Today, they can be in the backyard, at the park, alongside the road (Wisconsin still has Waysides, spots with picnic tables, bathrooms, sometimes with water and permanent grills), or in back of your vehicle before a ballgame.
They can be in potluck (pitch-ins as they say in Indiana) style or someone can "give" a picnic. Sometimes the someone is a something as staffers gather for the traditional Company Picnic.
My favorite thoughts about picnics involve Shake-n-Bake Fried Chicken that Mom would prepare the evening before, then refrigerate and keep cold until serving. Deviled Eggs were good (although I suggest you know the source of those things) and there might be some carrot or celery sticks and butter sandwiches.
Butter sandwiches get around the messiness of buttering bread to eat at lunch and half a butter sandwich provides just what you need to accompany a meal.
Brownies would be my choice for dessert at a picnic - although if it's in the backyard then you might be able to top those tasty gems off with a little ice cream.
Picnics, ultimately, aren't about the food or the fanciness quotient. Picnics are friends and/or families gathering to be together without the formality of an inside dining room table.
At my Grandpa's house there was always plenty of Pepsi-Cola available. I think it was at one of his summer picnics that I had three bottles of Pepsi for the first time! (Kids, ask your parents about 16 ounce bottles and how we used to be required to share them. Yep, it's true.)
Think about one of your picnic memories - and plan one before summer comes to a close.
You'll be glad you did.
And, if you are having some cold Fried Chicken... please save a drumstick for me!
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