Springtime Fun

With the arrival of springtime, the museum has been in full swing preparing the house to receive visitors. The whole area is out and about going to the beach, taking bike rides, or going on picnics in the park. Now that we are all in the midst of our springtime events, I thought I would take this opportunity to let you all in on some Victorian picnic ideas. Typical Victorian picnics were not just a blanket and a picnic basket. Oh no, if you had servants picnics were a grand scale event. Imagine you lived in the country and had numerous servants at your disposal. You didn't have to carry the food, set up the tents or blantkets, or even walk to the appointed destination.

First, being a good socialite, you would work out the details of the event with your cook to decide what you and your guests would eat. Next, you and your friends would organize where you would have your picnic and organize your servants to have the tents and blankets set up and the food laid out in proper style. Then, you would have your coachman drive you and your friends to the destination. After all, walking in the hot sun would definitely not be fashionable. Once you reach your destination and eat the food that has already been set up for you, all you have to do is lay about in the spring air.


If you had a larger party involved, there are many games and acitivities you could do after eating. One of the most popular Victorian picnic games is Blind Man's Bluff. A game which is played by blindfolding one person, spinning them around, and then letting them try to catch one of the other participants. The trick is that the other players have to stay within a certain radius to the "blind man". Once the blinded person has caught someone, he or she must guess who they have caught without taking the blindfold off. They can feel clothing, hands, and/or faces. If they are correct, then the person they caught has to be the blind man. If not, they remain the blind man until they guess correctly.


Even though Blind's Man Bluff is one of the most popular games at a grand scale picnic, there are other activities such as cards, horsebacking riding, cricket, or even dancing if you hired some musicians. The activities are really what make the picnic grand. Grand picnics were more for the upper class societies. Even still they were adventures outside rather than just eating outside as we do today. Picnics today are still great fun, but next time you go on a picnic just imagine how much better it would be if you got to spend the whole day playing and not have to do a bit of the work involved.