Picnics have made a comeback, with many experts attributing the reason to the global pandemic. Outdoor picnics are a great way to maintain social distance, a top priority for many over the past few years. Having the right picnic essentials for an afternoon of leisure can make all the difference for a relaxing day at the park, beach, or backyard.
There are many other benefits of picnics, including breathing in the fresh air, soaking in Vitamin D from the sun, and bonding with family and friends. Picnics are also a great way of letting go of stress and offer a stimulant-free mood boost.
If you’re planning a picnic, keep comfort, entertainment, and organization in mind.
Here are the best picnic essentials for your next outdoor adventure.
Waterproof Picnic Blanket
A picnic blanket is one of the most important items to bring on your adventure. Picnic blankets lay the foundation for comfort. You and your guests can spread out comfortably on the grass, sand, or concrete.
Picnic blankets are also great for organizing your other picnic items.
Scuddles is a top-seller as it’s waterproof, sand proof, and easy to fold and carry. Its machine-washable material makes it easy to launder at home so that you can skip the cleaners.
Picnic Basket Set
The best picnic baskets allow you to safely store and pack food and beverage essentials while keeping your bites and bubbles insulated.
Don’t worry about packing utensils from your kitchen at home – unless you want – because Happy Picnic’s XL option comes with a stainless-steel tableware set. Knives, forks, spoons, wine glasses, plates, napkins, and an extra picnic blanket are included with this set.
Picnic Pillows
These Degrees of Comfort meditation pillows are great for providing additional comfort outdoors.
The pillows are equipped with memory foam to remove the feeling of sitting on the floor or a hard chair. When transporting the cushions, you won’t have any issues since these are lightweight.
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Reusable Ice Packs
Reusable ice packs are designed to last longer, giving you comfort in knowing your Pinterest-inspired charcuterie board will stay cool and fresh until you are ready to eat.
Fit and Fresh’s ice packs are thin and don’t take up too much space in your picnic basket.
While small, the ice packs will keep your items cool for at least six hours.
Insect Repellant
Food always attracts unwanted pests such as insects. With Natrapel, you can stay bite-free for up to 12 hours.
This popular repellant is an Amazon’s Choice pick as it’s easy to put on and comes made with picaridin.
The formula repels mosquitoes, ticks, flies, gnats, fleas, sand flies, midges, and more. Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding can also safely use this brand.
Portable Speaker
Music and podcasts are great ways to keep guests entertained. TRELAB has a portable Bluetooth speaker that is waterproof and easy to use outdoors.
These speakers are powerful enough to entertain guests with your favorite playlists within close range.
TRELAB’s Bluetooth speaker has a battery that lasts up to 20 hours when fully charged.
Card Games
Another great way to entertain guests is with card games. Card decks are lightweight and don’t take up a lot of space, leaving plenty of room in your bag for other items.
Mattel’s card game set includes three classics: Skip-Bo, Phase 10, and UNO.
Skip-bo is the ultimate sequencing card game from the makers of UNO. Players use skill and strategy to create sequential stacks of cards.
The Phase 10 card game provides challenging and exciting twists. The objective of the game is to be the first player to complete 10 phases ranging from two sets of three, one run of seven, seven cards of one color, and more. The twist is that each phase is specific for each hand dealt.
UNO, the multi-player game that causes great debates depending on who you’re with, is the most popular of this combo set. The objective of this classic is to be the first player to get rid of all the cards in one’s hand.
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