It's that time of year again. We're sharing our favorite picnic blankets for the 2015 outside dining season. From the low-cost to the fancy, these blankets will get you in the mood for taking your shoes off, sprawling out on your back, and staring at clouds (preferably with a light buzz from a gorgeous glass of rosé).
According to Overstock.com, the formal name for this picnic blanket is "travel mat." We've heard of a yoga mat, a door mat, and a car mat, but never a travel mat. But if by travel mat they mean that you can throw it into the trunk of your car and completely neglect it while you go to work, run errands, and coach soccer, and it will still look good when you unfold it, than yes, it's a "travel mat." We love it because it reminds us of the towels we used in the south of France during our post-college backtracking trips. It's plastic, foldable, and affordable. Order yours for $19.99 here.
This imported 100% cotton picnic blanket by Jaipur is about 4'x6' 
and available from Nordstrom for $45.00. We love the mellow color palette and the dainty fringe on the end. It's also light-weight and folds without fuss. The one drawback is that it's dry clean only...like you need one more item added to that bill! But since you're sitting on it, and not wearing it, you can probably get away with dry cleaning the blanket just once at the end of your picnic season.
We're so in love with this "pine cone hill laundered linen citrus throw blanket" from LaylaGrayce.com for $170.00 that we had to include it in the round up. Yes, it's linen, which means you need to hand wash or dry clean it, and it's expensive for a rectangular piece of fabric that you'll be throwing on the ground. But the color is so lovely and calming, and the texture is so perfect for a rustic picnic that we had to share it. Your blanket will blend right into the scenery, never show a grass stain, and add a level of sophistication to any outdoor meal.
An authentic hombre blanket was easy to find when we were growing up in San Diego. Whether purchased on a weekend visit to Tijauna or from a street vendor downtown, these blankets were inexpensive, extremely durable, and unpretentious. They were used to cushion our bleacher seats at football games, impromptu afternoon beach trips, SDSU faculty family picnics, and everything in between. The texture is a little too rough to make you want to curl up and take a nap on it, but who cares! You can get one for $20.00 from Saddle Blanket.
This picnic blanket is for the dudes out there. Our website's analytics tell us that you guys are reading our blog just as much as the ladies, so we weren't going to leave you out. It's called a "blanket tote" from Picnic-Basket.com's Carnaby Street Collection is $28.95 and will ship to you in just three days. It also has a limited lifetime manufacturer warranty (which makes absolutely no sense to us but it sounds good!). It's affordable, handsome, manly, and durable.
This site might be called "The Baby Stitch Boutique," but don't let that deter you from ordering a picnic blanket from them. This Etsy store allows you to design your very own blanket by selecting from the fabrics on their site. Just a warning that you're going to go a little shopping crazy. There are designs that are perfect for the beach, perfect for a spring day at the park, or perfect for a fall day at the beer festival. Order yours here now (prices vary)!
Whatever you end up dining on, we hope you pack a harty picnic and a well-chilled bottle of wine!