Wherever we go and whatever activities we plan to do, it is always better and more memorable when we do it in style. One of the most quintessential summer activities is, of course, the picnic. As children, many of us vividly remember running around and chasing each other in the park while our parents chilled out in the shade of a nearby tree. After playing, it would always be time to do our next favorite activity – eating! The joy of eating was always enhanced by the beauty of the outdoors but it was also frustrating when something that should have been brought was forgotten at home. Sometimes, even little mistakes like that were enough to ruin what would otherwise have been a perfect day.

So in planning a picnic, one must pay close attention to having all the things needed to make the trip to the park memorable for all the right reasons. The most important thing to bring is obviously the food. The amount should ideally be slightly more than enough for everyone. Crackers, biscuits and sandwiches are perfect. Fried chicken and other dry food items are also favorites. Pasta and noodles can also be options but these need to be packed properly as they tend to spoil more easily. Dishes with sauces and soups aren’t practical. Bottled juices and water are also essential, especially since there needs to be precaution against heat-related illnesses and hydration is the best way to guard against these conditions.

Lastly, you will have to find something to put all of the stuff into. An excellent item to use is a picnic hamper. A regular picnic basket is great too, but a picnic hamper is much larger and usually can contain everything you need for a fun picnic including all the food, plates, utensils, bottles, glasses or cups, place mats and napkins.  But because of its large size, there have to be at least two people carrying it.

Picnic hampers come in all kinds of designs, but to truly go in style, the most elegant ones are the vintage or traditional hampers. These were usually made of wicker or woven from wood strips like maple or willow. There are also hampers made out of metal like tin or aluminum. Modern hampers may be made of nylon and should theoretically provide lasting durability. But authentic antique or vintage picnic hampers are also most certainly crafted finely and with great quality, thereby ensuring durability as well.

Vintage picnic hampers can be found in antique shops, garage sales, estate sales, flea markets and online. The prices are as highly variable as their sources are, but there is one website that sells them for around $200. Whatever the price, these charming things will most definitely make your summer picnic another truly memorable outdoor experience.

Of course, for many of us romance is the number one reason to love an antique picnic basket. By this I mean both the romance of a beautiful picnic basket filled with delicious goodies made by hand by the one you love, and the romance of the idea of an antique picnic basket in days gone by. Poems have been written about taking a picnic with your loved one. What could be more romantic than proposing to someone you love by hiding the ring in your picnic basket? There is a reason that bed and breakfast places always seem to have a set of lovely old antique picnic baskets ready at a moments notice to fulfill your every vision of romance and picnics in the woods with a loved one.

Another great reason why so many people love antique picnic baskets is memories of family picnics when we were kids. For many of us who are old enough to remember a time when grabbing the picnic basket and heading out for the day was a typical Sunday, one of those antique picnic baskets bring back memories of idyllic days with nothing more to do than eat Mom’s sandwiches and loll by the creek with a fishing pole and a good book. One look at an old vintage picnic basket and we are back in the days when most people didn’t think or care about the time, Sunday was a day to be with family and since everything was closed and no one would even thinking of working, it was truly a day of rest.

Of course, these days anything that is old enough to be considered retro would include antique picnic baskets. Fifties styled wooden picnic baskets are hip these days. We all dream of the days when we weren’t so rushed and the retro craze feeds into that dream. Since there are not only whole stores of vintage and antique retro furnishings, but whole streets of these stores, it is fairly safe to say that retro has finally found it’s niche and antique picnic baskets are a part of that movement.

On the other hand, one of the reasons picnics are still so popular is that they are so cheap to do. You would think that this kind of reasoning would leave antique picnic baskets out in the cold, but not true! I have found that many people still have their Grandmothers or parent’s old picnic basket. It may have been put aside for a few years when you were first married, considered too old-fashion. But these days many people are dusting those antique picnic baskets off and heading out to the hills with them. Why go out for an expensive meal with kids in tow when you can make a great meal for all of you, put it in your antique picnic basket and have a great afternoon together. Family time is getting more precious all the time, and the opportunity to do this cheaply is gaining in popularity all the time.

