Posh Picnic Puts an Upscale, Rustic Twist on Outdoor Dining
“I was looking for ways to connect with friends during COVID,” Sheilah from Posh Picnic tells me about how business inspiration struck. Like many Washingtonians, Sheilah turned to DC parks as a place to socialize safety. “I was seeing so many people hanging out with food in the beautiful parks,” she describes. “But it was usually fast food and I knew there had to be a better way.”
And with that, Posh Picnic, an upscale, picnic experience was born.
Posh Picnic comes with everything you need for a rustic outdoor meal with friends or family. This includes a full 90-minute experience including set up, décor, flatware, small plates, and tear down. Sheilah takes inspiration from the picnic location to inspire the décor including natural elements like branches and flowers.
“I grew up picnicking,” Sheilah describes. “It can be hard to plan. You have to remember everything from drinks, food, flatware, blankets, and more.” She quickly discovered she loved planning a full picnic experience for friends and wanted to take her love of nature and planning expertise to a larger market.
Finding the Perfect Location
A big part of Posh Picnic is choosing a great location. As a DC resident for the past 25 years, Sheilah has always enjoyed getting to know the neighborhoods through a love of running. She loves that DC has everything there is to love and expect from city life but still offers so many beautiful parks and green space. She hopes to use her knowledge of the city to recommend the best parks for picnics but will also create an experience based on client requests. Currently, one of Sheilah’s favorite panic spots is Mitchell Park in Kalorama.
“I look at it like a tourist,” Sheilah describes when deciding on good places to recommend. Whether a guest is a tourist or a long time Washingtonian, Sheilah hopes to bring that feeling of discovering a new beautiful spot when recommending picnic locations.
For food, Posh Picnic is currently featuring skillets which Sheilah describes as a grazing board in a skillet. The skillets include foods like cheese, nuts, fruits, overnight oats, and baked goods for breakfast. For the afternoon, the meal includes corn bread, souffle, and other hearty foods. After COVID, Sheilah hopes to provide larger plates to serve larger groups and eventually partner with restaurants.
Guests are also invited to bring any additional food or drinks in if they want – especially if they are looking for a heavier meal option. It’s worth noting that other picnic experiences offered in DC generally only provide the décor and set up. Food is generally not included. It was important to Sheilah to launch Posh Picnic with a food option so it is truly an all-inclusive picnic experience. Plus, providing all the details for the picnics allows Sheilah to focus on minimizing waste.
Book a Picnic
Right now, the picnics are available for brunch, lunch, or even an evening meal at dusk for groups of 2 to 10. Offerings for larger groups will be available post COVID. Generally, the experience works well for friends or families to incorporate a meal into one of their hikes or city walks. While Sheilah’s recommendations focus primarily on the city, she also provides picnics in the suburbs.
Although alcohol is allowed at many parks, Posh Picnic will not be offering libations. Instead, one of the offerings is a cocktail/mocktail station without the alcohol. The additives will need to be supplied by the guest. This allows Posh Picnic to focus on an experience that not only works for couples and adult groups of friends but also as teen birthday parties, graduation, or even a special mother/daughter outing.
Picnics are currently available for $195 for 2, each additional person is $40 for up to 10 people. The experience includes 90 minutes of food, décor, set up, and break down. Guests can add time in 30 minute intervals as well as additional décor like blankets and lanterns. The picnic will be completely set up when you arrive. Each additional person up to 10 people is $40. Additional outdoor food and drink is welcome. Follow @PoshPicnicDC on Instagram to keep up with Sheilah!
