Splash into Summer: Breakfast Picnic!

Today’s post is part of the Splash Into Summer series put together by a great group of bloggers. Each week the participating bloggers we will be sharing seven posts related to a specific summer theme. This week’s theme is picnics.

How about a picnic to start the day?

For us, a breakfast picnic is one more way to squeeze even more out of summer (as short as it is in Wisconsin). Morning is typically a time for getting ready for the day and is usually full of “have to-dos” like brushing teeth, showers, making breakfast and getting dressed. Morning can start to feel like an errand during the week.  A breakfast picnic in the yard, on the living room floor or at a park we’ve never been to, before camp, summer school or starting a plain old day is a fun way to mix things up.

This week it’s been too hot to stay outside for very long, even in the early morning, so we stayed close to home. Here’s how we threw it together.

• I filled our veggies and dip tray with chocolate waffle sticks (I just stir cocoa powder in the batter to make them “chocolate”), yogurt, raisins, strawberries, grapes, and dipping syrup.
• We used stirring straws for skewers because everything is better on a skewer when you’re a kid. It turns out that the straws make “grape guts” when you poke it through grapes and then suck up the stuff in the straw; Another plus for P.
• I grabbed napkins, spoons and drinks and headed for the patio.

That’s all the prep. That’s it!  Not bad right? We breakfasted (ooh la la) outside and visited in our PJ’s, enjoying our breakfast picnic.

Pack Your Picnic

1. Prepare some of the food the night before.
2.  Wake up a little earlier so you don’t have to rush.
3. Pack disposable utensils and plates if you’re headed somewhere after your picnic.
4. Choose a location. Make it a field trip to a new place as well as a picnic.
5. Find the special gazebo that’s always in use or a great tree to eat under. Something unique and memorable.
6. Bring your camera!

 Ways to make to make your picnic even more fun

1. Make it a surprise morning picnic. Put the kids to sleep in their clothes for the next day and tell them to be ready for a morning surprise.
2. Have your children pick out what they’ll have for breakfast, be the wait staff, and take your order.
3. Make it dinner for breakfast.
4. Serve breakfast foods from another culture/country.
5. Make food all picnic-themed or summer-themed with lemonade, watermelon, yogurt popsicles, fruit smoothies.
6. Pack your breakfast in a backpack and bike to your picnic place.

I don’t know about your kids, but P always eats better if we’re eating outside. We find ourselves eating outside often and in all sorts of places. What’s your favorite way to picnic? Bon Appétit!

The Splash Into Summer series runs from July 7 through July 27. Check out the other posts in this series from this fabulous group of mommy bloggers:

• Sundays – Colleen from MommieDaze
• Mondays – Tammy from Zucchini Summer
• Tuesdays – Nicole from Momma on Wheels
• Wednesdays – Katie from Gift of Curiosity
• Thursdays – Michelle from The Paper Vine
• Fridays – Terra from Life as a Field Trip
• Saturdays – Amanda from Growing Up Madison