So no matter what your reason for grabbing that antique picnic basket, more are doing it every day. Whether you plan on filling it with your favorite finger foods and grabbing your best friend, new lover or your kids soccer team, don’t get caught without your ultra-cool antique picnic basket. Fish in the river, laze on a summer’s day with the one you love or hang with the kids and fly kites. It doesn’t matter what else you do that day, just don’t forget the picnic. And make sure it is in your antique picnic basket, just to add that last bit of cool to your day.

1.  First identify whether your picnic is going to be casual (with a friend or friends), more formal in nature (with business associates), or one of the romantic nature.  The type of picnic is a great place to start in your picnic basic foods decision making process.

2.  Lunch choices may include sandwiches, apples with peanut butter, or salad.  Don’t bring tuna to your lunch as tuna and a hot day don’t mix extremely well.

3.  Remember your picnic in most cases is not going to be a luxurious dining experience, so feel free to shop around for the best food prices.  You can typically get real good deals at Walmart.  If you are looking to put together sandwiches you can check out the deli counter.  Remember if you go the sandwich route to get yourself a nice side of potato salad or macaroni salad.

4.  Don’t forget desert.  A picnic or should I say a real picnic is never complete without a desert to put the cap on a delicious lunch.  You have many options to choose from, all the way from homemade chocolate chip cookies too some brownies.  Don’t go and bring icecream to your picnic or anything that can melt, unless of course you want to eat soup for your desert.  Yuck!!!

Now that you have some tips for your next picnic you can go ask the boy or girl on that date that you have been meaning to go on or possibly that special friend.  Best of luck.

These baskets come in many different sizes.  If you are looking to have a big picnic go buy yourself a large wicker picnic basket, which normally should be able to hold enough food for 8 people.  The smaller baskets are for quaint romantic picnics or just one with a close friend.

If you are more a person who likes antiques and things that ripen with time, a vintage wicker picnic basket would be right up your alley.  These ones are great for showing off your sophisticated and fashionable side.  Also, you should aim to have a more traditional sort of picnic if you are going to use a vintage basket.  That being said though these vintage baskets are typically fairly difficult to obtain.  My recommendation for buying them would be to try ebay first.  If you don’t see anything on ebay that you like then set aside a day to go to some garage sales and your local antique stores.  It may take you some time to find on, but hopefully with enough time you will stumble across one of these vintage gems.

If you find yourself an empty wicker picnic basket, then your are truly in luck as they have so much potential.  You can use it has a gift basket, a basket to set up some decorations, or just for the standard use of packing some food up in it and using it for a picnic.  Whatever the occasion you can always put an empty wicker basket to good use.

The wicker picnic basket is a legend of picnics and one in which any true picnic lover should own.

When planning your picnic make sure you pack lots of reusable plastic forks spoons knives and cups in the basket.  Don’t forget the napkins either (if you really want to be classy pack some cloth napkins if it is going be a picnic of the “romantic” variety.  Paper plates should suffice for any type of picnic.

After you have the utensils down then you need to think up a picnic basket food idea. What type of food and drink you want to serve your guest or guests?  This decision will again depend heavily on what type of occasion it is for.  Here are my picnic basket food ideas –If it is going to be a casual picnic for a group of eight you may just want to go with something simple like sandwiches and juice.  But, if it is going to be a picnic “date” you will need some romantic picnic basket ideas; maybe you want to go with some cheese and crackers and a bottle of sparkling cider (Don’t forget the scented candles either, so you can watch the sunset together.  Either way think carefully about who your guests are going to be as this will be the deciding factor in what type of food you choose.

