Memory – A Winter Picnic

Has the long winter gotten to you? If you have very young children in your home, try the excitement of a winter picnic. We had fun with it when our children were small.

You need to work on the menu, the serving place, and the “setting.”

My home is not terribly big. I decided to use my biggest room for the serving place. I chose a blanket we use for sitting on the grass as my “picnic tablecloth.” I served the food on paper plates as we generally do for picnics.

The menu is yours to decide. Whatever your family typically enjoys on picnics will add to the aura of your experience. We had “Fun Buns” and gelatin. Fun Buns are a yeast bread baked in a 8-9 inch round cake pan. After baking, slice the bread sideways to make a top and bottom of the bun. Barbecue, pizza burger or cheese burger fillings go great for the sandwich filling. Before serving, cut the bun/sandwich in wedges.

Typically for a picnic, the setting has trees, flowers, rivers or ponds and even some small creatures. So, for our picnic, I looked for ways to emulate such a view. I placed our indoor plants in conspicuous places where the family would see them on our picnic. Because some plants did not have blooms, I stuck stems of artificial flowers in with the green plants to spruce up the scenery. I gathered small mirrors into one place to fashion a ”pool.” Bath toys served as fish or ducks for the “pond.” I gathered various armfuls of stuffed animals hid them behind furniture and lamps. After eating, we went on a safari hunting for the animals. We all had a fun time with our pretend “winter picnic.”