Ah Covid-19 for all the chaos and misery you have wreaked, you have also allowed us to rediscover some of life’s simple pleasures, take for example the humble picnic! I don’t know about you but since the onset of social distancing days out we’ve been dining alfresco (and from plastic tubs) more than ever. So much so that we feel we’re becoming picnic pros. Here are our top picks for improving your picnic game…
Yumbox Bento Children’s Lunchbox
We’ve had the Neptune Blue Original Yumbox for Elliott for sometime and have recently added the Neptune Blue Panino Yumbox to his collection too, as well as purchasing a Neptune Blue Original for Jake. That should tell you how good these little children’s bento lunchboxes are. They’re not cheap (£25.95 each from Amazon) but they are sturdy, dishwasher proof, leak proof and best of all an easy way to pack a nutritious lunch for your kids that they will actually eat! They also save you carrying around about 17 different Tupperware pots!
The Original Yumbox is split into six sections:
- Dairy
- Grains
- Protein
- Veggies
- Fruit
- Treat
From a parents perspective this is great as I think we’re all conscious as to whether we’re giving our kids nutritionally balanced meals. This takes the thinking out of that process and so long as you’re filling each section with the appropriate food you can be pretty certain your child is getting a balanced lunch. Also, kids seem to love eating from these cute lunchboxes which makes getting them to eat healthily (or at all in the case of active kids who don’t want to sit still for food) so much easier.
If you want to go ‘extra’ there are reams of Pinterest ideas on what to pop into your Yumbox but it’s fine to keep things simple too. Our favourite tends to be…
- Dairy = Dairylea
- Grains = Breadsticks
- Protein = Hummus
- Veggies = Cucumber
- Fruit = Chopped grapes
- Treat = Smarties
We’ve even filled ours with sweet and savoury snacks for movie night.
Now that Elliott is older and tends to favour a sandwich for lunch we’ve switched to the Yumbox Panino which has a larger section for a sandwich, a small section for a treat and two sections for snacks. Elliott’s current favourite combination is a jam sandwich (no surprise there for anyone who knows him in real life), marshmallows, veggie crisps and cucumber.
Picnic Blankets for all the family
It goes without saying that you’ll need somewhere to sit whilst you’re eating and something to sit on. Our picnic blanket has seen better days having been used next to the paddling pool and underneath the tuff spot during messy play. I’m loving the look of this lemon print picnic blanket from Matalan (currently reduced in the sale to £7).
Things to remember when buying a picnic blanket:
- How much space do you need? How big is your family and how much food do you want to spread out too? You might need a larger picnic blanket, or it may be better to buy multiple picnic blankets to space out a bit, especially if you need to take social distancing into account when going out with other households.
- How easy is the picnic blanket to clean? I recently washed ours, even though the label said not to, as it was covered in melted chocolate, sand and cream cheese. It came out fine but you might not want to spend a fortune on one if it’s going to be difficult to clean.
- How easy is it to fold? I personally love the ones that fold and roll and then are closed with Velcro (like the Matalan one) as it means I can store it compactly underneath the buggy or loop it over one of the clips on the bar of the pram.
- Where you’re going to be using it? Ours is fine as we mostly use it at the park, but if you’re a frequent beach goer you might want to look into getting a sand proof version.
Picnic cutlery
The other day we went to our cutlery drawer to find a distinct lack of forks. Upon further investigation we discovered the offending forks were hiding in the front pocket of the picnic bag we had taken to the beach the following weekend. If you hate finding grotty cutlery languishing at the bottom of your picnic bag or, if like me, you’re weirdly phobic of the wooden cutlery some take away outlets give you, this Sistema Cutlery to go set could be for you. It contains a plastic fork, spoon and knife in a handy carry case. I’m definitely getting some of these on my next Amazon order!
Coffee on the go
I’ve written all about the best coffee travel mugs here. Mama needs caffeine!
The best type of cool bag for picnics
At the moment we’re using a cool bag with a shoulder strap which is fine if we’re picnicking close to the car, or even in the car as has been the case quite often frequently. However, it becomes cumbersome to carry any distance so we will shortly be upgrading to a rucksack style coolbag, like this one. Don’t forget the ice packs to keep everything cool too!
The ultimate picnic set
OK, so this isn’t exactly the most practical solution but that doesn’t stop me bloody loving it. I mean look at it! If you want a picnic basket that’s a bit extra, but impossible to carry any distance (details…) then this surely has to be it!
What are your picnic essentials?
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Wrinkle Wrinkle Little Star 