Mushroom Themed Picnic Party

The Mushroom Decor

We set up our picnic in our backyard, in a nice shady spot under the apple tree.  The table was actually a table top with screw on legs.  Instead of adding the legs, we set it up on baskets to create the perfect picnic table height.  You could also use a sturdy board on top of baskets.  We then draped it with a white linen table cloth.  We surrounded the picnic with blankets and pillows for a really comfy and pretty spot to sit and enjoy.  

Mushroom Centerpiece

One of the highlights of the table and our mushroom party decorations were these gorgeous mushroom vases.  You can purchase the mushroom vases here and here.  I love the colours they came in, and they set the tone for a muted pastel colour scheme rather than bright colors.  We filled our vases with garden flowers, and some Queen Anne’s lace.  They were so beautiful.  

We also added in some tall wood mushrooms for a little height and contrast to the delicate flowers and vases –find something similar here.

The candle holders were a fun DIY.  I pressed some garden flowers in some heavy books and when they were dry I used some mod podge to glue them to some old glass yogurt containers.  We used some citronella candles in ours, so not only were they beautiful, but they helped keep any bugs away too.

The Place Settings

We used simple side plates and black forks for our place settings.  The cute glasses with ribbed glass are from Ikea.  I love that they work for just about any drink, and they’re sturdy and inexpensive.  

The star of the show was the mushroom napkins.  I ordered this fabric from spoonflower.  They have so many amazing options available.  You can order them as napkins, or buy the fabric and make them yourself.  I loved the colours and pretty pattern, and they added so much to our mushroom themed table.  These were a great alternative to something like using a mushrooms paper plate, because we can reuse these over and over, and they gave a similar effect to the table.

Mushroom Themed Food Ideas

Stuffed Mushroom Caps

We started out with some savoury themed mushroom foods.  These little nibbles were perfect for our mushroom-themed party.  I love this stuffed mushroom recipe.  These ones are made with breadcrumbs.  Lots of recipes use cream cheese, but I prefer these, and they’re a little more picnic friendly.  Serve them hot or at room temperature.

Mushroom Bruschetta

This mushroom bruschetta is such a favorite.  It’s so easy and any mushroom lover is sure to love it.  Start out by slicing mushrooms, and adding them with some minced garlic, diced onion, salt and pepper, fresh thyme, butter, and a little bit of worcestershire sauce to a frying pan.  Saute everything until the onions are translucent.  Cut some baguette slices and toast lightly.  Spread them with some boursin cheese and then top with the mushroom mixture.  These are so yummy and easy to make.

Tree Stump Cake with Meringue Mushrooms

The star of the show was our tree stump cake.  It was a lot of fun to create and the gorgeous centerpiece of the table.  I love using the food as part of the decor and incorporating it instead of having a seperate food table.  If you like to bake, this cake is a fun project.  It would make a lovely birthday cake, if you were celebrating with a mushroom picnic.  

To create it we started out by baking this chocolate cake recipe.  We layered it with chocolate frosting.  For the outside of the cake we made it look like bark by melting chocolate, spreading it on some parchment paper and then rolling up the paper with the melted chocolate.  Once it’s set, unroll the parchment and you have nice long shards of chocolate that look like bark.  We frosted the sides of the cake, and then added the chocolate shards.  It creates such a pretty bark effect.

We also wanted to add some mushrooms to our tree stump and some moss.  We made edible moss by crumbling some green cake.  The mushrooms are made from meringue and put together with melted chocolate.  Then we sprinkled some with some cocoa powder to make them look more like wild mushrooms.  These were so cute on the cake and a really delicious crunchy addition.  If this party was for a 1st birthday, it would be fun to make a smaller or cupcake version as a smash cake.  The meringue mushrooms would make great cupcake toppers too.

Lastly we added some fresh flowers.  Do a little research before hand, and make sure the flowers are edible.   The flowers really added to our woodland feeling.

Mushroom Cookies

We also made some mushroom cookies.  These were so yummy and so cute.  We used this recipe for peanut butter thumbprint cookies, but instead of making a heart, we make a mushroom indentation.  Just be sure that when they come out of the oven you quickly go over the indentation with the back of a small spoon before they cool.  

We used raspberry jam for the red mushroom tops, and vanilla frosting for the polka dots and the mushroom stem.  The combination of the peanut butter and jam is a match made in heaven, making these cookies not only adorable and perfect for our mushroom theme, but also so delicious.

If you were making goodie bags for your guests, these would be really cute in a cellophane bag tied with some pretty ribbon for guests to take home.

This party was so much fun and I can’t think of a better way to spend an afternoon with friends.  A mushroom themed party would be perfect for a baby shower, birthday party, or first birthday party for the little girl who loves mushrooms.  Adding fairies to this theme would be really cute too.  These ideas would also be perfect for a woodland party.  Keep these ideas in mind for your next party.

With a mushroom themed picnic party to enjoy, life really is a party!

More Inspiration

You might also like our Stuffed Mushroom Recipe here.

You might also like these DIY Velvet Mushrooms here.

Also check out this Mushroom Wreath with DIY clay mushrooms here.