Summer Picnic Essentials

It’s no secret that we love a good treasure hunt. So, when we found ourselves in need of a few summer picnic essentials to take to the beach we headed out to our favorite thrift stores in what we thought would be an easy search for a picnic basket, plates, blankets and napkins.

We usually have pretty good luck finding things on the treasure trail so I brazenly waited until late last week to find something that would fit our needs. And guess what happened? We went to six different stores and all but came up empty handed! I know! I couldn’t believe it either! With time running out we headed back to store #5 to pick up a set of patriotic inspired melamine dishes to fit our picnic basket and hatched a plan for an easy picnic to take to the beach. Here’s a look at how all the details come together… Affiliate links have been provided for your convenience. You can read our full disclosure policy here)

Once we got home, I start looking through our inventory closet and around the house to see what other thrifted finds we could for our beach picnic and it turns out we had a lot more than I had expected. We picked up this vintage picnic basket a few years ago for about $4. I’m totally obsessed with the ticking it has on the inside too! You can find a similar basket here.

These are the melamine dinner and salad plates we found at the thrift store. The salad plates were $1 for four and the dinner plates were $2 for four. I honestly wasn’t sure about them at first but once we used them I realized they were perfect for our many trips to the beach, marsh, hikes and park. They’re light enough to pack in the picnic basket yet durable all at the same time. I picked up the gingham napkins a few months ago for a couple of dollars. These plates have a similar feel and you can find similar napkins here.

I picked up this vintage tablecloth last year but this one is similar and actually longer than the one I have. It had a grease stain in the middle so I thought I might have to cut it up for pillows but a little bit of Oxi Clean fixed my vintage tablecloth right up. The tablecloth was big enough to use for the food but not enough for us to sit on and eat so just keep that in mind if you decided to do something similar. You’ll likely have to bring a few extra blankets or beach towels to sit on.

We really like to keep things easy when we’re picnicking so we brought some fruit and veggies from home,

picked up a couple of sandwiches and chips on the way (you could make these at home too though),

something refreshing to drink,

and of course, no picnic beach or otherwise is complete without a sweet treat…just sayin.

I’ve started reading this book and so far, it’s really good. It has a decent amount of salty language in it so keep that in mind. I know my closest friends are going to be like, “What the what, CoCo!” because if you ever hear me cussin’ you. better. run. it’s that infrequent ha ha. I’ll try to give a full review of the book once I finish it.

There’s just something so relaxing about being around nature, you guys. I could be outside all the time. Even when the afternoon storms start rolling in which is almost every day from May until October in Florida.

Thankfully, these thrifted picnic plates can be packed up in a jiffy

so I know they’re going to get used a lot during the season.

Besides, getting caught in a summer shower and having to run to the car is part of the fun, right?

See you guys back here tomorrow. I’ll share a super easy patriotic recipe you can eat at breakfast for snack or serve your weekend guests for dessert too. Until next time, I’ll see you on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.

Many blessings,

CoCo