How to have the perfect end of term picnic

Above all else, make sure it’s sunny

9 years ago

Isabel Gonzalez-Prendergast & Tegan Marlow

Exams are over and term is ending, and what better way to celebrate than throwing a lavish picnic for you and your mates?

For less than £8 a head, we planned a spectacular picnic to show you how it’s done and (despite some poor weather) pulled off a spectacular feast.

Anyone hungry?

If you want to plan anything similar, here’s what you’ve got to remember…

DO

Go all out when buying food

We stacked out baskets full of sandwich stuff, olives, chocolate, biscuits, crisps, prosecco, calypso’s, fruit, tissues, bin bags. If anything belonged at a picnic, we bought it. Apart from strawberries: Lidl doesn’t stock those (we were devastated).

When buying food, remember picnics are a great place for dips and weird food combos. You might not think dipping cocktail sausages into hummus is a thing, but be prepared for all eventualities.

#gains

Bring a trolley bag or a friend with a car

You’re buying enough food to feed a small army, so you don’t want to have to actually carry it all. Don’t make our mistake, it wasn’t cute.

Provide entertainment

As fun as eating food can be, a perfect picnic needs something a little extra. Make sure you buy some games like badminton sets or frisbees. They’re guaranteed to have everyone walking by looking over jealously at how much fun you’re all having.

Badminton is my life

Invite all the squad…the more, the merrier

Picnics are best when shared with a big group of people, so don’t hold back on inviting people. Especially as your flakier friends will either turn up late or not at all: you don’t want to be dining alone.

If people still fail to show up, try to entice random passers-by in with your amazing selection of food. Maybe they’ll like the fact you attempted to buy “healthy” salad stuff but only ended up getting one red pepper.

Make it boozy

Pimm’s is the drink of the summer but prosecco is the drink of classy picnics. If the weather’s not perfect, you’ll only need a couple of glasses to help you forget all about it. What wind?

Who cares if your picnic is a little tragic when you’ve got prosecco and views like that?

Get everyone involved

As host, it’s your job to make sure nobody is stuck on the edge of the picnic picking at a bag of crisps while checking their Facebook. Keep the energy levels up and the vibes positive, even if it means cracking out the selfie stick.

no boiz allowed

DON’T

Forget about the veggies

It’s important to cater to all dietary requirements. Even if it’s only a red pepper.

The pepper counted as a guest

Play badminton if it’s windy

We learned the hard way so you wouldn’t have to. Frisbee doesn’t work either. Maybe football? Or is eating a sport?

Is this how you play?

Trust the weather forecast

Monday was meant to be an idyllic sunny day, perfect for a picnic. Then the day dreams were to be made arrived and it was cold and windy.

We arrived at our beaut picnic spot to clouds and spitting rain, not ideal for outside fun and games.

There’s not much you can do about the weather, so if you do get caught out just suck it up and eat in the cold. At least you can filter your Instagram pics to make it look sunnier.

What are these clouds? I’m wearing a crop top