DIY Custom Picnic Basket 🧺 with Service for Five

My post today was inspired by a post by fellow blogger, Sheree. Her post about The French Love of Picnics made me want to have a picnic every day of the week. In her post, she shares a wonderful formula for the perfect French picnic. You simply must visit her blog and check it out!

Sheree listed several things essential for a proper picnic. We already had some of them:

• food
• people to share food with
• a blanket
• a grassy area

Unfortunately, we were missing one very important component.

• a picnic basket

I looked at several online retailers and found lots of really cute picnic basket sets. It was easy to find baskets with plates, cups and cutlery for 2 people or 4 people but I was unable to find a set with service for 5 or more people. Since our family has 5 members in it, we needed a set for at least 5. So, I decided to put my creative brain to good use and make my own custom picnic basket.

During my virtual quest I found that many quality picnic basket sets included the following items:

• basket
• plates
• cups
• cloth napkins
• cutlery
• wine/beverage bottle cooler
• corkscrew or wine key
• wooden cutting/charcuterie board
• cheese knives/spreaders
• some sets also included an outdoor blanket

First, I wanted to decide on a color theme so my set would be as “matchy-matchy” as possible. I really think those prepackaged sets are just too cute! I stumbled across this black & white gingham Zipper Blanket at biglots.com and thought it was perfect. You can’t go wrong starting with black & white as a color concept. It folds up into itself for easy transportation and at $16 it was a good deal.

The next step in creating my custom picnic basket was finding a nice, large, sturdy basket to stow all of our picnic supplies in. I found a large watermelon picnic basket at Marshall’s for $24.99.

I bought 5 white reusable plastic plates at Winco when I stumbled on them grocery shopping. They are made to look like paper plates. How cute is that? You can also find them here at amazon.com/Picnique-Reusable-Melamine-Outdoor-Everyday Then, I found reusable cotton napkins in black and white buffalo plaid that match the blanket at amazon.com/gingham-napkins.

I’ve been working on pulling this project together ever since I read Sheree’s post. I don’t have everything that I would like in our picnic basket, but I can always add to it as I find thing later on. We got most of the pieces in the photo this past fall and we’ve been having picnics in the park almost every week (weather permitting). I wanted to incorporate weekly picnics into our homeschool routine when I created my ideal Homeschool Plan last summer. These weekly outings have become one of our most favorite homeschool activities. I’m working on a post for August on our favorite uncommon homeschool supplies and a picnic basket and outdoor blanket will definately be on that list.

Of course, we’ve got to include our favorite picnic picture books. Be sure to check out your local library for these or other themed favorites: Pignic by Matt Phelan, The Ginghams the Backward Picnic by Joan Chase Bowden and JoAnne E. Koenig, and Auntie Yang’s Great Soybean Picnic by Ginnie Lo and Beth Lo

For bonus points you might even plan a picnic using foods and activities mentioned in one of the books!

Happy picnic season friends! We hope this post inspires you to plan a picnic with someone you love sometime soon.

🧺 Do you have a picnic basket or picnic set?

🧺 What’s your favorite picnic food or recipe?

🧺 Where is your favorite picnicking spot?