Simple Luxury | Fall tailgating picnic with Zipcar

I was so excited when I was approached by Zipcar to write a post and receive some drivetime, it gave me an opportunity to get grounded by hitting the road in NYC. I was able to enjoy the simple luxury of a morning alone before school pickup by having a fall tailgating picnic alone, to honor my mom.

My mother was born on the tropical island of Jamaica, with its incessantly lush green landscape, when she came to America she was instantly smitten with the new to her season of Fall and all it had to offer. Some of my oldest memories are of annual apple picking trips she took us on, and the mouthwatering apple pies she’d make from our bounty. Fall weekends meant family adventures and new places to unwrap a slice of pie and pop a thermos of cocoa tea. This year to honor my mother’s memory I went on a fall picnic and had the luxury of enjoying the beach alone.

Growing up, we were members of our local food coop. My mom would wake me up at three in the morning for their annual pumpkin delivery, from upstate, to clean and polish the pumpkins before patrons set their eyes in them. Her October birthday ushers in cooler weather. She ultimately lost her battle to cancer in November at the peak of fall merriment, to forever be immortalized in fall.

Thanks to Zipcar I got a chance to enhance the tradition of fall picnics in NYC by introducing them to beaches in autumn. If you haven’t had a chance to enjoy a meal in the crisp fall air yourself you should hop to it, you might just fall in love with it as much as my family has. So grab some snacks rent a find your closest Zipcar in NYC and go exploring.

How to host a Fall Picnic of your own

Picnic Food

First of all the ease of picking up a Zipcar in NYC is made even easier by being able to pick one up at my nearby Target parking garage. For me it meant I got to stock up on snacks and pick up my car in one fell swoop. I ordered my snacks for pickup and scheduled my ride for 30 minutes after my snacks would be ready.

When planning the food portion of the perfect fall picnic, opt for hearty feelgood food that will fill you up. Think handheld foods like vegetables or fruit kabobs and bread and bread, and cheese. It’s important to make your picnic as easy as possible in the fall so I find that making sure you pack as little packaging as possible so there is less to clean up and even less to chase down when it inevitably alights in a strong gust of wind.

luxury fall picnic spread tailgating on the beach

Choose a picnic location that makes sense, for you

The easiest way to infuse a bit of luxury into your fall picnic spread is by choosing the best location. You can host your picnic in a public park or on a rooftop but I chose my favorite landscape, the beach. I haven’t worked out the science of it just yet but food just a tastes better at the water’s edge.

This past summer we went camping and I remembered they dropped off the kayaks at the edge of the water and I could help but think this would be the perfect place to enjoy the beach in solitude. Far removed from public transportation the only way to take in this bit of hidden Brooklyn is with a car. Thanks to nearby Zipcars I was a 15-minute drive away from the slice of heaven that is the waterfront slip, at Floyd Bennett Field in NYC. It was the perfect location for my fall picnic. The pampas grass rustled at the shore’s edge while seagulls cawed from the clouds in symphony with the waves lapping at the coast.

Thanks to the ample trunk of the Subaru Impreza I picked up I got to enjoy my picnic up off of the cold wet ground of the water’s edge. I got to bask in the elevated luxury of my first tailgate picnic.

Layer up your picnic base layers

To make my picnic clean up easier I packed a blanket to cover the trunk to catch any crumbs that might fall. I packed a wipeable layer to line the car, and a few snuggly layers to keep me warm including some of my favorite Eco-friendly picnic mats, for a complete list of mats I’m obsessed with see this post.

The Perfect Picnic Basket

A little more preparation goes into fall picnic preparation because it’s a little more effort to leave your perch and fill up on supplies when the weather gets a bit more blistery. I spent all year searching until I found the perfect picnic basket that takes a lot of the guesswork out of being picnic-ready. What makes the perfect picnic basket you might ask? Well, the picnic basket has to be sure to fall into the categories of both form and function. The perfect picnic basket is equal parts luxury and utilitarian nd this seagrass stunner is just that. It comes with a cheese board, a bottle opener, and two full place settings. There’s a place for everything which makes it a lot harder to leave something behind at home, or on the beach for that matter. In addition to all of that, there is a cooler!

Fall Picnic Drinks when driving a Zipcar

As I’d be driving my Zipcar I packed the appropriate type of bubbly, sparkling cider. Since I’m one of the few adults who readily admit to hating the taste of coffee, I filled up my thermos with seasonally appropriate warm beverage, hazelnut hot chocolate.

I’m not entirely sure why this was my first beachside fall picnic, but it won’t be my last, it was such an easy way to infuse a dose of luxury into my day.