Picnic Planning Resources

If you want to plan the perfect picnic, you're probably looking for products, creative ideas and recipes that will help. Years ago, you would have had to ask around for suggestions, scour books at the library or simply go with the traditional Gǣsandwiches and watermelonGǥ idea of a picnic - but planning an event or gathering has gotten a lot easier with the internet. Now, you can find the perfect picnic basket and portable seating, countless delicious recipes and a plethora of creative ideas that will impress your friends and family. Here are a few resources that will aid you in your quest for the perfect picnic.

Over the past couple of years, we here at the Picnic Fun - Tips and Recipes blog have researched and written dozens of articles on picnic planning. You can read up on romantic picnics, potluck family picnics, how to choose a unique picnic spot, having a picnic party, and many other topics. Look on the left side of the page for our categories to search for info about specific holiday picnics, seasonal ideas and purchasing suggestions.

Our favorite sources for picnic recipes are RecipeZaar.com, FoodNetwork.com and Epicurious.com. RecipeZaar.com is one of the net's largest user-submitted recipe databases. There are over 7,000 recipes in the picnic category alone! You can further narrow down your results by choosing 'large groups', 'summer', 'barbecue', 'served cold', and more - and they can be sorted by rating to find the highest quality submissions. At FoodNetwork.com, you can find recipes by renowned chefs such as Rachel Ray, Rocco di Spirito, Emeril Lagasse, Bobby Flay and Mario Batali. Within each chef's recipe collection you can find quick & easy recipes, grilling recipes, and light recipes as well as recipes by main ingredient or course. Epicurious.com is the place to go for gourmet picnic recipes and meal ideas, with thousands of delicious concoctions that are sure to make an impression on your guests.

Evite.com is a great source for free e-mail party invitations, and they have several cute picnic-themed invites that will set the mood for your picnic party. They also have an extremely helpful picnic planning page which includes party checklists, budget estimators, decoration ideas, song lists and even a calculator to help you determine how much food and beverages you'll need for the amount of people invited.