Picnic Any Time of the Year - Fall Picnic Tips

When planning a Fall picnic for your family, you want to make sure that you have all the ingredients to make the outing the best possible. You want to have everything to ensure that the entire family has a fun filled, stress free day, full of good times and laughter. So to help make this day successful I have laid out some tips to help your day go as smoothly as possible.

Tips For a Fall Picnic

1. Plan ahead: Make arrangements ahead of time to ensure that you are not running around last minute trying to figure everything out and gathering everything the morning of your outing. Being prepared ahead of time will get your day started out nice and smoothy so you can relax with everyone else without being overly stressed.

2. Pick your location: Choose a location that will ensure the family a fun filled and safe day. State Parks are a great location for Fall picnics. Make sure that you take proper precautions if you have small children. For instance... You don't want to plan a picnic on a cliff when you have a toddler in tow. You will end up spending the day trying to ensure that your child is not getting too close to the edge.

3. Be Safe: As stated above, make sure that your location is appropriate for all ages of the family members attending. Make sure that there are plenty of eyes to keep an eye on small children especially near cliffs, water and busy roads and thick wooded areas.

4. Waterproof picnic blanket: Make sure you have a waterproof picnic blanket with you because in the fall you may find that in your picnic area, the ground may be moist. If you don't have a waterproof picnic blanket, you can use a tarp instead. Just lay the tarp down on the group and lay your blankets on top of the tarp to help keep the moisture from coming through your blanket.

5. Stay hydrated: Bring plenty of liquids to keep you and your family hydrated throughout the day. Water is best but you can also freeze juice boxes and put them along side foods that need to stay cool, and then by the time that you are ready for the juice box it should be thawed enough to drink but yet it will still be nice and cold for a cool refreshing drink.

6. Keep it on ice: Keep all perishable foods on ice to avoid possible food poisoning. Perishable foods should not remain above 40 degrees for more than a couple hours at most. If in question, throw it out!

7. First Aid Kit: This is something that you should keep with you at all times because you never know when you will need it. You should always keep a full size, fully loaded First Aid Kit in your car and it is always helpful to have at least a small one on you at all times when you are having a picnic, camping or hiking.

8. Camp Chairs: Camping chairs are always a nice addition to your picnic supplies. Not everyone likes getting down on the ground for a picnic, or you may have a family member that is not able to sit on the cool ground. Camp chairs are very portable and affordable.

9. Think Ahead: If you are going into the woods or mountains, make sure you let someone that you trust, know where you are going and when you plan to return. This will ensure that if you have any problems or get injured and you have no way to contact anyone, that someone will be sent to find you if you don't return when you were suppose to. Remember, your cell phone may not get service where you are or your battery may die. FYI, if your battery ever dies on your cell phone, take the battery out and put it back in and that will give you enough time to make an emergency call. If you need to make an emergency call make sure you say HELP and state your location immediately in case the call drops.

With all these great tips, you should be set for a safe and fun filled Fall adventure. Just remember to get everything together and prepared early so you will be able to get up the morning of your outing and not have to rush about, trying to pull everything together last minute. No need to get stressed out. If you need help with the plans or getting everything together, don't hesitate to ask a family member to lend a hand.