Picnic Date

Posted onAuthorJoyce Moy

*Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

With the busy rhythm of work and family life, it can be hard to squeeze in some couple time, but we have been lucky to have our church offer dinner and childcare for the kiddos once a month so we can have a date night. It’s so important to have this time together. I’ve heard so many times that the home sometimes becomes like a workplace because we are scheduling activities and working through those checklists and bills. We’ve had seasons when we couldn’t get out of the house often, but there’s definitely ways to connect like those dating years…okay, maybe not exactly, but our family will definitely benefit from us putting our marriage as a priority.

I’m not a good planner when it comes things like this so with a quick search online, I found this super duper helpful post and changed a few things to our preferences! 🙂

We are typically NOT picnic people, but we were yesterday! We are foodie wannabes so our usual M.O. is just to have dinner at a restaurant, which is great, but since the weather has been nice, I picked up a few things from Trader Joe’s (although you can buy from whatever is your fave store!) and we headed to the lake (but you can choose any cozy spot you want, even your own backyard!). Besides the bugs (and their bites) and a stalker-ish man, it was lovely.

🍇🍋🧀🍫🍾<– there’s no emoji for sparkling french berryade but it was bubbly 🐕🐦🐜🐜🐜🌼⚘🌳🌳🌳🌅🐢

The Goodies – mostly from Trader Joe’s

  • Green Seedless Grapes ($3) (we had this already)
  • Golden Rounds Crackers ($2)
  • Salami + Cheese ($2.50)
  • Goat Log Wild Blueberry ($4.50)
  • Prosciutto ($5)
  • Dried Apricots ($4.50)
  • Soft Juicy Mango ($2)
  • Meyer Lemon Cookie Thins ($4)
  • Milk Chocolate S’mashing S’mores ($4)
  • Sparkling French Berryade ($3)

Here it is on the plate. Emily helped me set it all up so we wouldn’t have to deal with packaging at the lake. I don’t have a fancy wooden cutting board so I used one of my favorite Dayspring items – *Daily Grace platter. As you can see, except for the salami and cheese, we didn’t even use half of all the items. I actually did bring the crackers and dried fruit with us in their containers and we ended up going through more crackers but not the fruit. It would be the perfect amount if I bought 1-2 smaller items (or one bigger item) and we were picnicking with 4 others.

 

To secure all of this, I used some plastic wrap, which we seem to have a never-ending amount of because we NEVER use it…for anything!…But we have it just in case. :p If you had a picnic basket or something else, you may prepare it in a different way. Don’t forget to bring plates, cups (we used mason jars because they have a bigger/sturdier bottom), something to spread the cheese if you have spreadable cheese, and napkins/paper towels. I also had some of the items in zip-top bags so contain crumbs or anything else dirty on the platter, spreader, and jars.

The Location – Lake Chabot

It was seriously the perfect weather for a picnic. We’ve had some odd weather in recent months and we never know what kind of weather each evening would bring. I used to come here all the time in high school (for our group’s year-long chem class project), but we always seem to forget about this lovely place and that it is only 10 minutes from our house. We saw another couple picnicking and so we chose a nearby spot at the other side of the grassy area. Since we don’t usually go to Lake Chabot on a weekday evening in the summer, we weren’t sure if other spots would already be taken up.

 

We’ve only taken the girls once, but if you have kiddos who won’t jump overboard, paddleboating is a fun activity at the lake. It could be a nice date too. It was actually our first day at Stow Lake in San Francisco.

Are you a picnic person? What is a fun date you’ve been on?

Supplies + Other links (many of these are affiliate links):

Sidenote: The 52 Dates for Two pack from The Dating Divas was part of one of the Ultimate Homemaking Bundles I bought, so we are using some of the ideas to plan our dates. I’ll try to share as much as I can about the resources that come with the bundles, because I think, even if you don’t use all of the ebooks and/or courses in the bundles, they are such a great resource. If you are interested in the topic of photography, make sure to sign up to be notified when it is available to purchase. Sign up to be notified of the *photography bundle HERE. OR if you are a blogger or know lots of people interested in the topic, you can even sign up to be an affiliate and you can make a percentage when others purchase from them. *Sign up to be an affiliate HERE.

*Note: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a tiny percentage if you make a purchase through my link at no extra cost to you. Read my disclosure policy here.