Hosting a Themed Gathering

If you’re planning an outdoor gathering, consider hosting a themed picnic. Here are some suggestions to make your next picnic a memorable one: • “Host a cowboy picnic,” suggests Kelsey Ullman, a mother of three in Hopkinton, Mass. (pop. 13,346). “Create invitations with photos of guests and write Wanted over the pictures. Suggest dressing in denim with bandanas and boots. If you can, provide inexpensive cowboy hats.” Play country-and-western CDs while serving barbecued ribs, baked beans and grilled vegetables.

• Go Italian with red, white and green decorations. Serve cold cuts in focaccia bread layered with cheese and tomatoes. Toss cubed mozzarella with green and red peppers for a colorful salad. Play a game of “Capture the Italian Flag” and listen to classics such as “That’s Amore” and “Arrivederci Roma.”
• Make your picnic “Out of this World.” Serve food on sheets of silver Mylar, cover bowls with tin foil, and use star and moon stickers to decorate black paper plates and cups. Munch on Flying Saucers (individual pizzas) and Martian tomatoes, sliced and served on a plate that resembles the red planet. For dessert, cover a pound cake with white frosting and sprinkle with crumbled chocolate sandwich cookies for “moon dust.” Turn a game of tag into “Catch the Space Explorer.”
• Celebrate the Earth with a “Planet Green” theme. Buy recycled party goods or use utensils and plates you’ll wash and reuse. Serve fruits and vegetables grown in your own garden or purchased from a local farmers market. Guests can plant a tree together or clean up a local park.
• If you live near a beach, lake or pool, consider a “Seashore Picnic.” Ask guests to wear beach clothes and sunglasses. Sit on colorful beach towels, nibbling Goldfish crackers and shell pasta salad. If your budget permits, have a clambake. Play beach volleyball or build a sandcastle together.

Whatever the theme, be sure to take plenty of pictures so you can remember the fun.

Mari S. Gold is a freelance writer in New York

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