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Camping under the stars, near a campfire or in a tent is always great fun but a memorable picnic, will enhance your campout as well. To get your picnic ideas flowing, I’ve come up with the three simple elements that are essential to your picnic and how you can make each of them their possible best.

Location
Before prepping your meal back at campsite, scout out a couple of local areas ideal for sitting on the ground and be sure that the area is attractive. Be aware of too much shade as the ground there will often be too moist. When possible, try to find a location on top of a hill or near the edge of a safe cliff for a beautiful view. Eating near a stream, when available, is also a pleasant experience. Calm and peaceful.

The Essentials
A great picnic must start off with a great, waterproof picnic blanket. This will ensure that even if you choose to sit where it’s moist, you, your guests and your food will stay dry. Find some excellent waterproof and stadium blankets at www.goblanket.com.

Next on the list, is a perfect picnic basket. I know what you’re thinking–a wicker

basket with wooden flaps on the top and hot cheese and wine inside, right? Think again. Modern picnic baskets come in a wide variety of shapes, styles and uses to meet the needs of every picnicker. Here’s some examples of Picnic Backpacks that you can use.

The food, of course, is the big kicker. You want your picnic to be beautiful but you also want your family and guests to be full and satisfied when it’s over. For this, do a thorough search on the Internet for food that is easy to make outdoors, keeps well in a cooler and is fun for everyone. Use keywords like finger foods or picnic foods. You could also try easy meals or convenient outdoor food, all keywords which will help find detailed information. And, never forget how convenient foods like potatoes, leftover chicken, cold pasta and salad are when cooking for a picnic.

Lastly, don’t forget to take utensils, like napkins and a couple of paper towels. Also bring a couple of large, ziploc bags and a trash bag to collect trash in. You may also want to pack a couple of empty containers in case there are leftovers worth saving.

The Entertainment
When you’ve finished your meal and you have a little spare time on your hands before you need to head back to camp, spend a little quality time with your family or guests reading a book or magazine, solving a crossword or playing a game. Charades is always fun when the crowd is right and simple, portable games like magnetic chess, checkers and backgammon are very convenient. You could also try Uno H20, the waterproof version of the game or pack up the picnic and take a family hike.

Heading Back
When using the right picnic basket and preparing the best, most convenient meals, you will find that picnic clean up is a snap. Simply bag your trash, scrape your picnic dishes and place them in your ziplocs. You will find that modern picnic baskets and blankets are also easy to clean and stow, which always makes the end of a picnic filled camping trip that much better for the host.

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