Picture this; a beautiful day. The sun shining on your skin with fluffy cumulus clouds blocking the harsh UV rays every couple of minutes, a cool breeze that keeps your body from overheating, but not too cold that you would need a jacket. You go to lay your picnic blanket on the freshly cut grass and just as you sit down to prop open that book or chow down on snacks: ants. Many picnic people face this dilemma, their perfect picnic overrun by ants to the point they want to give up and go inside for the day from pure frustration.

The easiest way to keep these pesky creatures from getting into one’s cherished snacks would be to make sure they are covered at all times. Needless to say, even if one were to cover their food entirely, that still would not stop the bugs from invading the safety of the picnic blanket. 

Thus, I suggest booby-trapping the surrounding area. By booby-trapping, it means laying ant-deterrents. Even these six legged insects have things they stay away from; for instance, vinegar, mint, lemon juice, cinnamon, chalk, dryer sheets, and tansy. With vinegar, mint, and lemon juice one could spray themselves, the ants directly, or the blanket/table cloth. Another option is to surround the area with chalk/talcum powder, cinnamon, dryer sheets, and tansy. There is also water, it can be mixed with vinegar, mint, lemon juice, and cinnamon or can be used to surround the area. One creative tip is by putting either the legs of the table or small plates of food on top of pie tins full of water. 

Additionally, there is the decoy plan. Place another food like watermelon or sugar water away from your area so that will draw the ants there. Nevertheless, it is still important to scout out the area, for example if there are multiple protruding anthills in the area do not rest set up there. 

These almost spy movie type plans provide an almost fool-proof way to keep ants away. Since these creepy crawlies still may plague your perfect picnic, one could also place a second blanket underneath and add the deterrents to that blanket as well to keep them from sneaking in. Now, pop open that Walmart cake and scoop it with a plastic wine glass, relax and enjoy your hopefully ant-free picnic!