vintage picnic baskets

I just found out that today is International Picnic Day.

This was the scene of our usual picnics while visiting the farm in Wisconsin with our kids over the past 30 years ~ my Mom would throw together hotdogs, buns, a box of Old Dutch potato chips, all the fixin's for S'mores and a cooler of pop ~ then we'd head to the far corner of the 350 acre farm, build a bonfire and swap stories of growing up on the farm.

I'd like to think my brother Gary was the first to use a rake to roast hotdogs and marshmallows. He always was a deep thinker, with occasional spurts of creative genius :)

I also started collecting picnic baskets over these past 30 years.

And I can honestly say I've never paid more than a buck or two for any of them.

Ok, maybe a tad bit more for my metal baskets ~ which also happen to be my favorites. 

I now have tags on most of my baskets, so I can identify which basket holds what. They all have to serve a purpose in my household.

I grew up using that plaid green lunchbox and years later found a plaid green picnic basket.

My baskets next to the woodstove hold my cupcake decorating supplies, my cookie cutters, sentimental cards & letters and my yearly month-at-a-glance Day Runners. 

I'm all about my collections doing double-duty ~
both aesthetically pleasing and functionally useful.