As you know, some of us are heading to San Diego to the Picnic Bootcamp. Those of you who do picnics, what are some of your best ideas regarding picnics? Food offerings, Marketing, Gimmicks, Games, Entertainment, Activities, etc.

Share them here. When I return, I will share the ideas I picked up in San Diego and we will compare them with the ones listed here.

3 full days of picnic education! It''s a tough job, but somebody''s got to do it!!

Carl

Let me guess, the next level is beach party 101 followed by tailgate 102?

George

Winding up with advanced cocktail parties!

Carl-

I went to a week long conference in Vegas last winter called Catermate 2001 and a lot of the presenters were talking about display cooking non-traditional picnic items on site, and trying to steer your buffet architecture away from dependence upon traditional food containers like hotel pans and domed chafers.
I did a picnic this past spring with a "Go West" theme where I served my food out of hotel pans but I disguised them to look like Conestoga wagons. I had a big batch of Texas-style chili in a kettle keeping warm over a Faux fire. Also, for the display cooking aspect we made S'mores on the spot for the clients and we worked it so that the clients themselves could make their own if they wanted.
Save those grungie old pots and pans that you are thinking about throwing out. Clean up the insides, paint them with copper or gold colored heat proof paint on the outsides and use them for funky looking, rustic buffet pans. Serve chili, BBQ or even crab boil out of them.