The weather in Toronto has been unseasonably warm, so all we wanted to do today was be outside. We decided today was the perfect day to have an epic picnic. Because let’s be honest, all the best days involve food.
Everyone should have more picnics in their life. Every time I picnic I’m reminded of how awesome it is, and not just because picnic food usually consists of heavy amounts of cheese and carbs, but also because it’s nice to be able to immediately lay down afterwards.
There’s no right or wrong way to have a picnic, but certain things will just make it better. For starters, a great picnic requires just the right blanket. We lucked out and found a gorgeous one at Indigo, with a water-resistant bottom. It’s great for spring when the ground can sometimes be a tad soggy.
When you’re looking for a location, choose something that’s nice and open but also won’t require too much of a hike to get there. We headed to Hamilton for this one to see our friend Nicole, so we hit up Dundurn Castle and it was perfect.
We spent a lot of time thinking about the best spread, and we’ve broken it down for you.
- A sweet picnic blanket
- A cooler – if you’re venturing far or prefer your drinks cold – if you don’t then you’re wrong
- Ice – to keep your food cold but also for drinks
- Napkins
- Plates
- Cups
- Platters, baskets or tupperware – to lay out your spread
- Forks and knives – in our case we only needed knives for cheese
- An abundance of fruit – we packed watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries and grapes
- Sandwiches – we packed caprese sandwiches
- Nuts and dried fruits – we picked prunes (call us old, but prunes are delish), apricots and almonds
- Veggies and dip – we packed sliced pepper, sugar snap peas and curry cilantro hummus
- Cheese and crackers – we had four different kinds of cheeses, this was pretty much our centerpiece
- Desserts – we had donuts and lemon tarts because YOLO
- Drinks – Two Words. Rosé. Lemonade. More on this below. This drink was so good it deserves a whole second post.
We recommend preparing as much as possible in advance. We sliced all of our fruit, veggies and made our sandwiches before heading out. Because once you find the perfect picnic spot, you’ll want to set up shop as quickly as possible.
In terms of drinks, I know we say this about every cocktail, but this is for real our new favourite drink: Rosé Lemonade. Yes, it’s sparkling rosé topped with lemonade – which we made ourselves. It’s surprisingly dry and not too sweet because we made our lemonade with honey. It’s the perfect picnic mimosa. Plus, it’s a gorgeous colour. You can get the recipe here.
If you need ideas for things to do after the food is gone, out hot guy playing cards would be perfect. Just saying.
Some nostalgic jams to rock your picnic.
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