solves serving and portioning at once and means nobody is rummaging through a communal basket with sandy hands. Inside: a sandwich tied with baker’s twine, chips in a small favor bag, seasonal fruit, a small reusable drink bottle and a two-pack dessert. The tip worth keeping is putting a napkin in the bottom of each box, which stops the light items blowing out the moment the box is opened outdoors. Assemble ahead and refrigerate.
Get the full tutorial at Fantabulosity.
5. All In One Picnic Blanket Tote
The top is a twin XL blanket trimmed to seventy three by sixty three inches, the bottom is a heavy duty vinyl shower curtain trimmed to sixty by seventy one, and the scrap left over from the blanket becomes an eighteen by sixteen inch pillow piece hemmed down to sixteen by fifteen. A forty five inch shoulder strap sews onto the pillow’s sides. The whole blanket folds into that attached pocket and carries as a tote. Avoid the shower curtains with suction cups; they show through in the finished blanket.
Get the full tutorial at Craft Buds.
6. Leather Blanket Carrier DIY For Picnic
Three leather belts, real or faux, from a thrift shop or a dollar store. One is cut to about eighteen inches with the buckle removed. Two more get loops stitched into them, large enough for the other belts to pass through, using a leather hole punch and thick embroidery floss, with compound glue behind the stitches to hold them. The third belt buckles through the loops and closes around a rolled blanket. It carries a picnic blanket in summer and hangs on a hook the rest of the year.
Get the full tutorial at Craftberry Bush.
7. DIY Picnic Necklaces For Kids
Nylon cord with a knot in one end, and a snack dispenser filled with Fruit Loops, alphabet pretzels and gummy Life Savers to thread onto it. Anything with a hole in the middle works, which opens it up to whatever is already in the cupboard. It is a wearable snack and, more usefully, a twenty minute activity at a picnic where the adults want to sit still. Mix sweet and salty so the whole necklace does not get eaten in the first two minutes.
Get the full tutorial at Design Improvised.
8. Mason Jar Meals
Wide mouth sixteen ounce jars for meals, eight ounce for drinks, and the order is the whole technique. Dressing and heavy items go in first at the bottom, then anything that can stand to marinate like chickpeas and carrots, then the protein, then a barrier layer of cucumber or tomato slices, and crisp lettuce right at the top where nothing can reach it. Leave room at the top to shake. Mason jars are heavy and breakable, so these are for a car boot rather than a hike.
Get the full tutorial at The Decorated Cookie.
9. Mini Cute Picnic Baskets
Small woven baskets lined with paper and topped with floral flags, used as individual servings and as favors at the same time. The trick on a table like this is to let the wood and the jute stay plain and put all the color into the flowers and the paper, which is what keeps a picnic table from looking like a birthday party. Berry baskets do the same job for less, and they hold fruit, a pastry or a whole small dessert equally well.
Get the full tutorial at Kara's Party Ideas.
10. Picnic Summer Cheeseboard
A board laid straight on the grass with soft and hard cheeses, grilled peaches, prosciutto, olives, berries, honey and grilled bread. A cheeseboard is the easiest impressive picnic food because there is no cooking and no reheating, and the only real risk is heat. Keep the soft cheeses in the cooler until the moment the board goes down, cut hard cheeses at home so nobody needs a knife on a blanket, and put anything wet in small jars rather than loose on the wood.
Get the full tutorial at Half Baked Harvest.
11. Pack A Healthy Picnic
Cucumber sandwiches with hummus and cheese, boiled eggs with salt and pepper, California rolls, and Greek yogurt parfaits layered with blueberries, strawberries, granola and coconut shavings. The parfait is the one that needs thought, because granola goes soft the moment it meets yogurt, so it travels in a separate bag and goes on at the blanket. Everything else on the list travels perfectly well, which is the actual test of picnic food rather than how good it looks on a counter.
Get the full tutorial at How Does She.
12. Easy Picnic Quilt
A simple patchwork quilt in mismatched florals, made to be spread on grass rather than to be admired on a bed, which changes every decision in it. Back it with something heavy, use a thick batting so it is comfortable over uneven ground, and quilt it densely enough that the layers cannot shift when it is dragged around and shaken out. Tie it with yarn instead of quilting if you want it faster. A picnic quilt should be washable and a little bit ugly on purpose.
Get the full tutorial at The Inspiration Board.
13. Pack A Picnic For Wine Tasting
Three to four ounces of cheese per person across an aged one, a soft one and a firm one, with bread or crackers pre sliced at home, olives and cornichons, prosciutto or salami, marcona almonds, and jam or fig compote, which is the thing people always go back to. A wooden board, cloth napkins, cheese knives and a corkscrew are the gear. Pack a cooler with ice packs if it is hot, because heat pushes corks. And check the winery’s policy on outside food before you go.
Get the full tutorial at Plating and Pairings.
