Ideas for Presenting a Picnic nicely?

Lillibet_2

Hi everyone

Next week is Spud's 1st birthday & we are having a birthday picnic the following Sunday for 10 people plus 2 small children.

I've got the food in hand :

Cold roast duck
Salmon plait
Whole brie
Whole stilton
Mixture of rolls
Pasta salad
other chopped salad mix type thing
Friend is bringing fruity type pudding
Indvidual fairy cakes with happy birthday on them instead of a big birthdaycake

Wine
Soft drinks


My question is how to present it nicely in a picnic freindly way? We will be at ground level on blankets, no tables etc. We will be in Bushy park so will need to carry it far enough to be away from the fumes & busyiness of the car park.

I would ideally like to carve the duck there but this isn't very pratical, but a tupperware box of cut meat doesn't look very appetising. Also I would like to present the salmon plait whole on a platter & let people slice themselves rather than pre cut it as it tends to fall apart.

I was thinking of splashing out & getting the little bottles of wine & little nice bottles of soft drinks & giving everyone a straw instead of glasses, plus I would prefer to use disposable plates etc instead of having to lug a ton of washing up home but this of cours eis neither OS, pocket or environmentally friendly.

Any improvements/suggestions please???


Thanks;)

scuzz

I think the main thing is just a nice blanket to sit on

I shouldn't worry about putting everything out on plates and things, owing to ants and flies

I'm sure everyone will appreciate what you've done as the food sounds yummy

(can I come:D ?)

annie-c

I think that a picnic is supposed to be a bit 'jumbled up' - it kind of goes with the territory.

If you want to display things nicely then what about getting those silver foil catering platters to lay the food out on. May be have 3-4 picnic blankets to sit on arranged round 1 central blanket (or table cloth?) with all the food displayed on it.

Little bottles of wine etc sounds lovely but might limit people's choice - eg they might want a small glass of wine, plus water etc? You can get lovely wines in screwtop bottles these days, so I would prob go for standard size of Tesco finest if you want pretty and coordinated....

A nice touch might be to have a few helium balloons (weighted down with small party/sweet bags for the little ones to take home?)

The food sounds delicious!

tranmererovers

I was watching Jamie Oliver the other morning and he made platters using empty cereal boxes and covering them with tinfoil - they were really sturdy and could be thrown away after eating.

Smartprice paper plates in Asda are really cheap - if y ou want to jazz them up you could put some decoration on the edges with coloured pencils / pens.

Have a nice day

elona

Try the Pound shops for paper plates and cups - sometimes they even have foil platters as well.

Churchmouse

Lillibet, I think your picnic sounds great!! I'd certainly be happy to attend. I think occasionally we are entitled to forget OS and money saving, and just go with what will enhance the celebration!:D

Agree the salmon plait would look lovely on those silver disposable platters and whilst you need to carve the duck at home you could transfer it to another platter once "on site". Would look nicer than a tupperware container. But having said that, with that quality of food I'd eat it from newspaper!:rotfl: Beats a sandwich and a sausageroll hands down!:D

Drinkswise I'd say either way. Little bottles would be fun, but more expensive. If you got normal sized bottles you'll need to provide glasses. The plastic ones are really very good these days and look very like normal glass wine glasses, but again add to costs. But it is just once!

So I'd say so long as you can afford it, go with whatever is easiest and most pleasurable for you. You're good 99% of the time, you're allowed to indulge for once!:D

Jay-Jay_4

Oooh, I'm good at this I've catered many a wedding and I've prepared platters for the Mayor and all his cronies on numerous occasions. The main thing I would say for presentation is lots of colour in the way of salads and garnishes.

For a whole poached salmon I skin it, both sides (don't worry too much about making a mess) and arrange with it's back slightly arched on a silver platter. Then I slice cucumber with a mandolin and lay it over like scales. Start at the tail and add them towards the head. Then arrange lots of ripped lettuce around the platter and place alternate slices of tomato and lemon around the rim. I sometimes use the space beneath its belly to pile a load of prawns on OR I place a bowl or two of seafood sauce in the space.

Serve the top of the salmon then remove the whole backbone to serve the rest.

I would cut up your duck and present it in th esame way. Get a silver platter and arrange lettuce around the edge towards the middle. Pile the meat in the centre of the flat and garnish around the edges (but spilling onto the duck) julienned spring onion, cucumber and carrot. Make a hole in the middle of the duck and put in a dish of hoi sin sauce or a cherry and red wine sauce.

Penny-Pincher!!

I always think cotton napkins are much posher than the paper ones!

My mum has a picnic basket on wheels and has all the posh stuff in it. Also has a wine attachment to it to pull it along

Have a great day and Happy Birthday Spud:D....cant believe he is a year old already...times flies!

PP
xx

Lillibet_2

Hi Everyone

Thanks, I think the disposable foil platters are the way forward, thanks for suggesting them:D I am now off to look at tesco wine & see if I can use a points coupon on the mini bottles!
I think it has to be paper plates as I just can't risk transporting my now discontinuned dinner service and don't have enough proper plates in my retro posh picnic set. But I can supply pleanty of real napkins:D & some nice blankets, prehaps with the food laid out on a nice tablecloth matching the napkins:D And I can run to real cutlery, the plastic stuff is always a disaster anyway:rolleyes:

Thanks everyone;)

annie-c

Hope Spud had a lovely party - did the picnic go down well??? :j

pickle

While we're on the subject of picnics I was looking for a picnic set and a lot of them were quite expensive but recently found a complete set of blue plastic picnicware for 4 people for £2.50 (can't remember the pence exactly) at ASDA. I also found a 1.8l thermos (with two cups) at LIDL for £4.95. Bargain!