Decorating for a Summer Family Picnic

Pear Tree Greetings' watermelon invitations provided the perfect inspiration for our family's annual summer picnic party.

We used bright red and green color palettes, stripes, polka dots and other fun prints to create this cheerful summer party table.

We accented our playful tablescape and recipes with watermelon embellishments to carry the picnic invitation throughout our space.

A picnic basket draped with a whimsical watermelon dishtowel serves a dual purpose. Since we hosted our party at the park, our basket arrived at our summer soiree toting paper goods and food.  

After those goodies were removed, a fresh bouquet of white mums were tucked inside to serve as the perfect centerpiece for an outdoor table. 

If you've reserved an area at a park or picnic shelter for your family get-together, create some signs to point the way to the designated space for the celebration.

 Tell everyone to "follow the watermelon signs" so they're sure to find the right place. Our kids had a ball doing this.

The cheerful graphics and bright colors of the Pear Tree watermelon invitation inspired the fun mix of colors, prints and patterns on my table. Though contrasting, all the decorative elements came together to create a cheerful setting and tablescape without being too overwhelming.

For our sparkling lemonade drinks, we handmade straw cocktail flags. They were a snap to make and added a festive touch to the celebration when slipped over the end of a straw. 

To keep in theme, we added a watermelon embellished flag to the red and white striped straw. Of course we know it's not possible, but the cute addition made this watermelon lemonade taste even better!

If that weren't enough, we really jazzed up our drinks with a skewer of frozen watermelon balls. Though a pretty adornement, this fruity garnish also helped to keep the lemonade cold, and made a tasty treat besides!

Repurpose a container to be functional as well as decorative. We took a red metal container (that was a steal at the local dollar store) and used it to hold the napkins, utensils, and straws for our picnic.

With just a bit of ribbon and paper this red container got a makeover to ensure it fit in with our party's theme.

A green striped ribbon was tied around the bottom to mimic a watermelon rind and then watermelon seeds cut from black construction paper were adhered to the sides of the container. Super easy, super cute!

A narrow cellophane bag filled with watermelon taffy and tied with red and white polka dot ribbon was an easy way to add more of the red and green colors to the table and made a fun favor for everyone as well.

This idea was sponsored by Pear Tree Greetings.