How to Host a Fun Picnic

Plan a fun picnic for a large crowd or an intimate group of friends or family. No matter what size group you're planning for, keep the food and planning simple. Focus on the entertainment including outdoor games, adult and kids activities and prizes.

Things You'll Need

• Invitations
• Paper and envelopes
• Addresses or email addresses
• Chicken salad and buns
• Vegetables
• Sour cream
• Cream cheese
• Salads
• Dill weed
• Fruit
• Marshmallow fluff
• Flavored gelatin
• Cupcakes
• Drinks
• Plates and flatware
• Scavenger lists
• Rope
• Pillow cases
• Eggs
• Outdoor games
• Charades and drawing materials
• Board games
• Blankets
• Prizes

Instructions

Invite Your Friends and Family

1. Send invitations. Pick or make cute invitations with a fun picnic scene. If you make your own decorate them with picnic-themed stickers or drawings.

2. Email your invitation for a small get together, or if you know your guest like to respond to to a picnic invitation through email. Use a website like Evite to create a picnic-themed invitation to send.

3. Include the location of the picnic, time, items for guests to bring, and a phone number or email for the RSVP.

Keep the Food Simple

1. Make some easy classic picnic foods that your guests enjoy. Make chicken salad sandwiches using cut up cooked chicken breast, mayonnaise, a few sliced purple grapes and thin slices of celery.

2. Make a veggie spread with a cream cheese, mayonnaise base and throw in any chopped up vegetables. Opt to cut up a tray of vegetables, and serve them with a simple dill dip made of sour cream and dried dill weed.

3. Buy or make a simple salad to accompany the sandwiches. Picnic salads that are always a big hit include potato salad, coleslaw or pasta salads. Remember to keep them in a cooler.

4. Prepare a bowl of fresh fruits. Use any that are in season like strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, melons, grapes or pineapple. Accompany the fruit with a bowl of fruit dip made of marshmallow fluff, cream cheese and a package of your favorite flavored gelatin.

5. Whip up your favorite cup cakes for dessert. Make enough so everyone gets one, and you've got dessert covered.

6. Set the mood of your picnic with the drinks. Make your picnic a little classy by serving champagne in either plastic or crystal flutes. Keep it simple and casual by serving beer, soda and juice for the kids.

Put a Fun Day Together

1. Make your picnic about the fun. Focus most of your time and efforts on planning some great activities to keep people of all ages entertained.

2. Create a fun scavenger hunt game for kids. Choose items the kids can find easily at your location. Pick a few tricky items too. Copy the list, and hand it out at the picnic.

3. Bring some ropes, pillow cases and eggs for the classic picnic games--the three legged race, pillow case races or egg toss.

4. Set up badminton, lawn darts or any other classic and portable outdoor games you have.

5. Play charades or the classic draw-and-guess game. These are both simple to set up and can be done with a large crowd or with just a couple close friends.

6. Get prizes for the kids and adults at the dollar store. Buy crayons, color books, balls, bubbles, sunglasses, cups or other items your guests can enjoy at the picnic.

7. Put up a few game tables with checker boards, puzzles or word games. Spread the games over a few picnic tables or blankets in the shade.

Tips & Warnings

• If you're planning an intimate family picnic, hand out little picnic napkins with notes that include the date, time and place.

• If you'd like your guests to bring their own drinks food to the picnic, make that clear in the invitation.

• Pack all the flatware and plates you'll need in one plastic bag or a large plastic container to keep them all together.

Resources

• Evite