Does your family like to go picnicking? If so, are you proponents of picnic blankets or picnic tables? Normal picnic goers have their favourites, you know! Some picnickers are hard and fast picnic blanket people whilst others like to sit at a picnic table. In this piece we will take a look at the pros and cons of picnic blankets and picnic tables.
The first consideration is where are you going to hold this picnic? Is it going to be in your garden, in the country or on the beach? Picnic tables and their chairs do not settle very well in sand, so unless you can nail your table and seats to a set of old skis, you will probably find it easier to use blankets on the beach. In this case, use something that the sand sticks to like wool, because it cuts down on the sand drifting into the sandwiches.
The next consideration is, what was the weather like the day before? That is, is the grass likely to be wet or even muddy? If it is likely to be wet, then you will not want to be sitting on wet blankets and wet grass, although you could lay a waterproof sheet like a tarpaulin under the blanket. However, if it is likely to be muddy, I would be in favour of postponing the picnic until a drier time.
The next thought is the fitness of the people you are going to be picnicking with. Are they physically capable of sitting on the ground and getting back up again? Many elderly people are not, neither are the overweight or people with bad backs or bad knees. If you want to take blankets anyway, you will have to provide chairs for these people and they can eat off their knees.
Another thought is the number of guests that have been invited. Picnic tables usually seat four or six; six or eight at a push, so if you are expecting twenty people, that is quite a number of tables and chairs. Not many households can run to four or five picnic tables and twenty seats, but you could think about having the adults seated at tables and the children on blankets.
If you simply can not get hold of the required number of tables and chairs, perhaps some of your guests could bring their own to supplement what you already have. Most people are fairly willing to chip in if they have anything you can use.
Whether you choose picnic blankets or picnic seats depends on several factors including your own personal preference, but it is probably true to generalize that a younger group of picnicker will probably prefer a traditional picnic on a blanket, when an older group will prefer sitting at picnic tables.
Therefore, in a mixed group of young and old, you ought to supply both picnic blankets and picnic tables roughly in proportion to the number of your guests who are older or younger, say more than and under forty years of age.
The first consideration is where are you going to hold this picnic? Is it going to be in your garden, in the country or on the beach? Picnic tables and their chairs do not settle very well in sand, so unless you can nail your table and seats to a set of old skis, you will probably find it easier to use blankets on the beach. In this case, use something that the sand sticks to like wool, because it cuts down on the sand drifting into the sandwiches.
The next consideration is, what was the weather like the day before? That is, is the grass likely to be wet or even muddy? If it is likely to be wet, then you will not want to be sitting on wet blankets and wet grass, although you could lay a waterproof sheet like a tarpaulin under the blanket. However, if it is likely to be muddy, I would be in favour of postponing the picnic until a drier time.
The next thought is the fitness of the people you are going to be picnicking with. Are they physically capable of sitting on the ground and getting back up again? Many elderly people are not, neither are the overweight or people with bad backs or bad knees. If you want to take blankets anyway, you will have to provide chairs for these people and they can eat off their knees.
Another thought is the number of guests that have been invited. Picnic tables usually seat four or six; six or eight at a push, so if you are expecting twenty people, that is quite a number of tables and chairs. Not many households can run to four or five picnic tables and twenty seats, but you could think about having the adults seated at tables and the children on blankets.
If you simply can not get hold of the required number of tables and chairs, perhaps some of your guests could bring their own to supplement what you already have. Most people are fairly willing to chip in if they have anything you can use.
Whether you choose picnic blankets or picnic seats depends on several factors including your own personal preference, but it is probably true to generalize that a younger group of picnicker will probably prefer a traditional picnic on a blanket, when an older group will prefer sitting at picnic tables.
Therefore, in a mixed group of young and old, you ought to supply both picnic blankets and picnic tables roughly in proportion to the number of your guests who are older or younger, say more than and under forty years of age.
About the Author:
Owen Jones, the author of that article, writes on a number of topics, but is now involved with the Handmade Baby Blanket. If you want to know more, please visit our website at Woollen Blankets.