It's that time of year again, that time to go enjoy the outdoors. Living in a city, most of us are desperate to get out onto some grassy knolls and away from the hoards of people. Even in Brooklyn where our apartments are right next to each other. We have a great community but sometimes space is nice. We have many events in the city to celebrate the warm weather. Some of them even call for some fancy dressing and picnicking. Picnic baskets can be incredibly utilitarian and you can buy a beautiful, quality made one here in the US that is made locally. Yes made local can be more expensive but think of why. It is supporting someone's job, cost of living in America and the cost of materials. It's important we keep supporting our community whenever possible. It may be a few dollars more but don't you want people to continue to have jobs?
Materials used are mainly Appalachian Ash. A strong wood sourced from the Appalachian Mountain Region that includes 11 states in the Eastside of the U.S. The Peterboro Basket Company based in New Hampshire may have my favorite, the Picnic on the Green Deluxe Basket. This is such a fantastic wedding or anniversary gift and it can be personalized. All of their baskets come lined or unlined.
Peterboro Picnic Basket on the Green $89.00
The basket has a split lid so you can store beverages in the back and leave open to serve yourself. When the lid is open it acts as a table for serving. How convenient is that! There is a dowel to keep your goods from moving around making a noisy journey. The closed section also has a removable tray. Check out the photo above, pie anyone? And if you feel the classic honey color is too "old timey" there are 4 colors to choose from. Although I tend to gravitate towards the classic, this way I know I won't tire of it in 10 years. One more thing that makes it a great way to celebrate an occasion, you can get it personalised. Also I don't receive any compensation for my postings. I just did some research on locally made baskets the ones listed are the ones I believe to be nice quality.
Peterboro Picnic Basket on the Green
Prairie Empty Picnic Basket, another made of Appalachian Ash, woven wood and brass hardware is an open top, classic style. Many companies sell this style that comes from the Picnic Family Brand who have been around since 1982; Wayfair, Macys, Hayneedle and Houzz to name a few. The Prairie style is made in the USA.
The Prairie also comes in a lined version.
The last basket is the 2 Pie Basket. Is that not a great name?! Because of course it will hold two pies. I found this one on Nortons USA. After doing a little digging, I learned that this 2 pie and the 3 pie basket is made by none other than Peterboro Basket Company in New Hampshire. I am still going to tell you about it because it's such a great alternative. And if you are a baker like myself and are in charge of the desserts you will love this basket. It's smaller than the average picnic basket because it is built to hold the desserts. It's a simple flip lid and has a tray inside that comes out to act as a table.
You can get this at NortonsUSA.com where they sell exclusively American Made Products! yay!
So do you have a favorite? Do you know of any American Made baskets that I didn't mention or find? Next up is what to put in that basket.
Enjoy!
Tracey