We’re taking friends on the boat this Sunday to celebrate a birthday, so I’m trying to come up with some fun ideas for food, drinks and ambience. It’s tricky to decorate a boat with a theme, and the food all has to be portable, so I was kind of stuck for ideas until I remembered our trip a few weeks ago, where the hotel served these tiny bottles of prosecco with their own mini straw by the pool. They were so festive and all the ladies loved it. It’s the little touches like those that can make things feel special and little more pulled together than just a regular meal or day on the boat. Here’s what I’m thinking we’ll do to make this a special occasion.

Decor

Since it’s tricky to decorate a boat, I’m planning to hang the flag banner once we anchor and otherwise, I’m just going to layer in a few accessories in the same color palate, which will make everything look pulled together. We already have a blue Yeti cooler, so I’m going to stick with a blue theme and order a few simple things to make the look more cohesive. Matching towels for everyone as party favors are always a hit, and if I have time, I’ll get them monogrammed so that they’re even more special. And these lightweight blue bowls with lids are perfect for transporting food all summer and are only $16 for the set!

Food and Drinks

I found so many cute ideas for picnic food online. Here are a few of the links:

• Picnic recipes from Jamie Oliver

• Picnic theme and recipes that kids will love

• Ina Garten’s suggestions for a perfect picnic menu, and a casual beach picnic suggestions too

• A Vogue interview about the ideal boat food

• And a list of the best picnic spots in every state

• We are totally obsessed with Shelby’s picnic salad that has Israeli couscous, corn, sugar snap peas and crispy prosciutto-it’s portable and delicious.

  
  

Fun and Games

We keep things pretty simple on the boat in terms of toys because it can get pretty chaotic in a small space with a lot of stuff. We always bring our lily pad for swimming when we have a group that wants to swim because it makes it much easier for the kids to splash around and even the adults like to relax on it when it’s a really hot day! If we’re just going out as a family, I also like to bring our paddle board and little kayak so that we can explore closer to shore (also, I’m unable to sit still for long periods of time and it’s much more fun when I can paddle board around and get some exercise!). If we’re going out at night, I like to bring cards games like Exploding Kittens or Uno for the kids so that they have something to do when we don’t want them in the water anymore.