Picnics are fun because they’re cheap and outdoors (and you spend your life mostly indoors like a lone crab in the seafood section of Safeway). Picnic potluck parties are also fun because they’re cheap.
In San Francisco, you can reserve picnics at https://sfrecpark.org/426/Picnic-Rentals. You can reserve up to 60 days in advance. Reserve fast! Weekends get booked pretty easily, leaving you with picnic spots you might not want.
Activities
What kinds of things can you do at a picnic or a picnic party? It kinda depends where you are. SF is a bit more strict so they don’t allow water balloons, scavenger hunts, or anything that might ~instill fear~ in the public.
Here’s just some ideas of things you can do, some of which are for parties.
- Frisbee
- Potato-sack race
- Three-legged race
- Spoon-in-mouth relay where you’re carrying an egg/ping-pong ball/grape
- Tug of war
- Limbo
- Reverse limbo where you see who can jump highest
- Cornhole
- Not piñatas in SF because you’ll leave shit everywhere
- Not scavenger hunts in SF because you’ll leave hidden garbage on the ground
- Hacky sack
- If you can’t do a water balloon toss you might be able to do something similar with balls or potatoes or something. Use the honor system.
- Frisbee
- That slide-an-Oreo-from-your-forehead-to-your-mouth-using-your-facial-muscles game. You don’t really need to be outside to do this. You can also use Hydrox if you prefer and know where to get it.
- Couple-on-a-newspaper game where you keep folding the newspaper in half to see what’s the minimum area they can stand on.
- Surprise talent show. Make everyone uncomfortable by being put on the spot.
- Bobbing for apples? I’ve never really set that up though.
Party packlist
I always forget things to bring, so I’m listing stuff here.
-
Trash bags to clean up your shit
- Separate recycling bags/bins and signs about what goes where.
- Blankets or tarps because the grass is wet and you don’t want to stain your butt
- A tablecloth if you have your own picnic table
- A wagon to carry everything
- Plates
- Utensils
- Something to hold utensils because you don’t just want it spread out on the table
- Water
- Napkins
- Paper towels, probably.
- Normal towels or rags if the picnic table or area is wet (like it was for us)
- Cups
- Name tags (for a party because no one will ever remember anyone’s names)
- Markers (for name tags but other stuff too)
- Construction paper (for making signs that you forgot to make)
-
Birthday cake stuff if it’s a birthday
- Candles
- A lighter (especially a long one)
- Something to actually cut the cake and serve it. So like a knife and that triangle spatula thing.
- A cup with water for the candles
- A cooler for drinks
- Ice for the cooler
- The picnic permit. You did get a permit, right?
- Charged portable batteries if you’ll be out a while
- A speaker for music (if allowed) so you don’t have to have the air only filled with awkward silence
- A fruit platter. It’s cheap and people need something to snack on before the late people bring the actual food.
- Frisbee?
- Balloons, maybe, for a party.
- Masking tape to label things and maybe tape the balloons down.
- Rope? For limbo, tug-of-war, or probably just in general
- Aluminum foil to cover food from the impending flies and such. Also you’ll need it when bringing food back.
- Probably a fly swatter, realistically
- To-go containers so people can take food home (if it’s a potluck). People might not remember to bring their own containers, and you don’t want to be stuck with the leftover food.
- Knives for cutting watermelon or cakes
- Possibly dish soap (a small amount) if you need to clean knives or serving utensils to reuse them
- A bottle opener or corkscrew if you have anything that needs it
- Resealable bags for bringing back leftover food.
- A party harmonica to get people’s attention (from Nick Gray’s party.pro/harmonica. I didn’t have one, so I just hand-whistled.