At the mention of a picnic table, it's quite likely that you will picture the traditional, rectangular wood table that you remember from childhood. How could you not? That picnic table was in your yard from time immemorial. Perhaps your family had it before you were even born, and still has it to this day. Not that there's anything wrong with hanging on to a favorite piece of outdoor furniture.
The funny thing about that table, though, was that it seemed to follow you everywhere. When you went to your grandmother's house for a family reunion, there it was (Why not? It seemed like a member of the family). If you were invited to a friend's house for a cookout, it seemed that the table had been invited, too. Even when you went to the park for a picnic, it somehow managed to get there ahead of you. Not that there's anything wrong with having a meal with an old friend; but it shouldn't be an inanimate object.
Of course, from your point of view, that table was not an inanimate object. Even though your parents had told you a million times that "things just don't get up and walk away," and they were always right (back then, anyway), when it came to that picnic table, you had your doubts. After all, this thing had legs!
Although it's a pretty fair bet that the table didn't actually walk, it's easy to understand why it may have seemed that way. For ages, that old style was just about all there was to picnic tables.
Well, that mold has been broken, in grand fashion. Whether as a result of the growing number of enclosed porches, patios, and gazebos, which allow "outdoor living" regardless of the weather, or, because the picnic table was tired of following everyone around, it has undergone a dramatic transformation in shape, style, and substance.
Today, the choices are virtually limitless. AllPicnicTables.com has an awesome assortment of picnic tables in an expanding range of sizes and shapes, including rectangular, oval, round, square, hexagonal, octagonal, and extra-wide. The materials used for constructing picnic tables are also changing. Besides the classic wood tables, made from western red cedar, pressure-treated southern yellow pine, #1 select pine, oak, teak, and cherry, you'll find aluminum, thermo-plastic coated steel, polywood, and vinyl picnic tables, available in an array of spectacular colors, which are maintenance-free and virtually indestructible.
