By Lesley Harris Colvett

Pack your cooler with your fave food and useful utensils to plan a fun night out to enjoy the season! Whether heading out to GPAC, Live at the Garden, Overton Park Shell or simply your own patio, ‘tis the season to pack it and go. Our 4Memphis retail partners have tips to help you dine al fresco in style!

BABCOCK GIFTS
“If you are preparing for an evening or event outside that includes food and drink, consumers have many fun options,” says Brooks Terry, Owner of Babcock Gifts “Picnic baskets such as those from Picnic Time are much more elaborate and can be purchased complete with dishes, utensils and drinkware.”

With Memphis’ warm weather you will most likely be carrying food on ice, so Brooks advises to consider the different shapes and sizes of cooler bags from SCOUT in lots of fun colors and patterns. And for the gentleman who prefers something a little more traditional, Mission Mercantile offers wine totes and coolers.

When considering serveware, the melamine of today is not what your mother had in the 1980s! Beatriz Ball offers beautiful, white melamine pieces in multiple patterns that are sure to please any hostess. This melamine is both BPA and PABA free, top-shelf dishwasher safe and is perfect for those who want a reusable serving piece. These pieces are available in a myriad of sizes and shapes. Beatriz Ball and Vietri, as well as Relish, offer melamine dinnerware for those who prefer reusable plates. For reusable flatware, consider Bella Cutlery by Sophistiplates, which is also top shelf dishwasher safe. Sophistiplates also offers festive paper plates for all occasions.

Brooks adds, don't forget the drinkware! There are many fashionable options that are reusable, including more traditional acrylic glasses from Juliska and BOLD. Mario Luca Giusti offers acrylic pieces that are a cross between formal and pop art. As consumers have become more environmentally conscious, styrofoam has been replaced by frost flex cups that are also top shelf dishwasher safe and offer consumers an option to make a statement with various sayings and slogans.

“These types of outdoor use items were traditionally considered for summer, but are available year around and make outdoor dining easy and fun!”

4538 Poplar Ave. • Memphis, Tennessee 38117 • 901-763-0700 • babcockgifts.com

LISA MALLORY INTERIOR DESIGN
Lisa Mallory says she considers Estelle Colored Glassware a classy way to set a beautiful, seasonal table outdoors for a patio! Estelle Colored Glassware, which features mixed stemware, stemless, champagne flutes, cake stands and more, makes for the perfect table setting both outdoors on the patio and indoors. The beautiful colors can be used to complement table decor and set the stage for any season.

Lisa also highly recommends the line “Picnic at Ascot,” which is Bamboo Charcuterie Boards that transform from an easy to store wedge to a circular multilevel cheese board complete with stainless steel tools in a pullout drawer.

Chickasaw Oaks Village Shopping Center • 3080 Poplar Ave • Memphis, Tennessee 38111
901-452-5575 • lisamallorydesign.com

SOCIAL: A SHOP FOR GRACIOUS LIVING
“A good serving set for cheeses, jams, honey and nuts (and remember spoons) should always be on hand. Acrylic and heavy plastics are good materials,” says Carmen Bond, owner of Social. “Cocktail and luncheon napkins are something you should always have on hand. They also come in handy to wipe down a seat that may be wet. Vietri has this wonderful, linen-like disposable napkin that is very absorbent and simulates a real cloth napkin.

“Depending on the setting and venue, paper plates and cups are great, but if you don’t have a table sometimes paper plates are hard to hold and maneuver, so that is why I love the melamine products. “I love all the choices that are out right now for acrylic glassware and stemware, and you can get almost any kind of drinkware in acrylic (from martinis to champagne).

Carmen recommends packing your food in large ziplock bags, and then at the end of the night you can just slide your dirty plates in one of the bags, and dirty utensils in another. Plastic food containers, that come in all sizes, are also great for packing up at the end of the night.

Carmen has always been a lover of flowers and floral patterns, and she said flowers are trending everywhere - in both home and fashion. Colors that are trending this season are pink and turquoise. “I am seeing pink everywhere, that bubblegum pink tone, and I consider it almost a neutral because there is really nothing that pink doesn’t go with,” Carmen said. Turquoise in all shades, but especially the bright aqua color tones, is another color she is seeing.

Another recommendation Carmen has for an evening outdoors is having some sort of lighting, even if it is just soft, battery-powered lighting.
600 S. Perkins Rd. • Memphis, Tennessee 38117
901-766-6746 • social-memphis.com