Ready-to-Go Picnic: How to Reduce Stress and Have More Fun

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Picnics can be a lot of fun, but sometimes it can be stressful to plan everything and try to remember if you grabbed it all, especially if you have kids. I know we have definitely tried to do the impromptu picnic with all the best intentions to suddenly find ourselves stressed out, trying to find everything and then realizing we forgot something 🤦🏻‍♀️.

This year, we decided to make our picnics way less stressful and more fun. With that in mind… I began to make a ready-to-go picnic bin that was prepped just like we do for camping. Our ready-to-go picnic bin is one (1) tote that carries all of our basic needs for a picnic. There is no fancy picnic basket, just a tote (and a cooler with the food and drinks we want). The best part for doing it this way is that I can pick each item I want. Check it out!

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What to put in your picnic tote/basket:

I like to have of washable items vs disposable for my ready to go picnic bin. I especially don’t like to have plastic disposable things because one (1) they break really easily, and two (2) I just don’t like the waste. It’s not that much more to bring it home, load it into a washer, clean it up, and store it away in the tote for next time.

Of course, if it’s easier for you to use disposable items, that is totally up to you, the idea is to create a ready-to-go picnic bin/basket that is as stress-free as possible for YOU.

These are the items I keep in my tote for easy-to-go picnic fun:

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Sterilite 16qt Storage Bin

I love these bins because they’re clear so when I don’t need my ready-to-go picnic bin right away (like in the winter) I can put in storage, easily stack them, and see what’s in them, without needing to label them. They’re also really affordable.

If you need something heavy-duty instead these storage bins are great. You can put heavier items in and stack more. I would not stack heavy items in the other ones.

Tablecloth or Blanket

I bought a 60″ X 84″ oblong cotton gingham tablecloth for our ready-to-go picnic bin. It’s nice and soft so you can sit on it on the ground or lay them on a picnic table (I found the 60″ X 84″ to fit pretty much every picnic table we sit at). They’re also washable, so I’m not buying a new one every time I want to go on a picnic.

I recently got this camping blanket by Willie Hoo’s Trading Post and have fallen in love with it. It’s Waterproof, Lightweight, and perfect for Backpacking, Camping, Hiking, and Traveling in general. It comes in Black and dark olive green. This is more universal for those of you who like items that pull double duty.

Plates

For this one, you can buy a bunch of paper plates if you prefer (you just have to make sure you keep track of them so you can re-fill when needed). I like to use the Corelle Dinner Plates in my ready-to-go picnic bin because they’re, of course, dishwasher safe, but they’re also chip and break-resistant. I can attest to the break resistance, I have 5 kids and oh boy do they test that.

Another eco-friendly option are these Ecozoi Palm Leaf Plates. They are made with 100% natural palm leaves. So unlike paper plates or bamboo plates, these are not harvested but collected from naturally fallen leaves. I’ve tried them and they are very sturdy (I mean they hold up to pasta).

Napkins

Again, for me, it’s about trying to limit our waste, so I have washable 100% cotton napkins. I honestly love the sort of “matchy” look that it offers with the tablecloth and it just screams Americana Picnic. As with this entire list, it’s about ease so if paper napkins are your preference, grab those and put them in your picnic bin.

Cutlery Set

Any of the below options would work. There’s a couple of washable options or just like the pates… you can buy compostable one. Totally up to you.

40-piece Stainless Steel Kitchen Flatware

So I actually bought this 40-piece Stainless Steel Kitchen Flatware set with an organizer for 8. Since we don’t always need a fork or spoon or knife, it doesn’t really make sense to always store it in the bin. I love the convenience of grabbing what I need and going. The organizer is actually in a drawer so when we do the dishes we can just put them in there and if we need them, we can quickly grab them and put them in my ready-to-go picnic bin.

Optional Grill Items

We usually try to grill something so we like to have a couple of items we know we will always need with our portable grill.

Ours is a propane grill so we always have a few Propane Fuel Cylinders that attach to the grill.

We also need grill lighters for our grill as well.

Don’t want to deal with Propane? You can grab an electric one instead. I’ve been eyeing this one from Weber with the stand (but you can buy it without the stand as well). The only thing is that you need to make sure you can plug it in somewhere… otherwise, it’s pointless to bring.

If you really just want a basket/bag already done…

I get it, some of you don’t want to have to find things and go through all of that… well, if you want it ready to go… check out this backpack I found. I didn’t have a family of 7, I would have probably done this. But honestly, I love my ready-to-go picnic bin and will stick with it for a while.

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Now you’re ready to go!

If you take a picture of your ready-to-go picnic bin, tag me on Instagram or Facebook, @jenngiamsmith #JennGiamSmith. Or share it on this post’s Pinterest Pin, so I can see what you do for your ready-to-go picnic bin/basket!

Here is some of the fun we’ve had with our ready-to-go picnic.