Longaberger Travel 1: Large Picnic Basket

What is more American than going on a picnic?!? Longaberger's generous Large Picnic Basket is great for carrying food and a picnic blanket, but don't stop there! Heading to the boat or beach for a day or weekend? Load the Large Picnic with your beach towels, swimsuits, and toys, and the plastic protector inside will get those items home safely when wet. 

The Large Picnic's big wooden 17" by 14" lid conceals the basket's contents well and can even help keep cool in when icing beverages in its protector. The lid is also great to turn the basket into a small table. An artistic friend painted a checkerboard on the lid of her Large Picnic Basket, and her family traveled with checkers and chess pieces for time inside their boat resting and getting away from the hot afternoon sun.

Travel with it as a suitcase this summer, if you dare. If you're a brave tent-camper or have limited space, the Large Picnic Basket can easily be kept in a vehicle back seat or covered pickup bed until needed. Most fifth-wheel or bumper-hitch campers would have space inside for this useful basket that can double as a low table. 

Longaberger's Large Picnic lids were created to fit each individual basket, with the weaver literally turning the newly-woven basket over on the wood and tracing around it before cutting. You can see where the lid's corners were rounded off from the pencil line (on the back of the lid) in these photos. Sometimes on a really old one, you can even find a penciled number that kept the lid and basket together until attached with leather hinges. An Ohio craftsman's hands did that. Don't you love truly handmade American products?!?

Large Picnic Basket lids are so handy to stack other baskets on, hold a plant, or display all sorts of things, but often the lids are ruined in the process. Always check attached lids for discoloration, and be sure to protect yours. Luckily, the wooden lids can be painted to personalize for your family or an occasion while conveniently covering up any stains. Wouldn't it be fun to paint a cute chalkboard on a lid, using chalkboard paint, and be able to write messages or celebrate special events with it? Having friends and family members sign the back of the lid with Sharpie markers is another possibility to capture memories of a specific event or an entire summer.

Longaberger created several different sizes and shapes of picnic baskets over the years, so you will see other variations. This longest-running, traditional Large Picnic Basket was offered off and on from 1979 through 2017 in many different stain colors and collections. It usually came with a wooden riser with four legs that helped with layering items in the basket.

When you ever use a Longaberger Basket and regular protector to hold ice or to ice down drinks, be sure to put something absorbent between the basket and plastic protector to help with condensation. I use a hand towel or two. While it doesn't hurt most baskets to be damp for a short time, you don't want to let lots of moisture stay against your basket and definitely not against a lid. When family events end, I always grab my ice-filled baskets quickly, empty them, and let them dry completely.

It is no surprise that many Americans are traveling this summer and that sales of campers and RVs are very high. We're free!! If you're traveling by vehicle, Longaberger will fit perfectly into your plans. Many big baskets are handy when traveling, and I'll be sharing four more especially great ones.