Simplified Summer Picnic

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and The Coca-Cola Company. All opinions are mine alone.#BestSummerMemories #CollectiveBias

Hey Hey! We had such a great Mother’s Day weekend and I hope you did too!!! The kids and I put a little Summer picnic together that turned out so so so cute. We all LOVE being outside when the weather is nice with some tunes playing and just generally enjoying life together. Recently, I was in CVS (lucky me, I have one basically right across the street from my house!) and noticed the “Share a Coke and a Song” Diet Coke® 20 oz. bottles. And as is apt to happen to a creative brained person like me, an idea was born!

I decided we needed to have a fun picnic with music as a running theme! The Diet Coke bottles I chose have such fun Summer song lyrics on them, I even found one of my daughter’s favorite songs. Perfect. Once I bought my kiddos each a bottle of their own, I decided to have a little fun with the picnic. My general rule for the “Perfect Picnic” is to not make things too fussy.

 

 

 

 

 

A few weeks ago I found a $1 retro picnic basket at a yard sale. It actually came with a faux loaf of bread, which made me laugh, a lot. I’m easily entertained.

 

I used a chalky finish paint to paint the lower half of the basket, to lighten it up and give it a dipped effect. Then I used a small section of Balsa wood from the craft store to make a plaque for the basket. I also used a chalky finish paint in black, then I used my Cricut to make an extra special message for the plaque.

This song is so special to me! Music connects us to people and memories so easily. I sang this song at my own Kindergarten graduation and as my youngest, Sophia 6, is headed toward Kindergarten graduation I just couldn’t help myself. My Paw-Paw (yeah we call them that in the deep South 😉 ) used to walk around with his hands in his overall pockets whistling this song. I have so many reasons to love it so it was an easy choice for me. Once my paint was dry I used transfer tape to put the vinyl lettering on the plaque.

Then I decided we should have some fun little utensil pouches that hang on our drinks. This makes grabbing everything with one hand at a picnic so easy! I made these little pouches in less than 25 minutes! I just went to Canva and made the “EAT DRINK SING” graphic then printed it on regular printer paper. I centered it in landscape then printed a few out. I turned it over to the back side, folded the bottom up and each side in to make a little pouch. I glued the back flaps together, used a hole punch and threaded some twine through and knotted it. Then I stuck a folded napkin, plastic utensils and a drinking straw in and used the twine to hang it on our Diet Coke bottles. Easy peasy! You can download that FREE Printable HERE.

 

And of course, you can’t forget the food at a summer picnic!! I made these SUPER EASY Shrimp sandwiches that my family DEVOURED. They are VERY VERY LOOSELY Shrimp Po’Boy inspired. Being from Louisiana living in West Virginia, you can’t exactly get the real deal but these work in a pinch and with little effort. Recipe is at the bottom of this post! I wrapped our sammies in wax paper and tied with twine, so easy but so cute! We also cut up apples and cheese for our picnic which are easy and always a hit with my fam.

 

We headed out with a blanket, a lightweight table, a vase of flowers and set it all up. The first thing we did was start our Summer Picnic playlist on my iPhone. Then we set up our table, blanket and pillows. Here’s a short playlist that we love listening to! Something for everyone!

 

 

Making these kind of simple Summer memories with my family is so important to me. Without spending much money or going miles and miles out of my way, we have memories we’ll never forget! You should definitely check out the Best Summer Ever Deals at your local CVS. You can buy 2 20oz. bottles of Coca-Cola™ products for only $3! Just stop in and grab them on the way to you’re picnic! You can also download the Shazam App to get your Coca-Cola Share a Song.

What Summer songs are you listening to while making the Best Summer Ever memories at your Summer Picnic?

Summer Picnic Po’Boy Inspired Shrimp Sandwiches

 

Ingredients

• Frozen Popcorn Shrimp
• Buns (any kind you like!)
• Lettuce
• Purple Onion
• Slices of Tomato
• Remoulade Sauce

Instructions

1. Bake your Popcorn Shrimp as your package directs you to.
2. Put a little butter in a skillet and brown your buns, this adds amazing flavor to these sandwiches!
3. Slice your lettuce, tomatoes and onion.
4. Slather your Remoulade on each bun then start stacking your ingredients on, shrimp poppers last.
5. Once your sandwiches are made it’s nice to wrap them in wax paper then tie with some twine. This makes them very portable for your Picnic!