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Labor Day seems to be one of those holidays where anything goes as long as it’s red, white, and blue. Some head to the beach, others relax at a backyard BBQ, and many picnic with friends. Host a unique Labor Day picnic where everyone pitches in with picnic blanket stations that offer food, drink, or an activity for all to enjoy.
Organizing a progressive picnic party
- This party is basically a potluck on picnic blankets with activities thrown in. Picnickers go from one family’s blanket to the next picking up food or drink for their meal and visiting with friends.
- Assign each family one type of food or drink item and request that they provide enough for each person at the picnic.
- Everyone sets up their blankets as a little buffet along with an area for their own family to dine.
- Assign activities to a couple of families such as a craft station or a game hub.
- Decide if the families are going to bring their own utensils, napkins, and plates or designate a family to provide these items as their contribution to the party.
- Remind all to bring trash bags and recycling containers.
- For easy party and potluck planning, send online invitations from Celebrations.com. An RSVP page is created for the invitation that includes cool tools such as a convenient potluck organizer.
Picnic blanket station ideas for food, drink, and activities
Encourage guests to bring their creative best to this party with unique Labor Day picnic blanket spreads that include cold soups, patriotic desserts, red and blue sodas, and some fun Labor Day crafts.
Food station ideas:
- Kid’s favorites — Keep the kids happy with PB&J sandwiches cut into star shapes using a cookie cutter. Have a nice variety of snacks of hand such as goldfish crackers, chips, and pretzels that the kids can munch on throughout the day.
- Cold soups — Serve cold soups in small disposable cups such as a delicious cucumber soup or a cold tomato soup.
- Sensational salads — Give store-bought pasta salad a patriotic touch by using a mini star cookie cutter to make red pepper stars. Include picnic favorites such as a potato salad and green salad, or go gourmet with a cold risotto primavera salad.
- Build your own sandwich — Set up platters of deli meats, cheese, breads, and spreads for all to make their own sandwiches.
- Watermelon stand — Fill a patriotic themed tub with ice and watermelon wedges.
- Dessert bar — Offer a sweet spread of red, white, and blue desserts from the bakery or create a home made treat.
Drink station ideas:
- Watering hole — A big tub of individual bottled waters is a must at any outdoor event.
- Lemonade stand — In keeping with the theme, this would be more of a lemonade spread than a stand. Provide a cooler of lemonade and dress up drinks with frozen strawberries to keep them cool.
- Red and blue soda — Fill a large zinc tub with ice and red and blue sodas for a holiday thirst quencher.
Activity station ideas
- Design a kite — Provide blank kites for the kids to decorate with red, white, and blue markers. If the wind kicks up, fly them!
- Sand box — Create a beach scene at the picnic with a couple of bags of sand on a large blanket along with pails, shovels, and sand toys.
- Red, white, and blue crafts — Keep the kids busy with a craft blanket based on some of the ideas in my article 4th of July Crafts for Children.
- Outdoor Games — Bring favorite outdoor games and sports items such as a Frisbee and soccer ball.
Patriotic paper decorations:
Decorations don’t typically come to mind when you’re planning a picnic. But, you can easily spruce up your spread with red, white, and blue paper accents that you can print yourself or make using designer paper.
Picnic blanket station signs
Ask each family or group to stake a homemade yard sign in the ground with the name of their station such as “The Jones’ Dessert Bar.”
- Take a trip to a local craft store that has a scrapbook paper section and you’re sure to find many patriotic or red, white, and blue paper styles.
- Cut 1-inch wide by 4-inch strips and wrap them around paper napkins with rolled utensils. Secure the strips with tape.
- Cut out star shapes and tape them to the side of a picnic basket.
- Roll up paper and make cones to hold snacks like popcorn or pretzels.
- Make wrappers for cupcakes, drink cups, and anything else that could use a patriotc touch at the picnic.
To find more party planning tips, visit Celebrations.com.
