You know the feeling: that sense of achievement when you pull off a lovely sipping-and-snacking experience that began with just a bare patch of grass and some perfect Sydney weather. There’s a lot of coordination: the location, the weather, the tides, the wind and who’s bringing the blanket? Once you get all of that out of the way, I like to do a few more things that smooth the picnicky experience out a little, and make for a really good time on the rug.

Go big

You can get caught in the trap of bringing a bunch of different little things to a picnic. All in their own small containers with plastic seals, leaving you trying to find a flat surface for your five different dips as the oils drip everywhere onto your rug. Stop. Instead of overloading, go big and whip up ONE big chunky dip with enough to go around all afternoon. (Making sure it’s also something that’ll endure the hours in the hot sun. Sorry, taramasalata, that is not you.)

My winning (and particularly chunky) number is all in the ratios. You want 1:1:1:2 of cashews, olive oil, parmesan and drained marinated artichokes. Jazz it up with a clove (or two) of garlic, a squeeze of lemon and, of course, salt and pep, then blitz it all together. It’s a flexible recipe – quite forgiving and very adaptive. You can play with the ratios, sub the cashews for another nut, swap the parmesan for something cheddar-y and switch the artichokes for a different cooked veg. No rules here, just go for it.

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Pick it up

If making something at home is out of the question, find a place nearby or on the way to fill your basket. Remember, it’s just got to be able to do three things: travel well, be eaten with your hands and handle a bit of sunstroke – save your ice-cream cake for another time. A few options that tick the boxes are a whole slab of pissaladiere (a puff-pastry tart with softened onion, olives and anchovies) from Marani Deli in Newtown, a box of the flakiest pastries from Home Croissanterie (make sure there’s at least two ham and gruyere, or the chippy-adjacent potato) or a silly amount of hot chips with chicken salt and black pepper from Out of The Blue in Clovelly. Any of these will be sure to keep you at the top of the pile when it comes to the who-brought-the-best-thing award. Not that it’s a competition (it is a competition).

Wash it down, ice-cold

If you don’t have a mini esky, wine cooler or old insulated shopping bag with a handful of ice in the bottom, get one or face the consequences of slurping on a paper cup of room-temp pét-nat in the sun. There is a surplus of vintage Decor wine coolers at second-hand stores across the country. Nab yours before summer kicks off and drink well-chilled wine in the park like an adult. When it comes to what you’re drinking, I love Good Ways Deli’s house-brewed peach and citrus ice tea by the 750-mil bot, which is refreshing on its own or spun into a mixer. Otherwise, swing by your local bottle shop for a drop that you enjoy sunshine sipping.

Gemma Plunkett is a Sydney-based dinner party tragic. She works as a food writer, recipe developer and content strategist. Find her (but mostly food) in pictures or fortnightly in your inbox via her free newsletter Ding!