Keep Picnic Tables and Baskets out of Storage
Jul 21st, 2010 by Kathy
Nearly everything, including the way we dress and decorate, the tools and equipment we use, the food we eat, the places we go, and even the way we live, changes with the seasons. Consequently, many of our possessions are stored in garages, sheds, attics, and cedar chests, for the better part of the year.
Right now, for example, patio furniture, grills, picnic tables and baskets, shorts, tank tops, lawn games, and mowers, are being used or worn every day. Two months from now, however, we’ll be packing them up, and getting out our warm clothes, rakes, and fall decorations.
Even those who live in regions where the weather barely changes throughout the year, have to adjust to the seasons. The only difference is that they don’t have quite as many things to put into storage; and that’s good. After all, it’s sad when something that has been indispensable for months, suddenly becomes a worthless object that’s merely taking up space.
So, it’s always nice to find ways to be able to use things beyond their traditional seasons. For instance, many people who live in cold climates enclose their porches, patios, and gazebos, so that they can enjoy their porch furniture year-round. Millions of people have also decided that their Christmas lights, rather than being buried in boxes, should be strung around their arbors, trellises, and pergolas, to add permanent sparkle to their outdoor décor.
Picnic baskets, too, can be functional all year long; yet, people usually put them away at the end of summer. That’s a shame, because they sometimes get dirty or damaged, or even gnawed by rodents, during the winter (the baskets, that is, not the people – or so one hopes). Furthermore, like the other types, picnic baskets are attractive, and available in different designs and colors; and they can serve a number of purposes.
Therefore, it doesn’t make sense to keep them hidden away, especially if you have more than one picnic basket, as many people do. Keep one on your porch or deck, near your favorite lounge chair, and use it to hold magazines, board games, knitting supplies, binoculars and bird books, or anything else that you want to have handy.
In your pool house, you can fill picnic baskets with towels, tanning lotion, bug spray, hairspray (just don’t get those two mixed up!), or other health and beauty products, for guests to use. Larger baskets can hold extra blankets or outdoor throw pillows, for those chilly nights when you’re lying in your hammock or swingbed, gazing at the stars. At backyard parties, put them on your outdoor buffet table, to hold napkins and utensils.
Of course, you can always use picnic baskets in your kitchen. Fill them with snack foods, such as cookies, crackers, nuts, protein bars, and even cereal, rice, and beans (as long as they’re sealed in plastic bags). You can also keep napkins and tablecloths in them.
In the summer, drape some cloth napkins in pretty patterns, such as gingham, around the edges of the picnic basket, and put a bouquet of dried flowers on top. Use russet-colored napkins and, perhaps, dried leaves or Indian corn, in the fall. At Christmastime, use red and green napkins, along with any of the multitude of seasonal decorations. When spring comes around, try flowered or pastel napkins, and some colorful flowers.
Truly, if you let your creativity flow, you’ll think of a hundred uses for picnic baskets. If you can save just one of them from the jaws of a rodent, it will be worth it.
Yours Outdoors,
Kathy
