With four kiddos it’s extremely rare for my hubs and I to take time for ourselves, but when we do, we tend not to venture too far from home. In the summer, when the older kids are home–he and I take quick rides to our local harbor side university campus and sit by the ocean for some much needed one-on-one adult conversation, or we take little walks to a nearby park and sit by the pond. With the cooler summer evenings, I can feel that fall is near. Along with fall, comes the hustle and bustle of back to school–no more lazy days of summer-Boooooo! So on the eve of the first day of school, I decided to create a special picnic in the park, as the coming months will leave very little time for quick escapes.
(Special thanks to McKenzie Natural Artisan Deli, for sponsoring this picnic. McKenzie takes pride in providing only the finest, truly all natural meats and cheeses with no added growth hormones or antibiotics, and can be found at Dave’s Marketplace or Big Y for my local friends).
For this escape, it didn’t take much to pack a quick, Pinterest-worthy picnic for two.
Want to see how? Read on . . .
1.) The picnic basket
While fancy picnic baskets with special compartments can be quite functional and charming, realistically, any basket with a handle will do and can look just as beautiful! I grabbed a basic hyacinth basket, since I tend to hoard them, and lined it with a tight weave place mat.
2.) A place to rest
Next I grabbed my favorite blanket and draped it in the basket, letting the fringe hang to add a pretty layered aesthetic.
Rather than using a bunch of different paper products, I used some inexpensive cutting boards that I had on hand for “plates” (no worrying about plates and napkins blowing away in the wind), pretty lightweight fabric napkins, and cupcake liners for the snacks, although some inexpensive fabric napkins would work or bandannas would be super adorable as napkins too!
3.) Menu:
I decided to take the easy route. My husband loves a good cold cut sandwich, so I stopped by my local Dave’s Marketplace and grabbed some McKenzie Natural Artisan Deli’s Antibiotic Free Rotisserie Turkey Breast, soft ciabatta rolls, some smoked provolone cheese, leafy green lettuce, and some nice, ripe avocado and tomato. I used some simple wax paper and twine to wrap the sandwiches, which made them look like they came from a specialty deli.
For snacks, I grabbed some of Dave’s own hand made potato chips, some veggie straws and roasted chickpeas. I chilled a couple sparkling beverages, some fruit and threw in some delectable coconut almond cookies from the bakery to top this meal off.
4.) Adding some pretty
I grabbed a cute mini-bouquet of fresh flowers-because who can resist? I know I can’t! It adds to the romantic aspect of it all-and honestly my hubs is one who has learned to appreciate my need to add flowers or fresh greenery to all I do.
5.) Location: Now, clearly, picnics can be held anywhere, that’s the beauty of them! But ours was not far from home so transporting the goods was a breeze. We ventured over to Roger Williams Park in Providence and enjoyed a beautiful view of the sun setting over the pond.
What an enjoyable evening escape we had-I only wish I would have thought to have picnics in the park throughout the summer!
How do you picnic? Is there a special spot you like to go? What is your favorite way to pack a quick picnic? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below 🙂
***This post is sponsored by McKenzie Natural Deli. I was compensated and received product in exchange for this post.***
