Cheers to Picnic Season! Yes, the weather is warming and a most wonderful way to take in the fresh air is with your own personalized picnic. It can be in your backyard, your patio terrace or a designated space in a public park. Whichever location you choose, here is our perfect picnic checklist.

It’s all About the Blanket

Setting the “table” so to speak begins with a good base. For a picnic, that’s your blanket. There are such a wide range of blankets available or you may already have one. For us, blanket requirements are thicker fabric that grass and nature shakes off of well, a softness for bare feet and large enough to curl up in for a nap apres picnic.

The Necessary Accessories

Getting out for a picnic is essentially slower things down, which is a big component of self care. Don’t forget other self care items such as sunscreen, hat with a brim to cover one’s face and if you’re going to get fancy, how about an umbrella or parasol.

If your picnic location involves a hike, a travel first aid kit is something that is good to have on hand and tucks nicely into your picnic basket or satchel.

Culinary Staples

– Cooler with icepacks

– Cutting board and knives

– Utensils, plates and cups – whenever you can, choose environment friendly options

– Kitchen dish towels instead of paper towels – they also make for great picnic napkins

– Trash bags – remember if you brought it with you, taking it with you when you leave is always a good rule in nature.

Sip

LOLA aluminum 250mL bottles with LOLA Pinot Grigio VQA Ontario white wine and LOLA Blush Sparkling Rosé VQA Ontario wine for picnic season on beach.

When it comes to prepping your picnic beverages, first and foremost, respect the rules of the place you’re choosing to picnic in. Such as alcohol restrictions in public areas like parks and beaches. And above all else, always enjoy responsibly.

We love taking along a thermos of flavoured fruit water. We’ve found great inspiration with these 8 Infused Water Recipes from Culinary Hill.

Our favourites for a little backyard or patio picnic?

LOLA Pinot Grigio VQA & LOLA Blush Sparkling Rosé VQA – The aluminum bottles offer a convenience, ease of transport and are resealable. And perhaps we’re a little bias but we think they look oh so pretty with any picnic spread.

LOLA Nero Red Sparkling VQA – Inspired by the Italian Lambrusco style, it is characterized by its dark, rich colour and flavour. This garnet-coloured sparkling red wine evokes flavours of raspberry, redcurrant and plum. A Charmat method secondary fermentation gives this wine its light, frothy bubbles, while presenting a mouth feel of red wine.

Served chilled, it’s pairs wonderful with a wide range of food pairings and is a perfect sipper.

LOLA Nero Red Sparkling VQA Ontario red wine from Pelee Island

Savour

Picnic season is all about taking dining outside. So why not feature your favourite take out on your picnic platter. Your local restaurants are food experts. Plan ahead if possible. Give them a call and tell them you’re looking for food for your picnic. They will be able to suggest which of their creations will suit your picnic setting best based on refrigeration, reheating, etc.

If you’re picnic-ing in our neck of the woods, here are some great sources to discover our local restaurants offerings.

Eat Drink Dine Kingsville

Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island (TWEPI)

Windsor Eats

Passing the Time

Make it more than the meal. Take a break and bring along some entertainment. Backgammon, Dominos, books and binoculars for bird watching are some chill ways to pass an afternoon. Of course, laying back, taking a deep breath and simply watching the clouds roll by is fairly spectacular too.

Cheers!

*We strongly urge you to ensure that you maintain social distancing while enjoying parks and outdoor spaces and to picnic only with members of your immediate household.