Tips for planning a backyard potluck picnic

The family picnics I remember from the early 1960s usually began with a long, hot car ride to a public park for a full day of softball games, horseshoes and sunbathing with myriad aunts, uncles and pesky cousins. This was merely the prelude to the big event: a late-afternoon supper at wobbly tables dragged close to one of the park's charcoal grills, on which hot dogs and hamburgers sizzled. Bowls and platters of potato salad, baked beans, devilled eggs, coleslaw, chocolate cake, fruit pies and half-melted homemade vanilla ice cream would be laid before us. (Given the lack of refrigeration and the abundance of mayonnaise-based salads, it's a wonder food poisoning doesn't figure into my childhood memories.)

Fast-forward a generation, and today's outdoor meals are more often adult affairs served just outside the patio door, with co-ordinated linens and plates, and all the ambience (and stress) of fancy dinner parties. But there's no reason you can't combine the casual comfort of old-style family picnics with today's convenience of a backyard barbecue (and indoor refrigeration). A potluck picnic held in a garden with plenty of space to spread out can be fun, festive and stress-free, especially when everyone pitches in.

GARDEN PREP
Two days before the event, give the lawn a thorough soaking. Watering on the morning of the picnic means paths and lawn areas will be squishy underfoot. On the big day, water containers and flower beds.

Deadhead spent blooms, stake floppy plants and weed just the front edges of perennial beds if you're short on time. (Remember, it's a picnic, not an inspection by the local horticultural society.) If your beds are looking a bit tired, fill in blank spots by moving in containers from the patio-this will also free up seating areas. Pack up hoses and tools (to prevent accidents), tie brightly coloured yarn to the tops of garden stakes (to make sure no one smelling the flowers gets a poke in the eye) and stabilize teetering steps or loose paving stones (so no one stumbles).

The host family's kitchen will get heavy use, too. Clear space in the refrigerator for salads and entrees that need to be kept cold. Also have on hand extra sunscreen and bug spray, hats and old blankets or rugs for kids to spread on the grass for games and giggling. Make sure you have plenty of propane (or charcoal).

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE FOOD
Traditional favourites are always crowd-pleasers. Here are a few time-saving ideas and special touches for picnic standbys:

• Add slices of fresh lemon to a pitcher of lemonade made from concentrate. Or make ice cubes with a maraschino cherry or two in each ice cube compartment. Keep small bottles of water and juice boxes chilling in a cooler outside to minimize trips into the house.

• Top store-bought chocolate chip muffins with vanilla frosting for quick cupcakes. If your picnic falls on Canada Day weekend, decorate each with small Canadian flags purchased at a dollar store.

• It wouldn't be a picnic without potato salad. Dress up a deli-made version with a chopped hard-boiled egg, diced dill pickles, thinly sliced radishes and chopped fresh parsley.

• No one can resist a homemade cookie or two-or more! Have each family bring a dozen of their family's favourite, along with photocopies of the recipe. Line up the containers on a small table for taste-testing.

SETTING THE SCENE
A potluck picnic may be practical, but it can be pretty, too. Pull a large kitchen table out onto the lawn to allow room for everyone to mill about. A plain white tablecloth sets off brightly coloured, mismatched plates. Garden flowers displayed in simple glass bottles and jars, and a string of swinging paper lanterns overhead add a jaunty note. A visit to the dollar store may yield tea towels or bandanas to use as generous napkins. While you're there, look for large, plastic platters or trays, handy for piling up barbecued chicken, burgers and hot dogs.

If possible, move the barbecue to a secluded area, away from traffic, games and little ones running about. If you're short on seating, ask people to bring their own chairs.

Picnics generate plenty of garbage throughout the day, so line a couple of clean, plastic garbage bins with bags and have an empty box ready for recyclables.

DIVVY UP THE DUTIES
The key to a great neighbourhood or family picnic is sharing the planning and execution. Co-ordinate who's bringing what to the potluck. Kids may like it if everyone ends up bringing a dessert, but planning ahead ensures a wide assortment of mains, sides, appetizers and drinks.

Select one family to host the event-ideally the one with the most space in the back for kids to play, adults to chat, tables for food and a barbecue to grill some simple fare. Other families can take charge of organizing activities for kids, cleaning up at the end of the day and planning evening entertainment.

FUN + GAMES
Organizing activities for children means adults will be able to relax and have a good time, too. Here are some simple games and projects that will make for a memorable day.

• Give the teenagers (or a creative mom or dad) an assortment of face paints and treat the kids to a session of face painting. If it's Canada Day, use white face paint and draw maple leaves on cheeks and foreheads with bright red lipstick. Or follow the garden theme and make butterfly and spider faces.

• Set up a small table with squares of heavy cardboard, sheets of waxed paper and a few bricks for pressing flowers. Let children select four or five blooms (pansies, daisies and ferns work well) and arrange them between two sheets of waxed paper. Place the cardboard on top and below, then put the “press” on a flat surface and weigh it down with bricks. At the end of the evening, they can take their mementoes home.

• Croquet is a game for all ages and it's easy to set up a course, as long as you have a reasonably level playing surface; precise measurements between stakes are not required.

• Hand out small sketchbooks and boxes of crayons, and encourage children to play artist in the garden. As each sketch is finished, clip it to a line of twine strung along a railing for everyone to admire. (Keep crayons out of the hot sun when not in use.)

• In lieu of white tablecloths, cover tables with white craft paper (be sure to tape the edges) and let children loose with the crayons to make one-of-a-kind tablecloths.

LAWN PICK-ME-UP
If too much foot traffic has left your lawn looking downtrodden, these tips will perk it right up. [1] Use a spring-loaded fan rake to fluff it up. [2] Water well. [3] Aerate the most compacted areas using a core aerator while the soil is still slightly moist-wait a couple of hours after you water. [4] Fertilize with a quality lawn food (appropriate for the season). [5] Replace heavily worn areas with new sod, or top-dress and seed (fall or spring) thin areas.

AS TWILIGHT FALLS
A good picnic unfolds at a leisurely pace from the set-up to the food, the squeals of playing children and the slower, quieter mood that falls when the sun begins to set. Plan for a magical send-off with plenty of sparklers to light up the night. Perhaps one of your neighbours has an acoustic guitar and is willing to lead a singalong. And before the coals die down completely (or the gas barbecue is shut down), be sure to roast a few marshmallows for that authentic picnic finale.

HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
Some or all parts of the following plants are poisonous or can cause skin rashes, so keep kids away from them or temporarily move planters to an inaccessible part of the garden. For a more complete listing, see the Canadian Poisonous Plants Information System.

IN THE GARDEN
Monkshood (Aconitum spp.), Lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis), Daphne (Daphne spp.), Delphinium, Bleeding heart (Dicentra spp.), Foxglove, Hellebore (Helleborus spp.), Honeysuckle, Hydrangea, Holly (Ilex spp.), Morning glory (Ipomoea spp.), Iris, Privet (Ligustrum spp.), Lupine, Virginia creeper, (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), Rue (Ruta spp.), Potato (Solanum tuberosum)-the above-ground parts, Yew (Taxus spp.), Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica), Wisteria

ON THE PATIO
Angels' trumpets (Brugmansia spp.), dieffenbachia spp., Oleander (Nerium oleander), Castor bean (Ricinus communis) -Anne Marie Van Nest