If you are going to be giving your picnic basket as a gift to a co-worker, friend, etc., you will need some picnic gift basic ideas.  It is always nice to include some apples and pears in you basket.   Also include some gourmet cheese and maybe some smoked salmon.  You can sprinkle the bottom of the basket with hard candies and chocolates.  Next wrap your picnic gift basket in a clear colored plastic wrapping and then tie a ribbon at the top.  Now you are prepared to give your gift.

I hope this helped in giving you some ideas in how to utilize your picnic basket to it’s maximum potential.

Most vintage picnic baskets can be found in a wicker or light wood color as this was more of the traditional look. It will be hard to find many of these baskets that deviate from the classic design as people and society weren’t as risque with their fashions and styles as they are today. You will most likely find many of them as the standard wood/wicker basket with two wooden handles for carrying. Like your normal everyday baskets the vintage variety comes in many sizes from small ones to large ones, which gives you enough options to host a picnic for a party of any size.

The vintage picnic basket can be difficult to find. Most of these baskets have been stored in attics and passed down through generations in families. So, where should you find them? Here are some ideas:

1. Garage sales make an excellent place to find vintage items. But, be ready to visit a lot of sales and drive around all day. You really have to enjoy garage saling.  Your local newspaper classified section or just looking for signs on the road are excellent ways to find garage sales.
2. Antique Fairs and Antique stores – Make sure you check your local paper for fairs the might be in your area.  The business section of your phone book is a great way to find any stores that might be in your area.
3. Flea Markets – Flea markets are a lot like Antique Fairs, but they provide a wider variety of items from newer to older.  Just lots of different odds and ends type items.  You can check your local paper or local magazine publications for Flea Markets that might be in your area.
4. Ebay is a great spot to find the Vintage Picnic Baskets.  Just go to the website and type in “vintage picnic basket” into the search bar and then view the items.  Be careful though as some sellers just stick the word “vintage” into the item title to increase the potential search traffic to their auction even though their item is not really vintage.

Well I hope that gave you some ideas on where to find a vintage picnic basket.  Have fun on your picnic with your new vintage basket!!!

The nice thing about picnic basket backpacks as compared to your traditional picnic basket is they are made from fabric rather than the traditional wicker or other types of wood that a regular picnic basket is made out of. Because they are made of fabrics, these backpacks can be purchased in many different colors or patterns to make whatever type of fashion statement you want for any occasion. Whether you desire a blue, checkered, or a red striped one, you can find a color scheme for any preference.

In addition to the fashionable nature of these picnic backpacks, they also, come in many different varieties for holding different types of food. From chocolate lover totes to coffee lover packs, which come with special compartments to carry your coffee canisters, there is a backpack to match any taste. Also, many of these backpacks come with built in insulation to keep your coffee warm or your cheese, for example, that needs to stay cold, cool.

The next time you are planning a picnic and want to maybe take your picnic lunch somewhere more adventurous, don’t forget your picnic backpack, as it can meet all your needs.

Typically picnic baskets are strong dependable containers that are meant to hold meals and snacks of all varieties.   Traditionally, these baskets are made of wicker, although, now a days they are made of many different types of wood and other various materials.  There are even spin offs of your typical basket, like picnic backpacks, which provide a much more portable version of your typical basket.  That being said though, the baskets are normally very spacious and made for serving 2 or 4 people, with enough room for sandwiches, snacks, silverware, your favorite cheese and crackers, and more. Don’t forget to pack a throw or blanket in your basket, also, as a picnic would just not be the same without something to sit on.

In addition, to being used for picnics, picnic baskets can also be used as a much fancier and higher quality version of your typical gift basket.  Just fill them with some fruit, cheese, candy, and more, and then you have the perfect gift for any occasion.  From weddings, to birthdays, to Christmas Gifts, to that Client that did a great job, picnic baskets make an excellent gift for any type of event.

The next time you want to have a picnic or give a gift go out and buy yourself a picnic basket.  You won’t regret it.  And, your guest or gift recipient will see you as the trendsetting fashionable individual that you are.