*Plates, napkins, eating utensils and glasses.

*Serving utensils, corkscrew and bottle opener.

*Paper towels and/or wet wipes for cleaning up.

*A bag or two to tidy up your trash and bring home your dirty dishes, if you are not using disposables.

*A portable stereo to create that fun ambience.

Follow these tips to make sure your picnic members don’t come down with a bad case of food poisoning and are able to partake of the eatables with convenience.

*Avoid messy or inconvenient-to-eat food like too many gravy-based dishes. Instead stick to non-curry food like chana-kulchas, pulao , biryani or sandwiches, patties, cakes and cookies.

*Use a separate cooler/container for non-perishable items that will require frequent access such as beverages or fruit.

*Hot food should be prepared right before leaving for the picnic and packed in separate containers or casseroles.

*Always prepare and store the food properly. As always, wash hands and work areas before preparing the food. Plan your menu with an eye on safe food handling.

*If you plan to get food packed from outside eg things like fried chicken, eat them within an hour of picking them up.

*If you plan to order food from outside, make sure it is freshly made on the day of the picnic and is not stale.

*Chances are, picnic leftovers have been sitting out for more than an hour or two. Discard these leftovers. Cold food, however, may still be safe.

*The quantity of food should be enough. Since all guests may not arrive at the same time, there should be sufficient eats to go around the whole day.

*The picnic group should not be too large to be unmanageable and not so small that you can’t enjoy some group activities. Usually, a group of 15-20 is comfortable..

*Don’t start signing up people too early. If the event is more than a month away, most people will probably just say yes for the heck of it. Then when the event rolls around they may have something else to do and not show up.

*Limit guests to the immediate family of the guest or one guest if they are unmarried.

*Don’t have a complex schedule of events. Many guests may think the picnic will not be relaxing and stay away.

You can make provision for the traditional games like carrom, snakes and ladders, cards, antakshri, dumb charades, tombola, etc. Or be innovative and think up novel ways to keep your guests entertained with games like ‘identify your spouse’,'cook up a story’ and so on.These can be in addition to the sightseeing, boating or other activities that are on the schedule.Remember, the idea behind a picnic is to get away from the daily grind and have a whole lot of fun ‘n’ frolic. How memorable you make the event depends on you, the exclusive touch you lend to the menu, the ambience you create at the venue and excitement you generate for the group activities.So, along with the picnic basket , pack oodles of punch and pizzazz into your excursion.