Some things in life just seem to go together flawlessly. Coffee and donuts, peanut butter and chocolate, these are just a few of those blissful combinations… If you ask me, I think picnics and beaches are one of those flawless combinations. So I tested out this little theory of mine out on Sunday and, surprise surprise, I found it to be true!
And what’s even better than beaches and picnics? Enjoying that dreamy combination with a good friend! I had the wonderful opportunity to do everything I love in this life that day.. Travel to Lake Erie, soak up a little sunshine, take pictures and catch up with one of my friends, Noelle! There’s some people in this life who effortlessly get your style and I feel like Noelle totally gets mine. Which is why altogether I’m so happy we brought this little collab idea we thought of to life! So if you’d like to see how it all came together, read on about how to put together a boho summer picnic on the beach. And after you read about it, go give Noelle a follow on Insta for all those boho beachy vibes you need in your life. đ
How to Put Together a
Boho Summer Picnic on The Beach
Putting together a cute little picnic doesn’t necessarily have to require a lot of thought and planning. I know most people probably want an easy process, as do I most of the time! So I’m hoping to break the process we went through down to a couple brief steps. Hopefully in doing so you’ll be well on your way to creating your version of what the perfect picnic looks like to you! And if you don’t live near a beach? Just find a beautiful lake or pond nearby! As long as you’re by a small body of water to cool down, I promise it’ll be a great way to spend the summer day. And want to know a funny little fact? The pictures you’ll see below weren’t even taken at a beach but in fact, Presque State Park! See what I mean? You totally don’t need the beach!
What to Bring on a Boho Picnic..
1. Food
For Noelle and I, we decided to go with a brunch style menu. We also wanted to keep the food light and focus mainly on treats. (Because this girl has a major sweet tooth, and theres no sign of it slowing down!) Keeping all this in mind, we decided to go with donuts, flower pressed cookies and chocolates. Of course you can bring much more food than we did on your picnic but we were aiming for a very simplistic menu.
When planning what food to bring, I suggest you pick a theme to stick to. From there, it’s very simple to put a variety of foods together! You could go with lunch and stick to finger foods or simply serve appetizers. Just go with whatever you’re in the mood for! I think a southwest menu with homemade tortilla chips and margaritas would be a great option for a hot summer evening! Before we move onto what else to bring, I’d love to take the time to talk about the amazing businesses who gifted us with our goodies for the picnic!
Relish Pittsburgh
To kick things off I first want to talk about is Relish, a Pittsburgh donut shop who’s donuts happen to be vegan! Relish’s donuts are also gluten-free, so for everyone on the GF diet, you can rejoice! As you can see from the photos, her donuts are beautiful! So much so, I almost don’t want to eat them.. Their also very thick and sweet. I cannot recommend enough these sweet donuts, Noelle and I really enjoyed eating them on our picnic!
A519 Chocolate
It never ceases to amaze me how much talent Pittsburgh holds and A519 Chocolates is a perfect example of this. They exist to create chocolate truffles with a look inspired by modern art, I mean how cool is that? Amanda worked with me to create a beautiful custom box of chocolates that fit the pastel color scheme of our picnic. What I loved most about the chocolates, was the pretty gold accents on the top! If you’re ever in need of chocolate truffles that have a little flair to them, I recommend you give A519 a try. I’m currently still enjoying a couple of my leftover chocolates from our shoot the other day. They’re equally as good as they look, friends!
Sift and GatherÂ
While this talented baker isn’t from Pittsburgh, I was determined to find a way for us to collaborate! We had met through Facebook and instantly loved one another’s work, so we knew it was meant to be. Sift & Gather is a business with a very creative concept. Not only are they a bake shop but they’re also a co-working space! How cool is that? She specializes in cakes but we knew that obviously couldn’t be mailed so she was so gracious to make us beautiful flower pressed cookies instead! I felt they went together seamlessly with the boho vibe and they tasted amazing too.
Decor/Other Essentials:
Now here comes the decorating part! I’m sure many of you won’t be totting around all kinds of decor but there are a couple things that I think would make a great addition to your picnic. Besides, who wants a boring setup? You’re already putting in the effort deciding on a menu and traveling to a nice spot, so you might as well bring along a little decor. Let’s talk about what decor I think is worth it to bring along!
Julie James Design
To start, you simply cannot go without a bouquet of flowers! Noelle and I were blown away by the beautiful arrangement Julie of Julie James Design made for our picnic. She does absolutely amazing work and was such a delight to work with! We had a lot of fun going back and forth figuring out what flowers to use in this arrangement. Greens like eucalyptus tend to be overdone when it comes to boho shoots so we went with a couple other unique options. In the end, I think it turned out beautiful. Flowers can make all the difference when it comes to decorating. Sometimes they’re all you need, in fact!
Other Essentials:
Other than a little decor, like flowers and candle sticks, you’ll also need a comfortable setup to sit on. There are many options from towels, to blankets, but we ultimately went with rugs. Since neither one of us had a large rug, we decided to lay out a couple mis-matched area rugs and I think the end result looked great! You can find affordable options like these from Target, in fact that’s where both my rugs are from. To make the setup a little extra cozy, I recommend bringing a couple throw pillows and a blanket too.
When it comes to what to lay your food out on, there are many things you can do. A low coffee table will probably work best but if you don’t have one or don’t want to haul something like that, a stool would work fine! Noelle brought her’s from Home Goods and we draped a macramĂ© table runner on it to add extra texture. This is where we laid out the donuts on a tray. Other random items you’ll want to bring along are a couple trays and cutting boards for food, cups, plates and silverware if needed. From there, the rest is up to you! I’ll leave you with this however: Think outside the box and just look around your home. Chances are you already have everything you need for a picnic at home. Just adapt and work with what you have! Putting together a picnic shouldn’t be costly or require a lot of effort. With that being said, I wish you all an amazing summer and hope you go on a fun picnic sometime soon!
