If you’re a big fan of the outdoors, picnics are a great way to enjoy the wonders of nature while having some tasty food too!
Now, before you call up some friends and family for your big iconic bash, you’ll need to plan out a good menu. Picnics don’t need a full-course meal; some simple foods like sandwiches should do just fine, but you might want to think a little more about your desserts.
No picnic is quite complete without treating your guests to some sweet treats to tie up the event together. You could choose to have just one dessert at your event, but a selection of good picnic dessert ideas can help liven things up a bit.
So now let’s take a look at seven lovely picnic dessert ideas that you can include in your next big picnic event.
1. Brownies
Brownies are some of the best desserts you can have at a picnic. They’re easy to prepare, you can decorate them in fun ways, and they don’t take up too much space on your picnic table.
You can also prepare a large number of brownies in one go, and thanks to how rich brownies can be, they’re very filling. Another great thing about brownies is that they’re not messy to eat since they hold their shape well. So if your guests are bringing their kids along, you won’t need to worry about the little ones staining their clothes and fingers with chocolate and vanilla.
Also, brownies can be prepared in advance—they’re not the type of desserts that need to be eaten as soon as they’ve been prepared, so you can have the brownies prepared early and then focus on planning out the rest of your picnic menu.
2. Lady Locks
These are delicious flaky pastries that come stuffed with delicious buttercream icing! These tasty little morsels, like brownies, don’t take up much space and can be packed up and transported to your picnic venue with ease.
They’re also a very light dessert and can be eaten without using any utensils. This way, you can save money on buying extra utensils for desserts at your picnic.
Lady locks are also easy on the eyes—beautiful pastry shells with spirals of filling running through them. If your picnic is to celebrate a special time of the year, lady locks can be a great centerpiece for your picnic dessert table!
3. Cookies
If you’re expecting many children to be at your gathering, cookies are an excellent picnic dessert idea to keep them happy.
To make things more interesting, try including an assortment of cookies, including snickerdoodles and chocolate chunks, for your guests to enjoy.
Cookies also have a considerably long shelf life, so you can be assured that these tasty desserts will last your entire picnic, even when it’s hot outside at your picnic venue.
4. Cupcakes
Is bringing an entire cake to your picnic event, cutting it, and then serving it too much work? Try cupcakes instead!
Cupcakes are a good crowd-pleaser and kids love them too. They’re easy pick-up-and-eat desserts that won’t take up too much valuable picnic table space or hit your wallet too hard.
Another great thing about cupcakes is that you can choose to have all kinds of decorations on them, including special seasonal decorations based on the theme of your picnic. For example, for an end-of-winter picnic party, you can have your cupcakes decorated with fondant flowers or little icing bees.
5. Sheet Cake
On the flip side, if you’d prefer a whole cake at your picnic and you’re inviting a considerably large group of people, you’ll want a dessert that can serve many, like a good sheet cake! These are large rectangular cakes that can be cut into many pieces, making them a crowd favorite.
They can be a little difficult to transport, but you can always have the cake pre-cut and put into Tupperware for convenience. Also, sheet cake doesn’t usually have layers, making them very stable and reducing the likelihood of the cake pieces falling apart during transport or when they’re being eaten.
A good-sized sheet cake can serve up to 30 people so serving one at your picnic would be ideal and convenient.
6. Specialty Cakes
Want to treat your guests to a more “substantial” dessert? Specialty cakes are the perfect dessert option for you!
As the name suggests, these cakes aren’t like sheet cakes or cupcakes—they’re a bit more pricey, but they come in a selection of wonderful flavors, like Oreo, Black Forest, and Red Velvet!
Also, unlike sheet cakes, specialty cakes can’t cater to a large number of people. At most, a specialty cake can feed up to 10 people. So if you’re expecting a considerable crowd at your picnic, you might want to bring more than one of these specialty cakes, but make sure to keep your budget in mind.
7. Pies
Fresh, homemade pies are a favorite dessert for picnics. There’s a huge selection of fruit pies that you can have at your picnic, such as blueberry, cherry, blackberry, and peach.
Pies are also a very diverse dessert option for picnics since there are so many you can choose from, and pies are great for a host of other events.
But keep in mind that pies are best served fresh, so it’s a good idea to bring them over to the picnic right in time for dessert rather than keeping them on display throughout the event.
Ask a caterer for picnic dessert ideas
Planning a good picnic menu can be a challenge, especially when you have a lot of other stuff to think about like the guest list and the venue. But worry not—there are plenty of catering companies to help you out. So get in touch with a catering company with a great picnic catering menu to help you come up with other picnic dessert ideas and throw a picnic to remember!
