Company picnic shirts have a little more freedom than everyday company apparel. They can be silly, colorful, themed, or built around an inside joke that wouldn’t normally fit on a company tee. The company logo can still have a place in the design, but the main goal is to capture the personality of the day.
When creating a design for a custom picnic shirt, most companies rely on vintage-inspired graphics, illustrated themes, team jokes, and playful art. Some companies create different versions for departments or family members, while others keep one design across the entire group.
With that in mind, here are some company picnic shirt ideas to consider for your next event.
1. Create Annual Editions
If your company hosts a picnic every year, giving the event its own identity can turn the shirts into a tradition and a keepsake that employees can collect from year to year.
You can keep a recurring format with the company name, picnic name, and year, while just changing the illustration or theme annually:
[Company Name] Picnic
Est. 2019
9th Annual
For something bolder, put a large “2027” on the back with the company name above it and the picnic location below, or arrange the year like the number on a sports jersey.
2. Make It a Summer Camp Shirt
The outdoorsy side of a company picnic lends itself naturally to a summer camp-inspired design. A large vintage-style graphic could feature the company name, picnic location, year, and a few illustrated elements like a lake, trees, a campfire, or a picnic table.
You could even give the event a camp name:
Camp [Company Name]
Summer Session 2027
This is especially fun for companies that hold their picnic at a park, campground, lake, or other outdoor venue.
3. Create a BBQ Shirt
If the picnic revolves around grilling, the food can become the centerpiece of the design. A burger, hot dog, grill, or corn on the cob could be the main illustration, and the event could even get a playful name like “The Annual Grill-Off.”
A retro food illustration can give the shirt the feel of a barbecue festival tee rather than standard corporate apparel. And if one employee has claimed grill duty at every picnic for the last five years, the shirt could officially crown them Grill Master.
4. Use an Inside Joke
Just about every workplace has phrases, nicknames, recurring jokes, or minor disasters that become part of company lore. A picnic shirt is a fun place to turn one of those into official company merchandise.
Maybe everyone still talks about the Great Coffee Machine Flood of 2024. Perhaps a team offsite went spectacularly wrong, or one department has a phrase it uses constantly. Any of these can become the starting point for the graphic.
The fact that employees understand the reference gives the shirt a sense of belonging that a generic company slogan can’t provide. Just pick something the whole company is in on — and that no one minds seeing on a shirt.
5. Make a Fake Sports Team
Give the company the pro sports treatment with a large team name, mascot, year, and jersey-inspired typography, plus department names on the back. For example:
The [Company Name] Club
Est. 1998
Summer League 2027
If the picnic includes organized games, lean into it. Split employees into fictional divisions for volleyball, cornhole, tug-of-war, or relay races, with each team getting its own name or shirt color. For a more competitive event, the whole thing could get a championship identity like “The 2027 [Company Name] Games.”
6. Give Departments Their Own Colors
For a very large company, color-coding can add some organization to the event. Everyone can receive the same basic design, while each department gets a different shirt color: sales in blue, marketing in green, and operations in orange, for example. If employees are divided into teams for games, the shirt colors can double as team assignments.
Before choosing the palette, check the available shirt colors across the full size range. Some shades have limited size availability, so make sure each department’s color works for everyone who needs it.
7. Include the Whole Family
Company picnics often include spouses, partners, and kids, so shirts that include everyone can make the group feel even more unified.
One option is to make everyone part of the same team:
Team [Company Name]
Family Picnic 2027
A playful mascot or illustration can tie the design together, and it looks especially good in group photos. Alternatively, adults could get the main company picnic shirt, while kids get a smaller version with a slightly different design.
Either way, remember to collect everyone’s sizes (including youth sizes) before placing the order.
8. Make the Location Part of the Shirt
A memorable picnic location can provide much of the artwork. A park, beach, ballpark, botanical garden, or lakeside venue could become the central image, with the company name and date underneath.
For a nostalgic twist, borrow the look of an old tourist souvenir, with big lettering, the location name, and a simple illustration:
[Company Name]
Summer Picnic
Lake [Name] • 2027
If the event moves to a different place each year, the shirts become a fun record of every location.
9. Turn the Company Logo into a Picnic Graphic
The existing company brand can be the starting point for something much more playful. If the company has a mascot, it could be sitting at a picnic table. If the logo contains an animal, maybe it’s wearing sunglasses or manning the grill. That feels much more suited to the event than the regular logo on the chest.
If brand guidelines require the official logo to stay unchanged, it can remain intact while the surrounding artwork takes on a more relaxed personality.
10. Create a “Picnic Rules” Shirt
To add a touch of humor, create a fake list of picnic rules based on the day’s activities. For example:
- Eat first
- No talking about spreadsheets
- Losing at cornhole is not a fireable offense
- Stay for the group photo
Of course, you should customize the rules around your company’s personality and the actual event.
11. Make a Two-Color Design
A colorful illustration can be fun, but a bold two-color design can have just as much impact. One strong graphic with an accent color creates a clean look, and limiting the number of print colors can help keep a large screen-printed order simpler and more affordable.
The shirt color can also be part of the design, like a dark shirt with a light graphic or a bright shirt with a contrasting print.
A simpler design also has a better chance of being worn again after the picnic. A small logo, a good illustration, or a location-based graphic works with everyday casual clothes better than a shirt covered in event details.
12. Give Employees a Choice
For a large company, offering two or three versions of the same design lets employees pick the style they prefer, like a lighter shirt color, a darker one, and a different fit. You could also let employees vote on the final design through a short internal poll.
Keep the options manageable so sizing and ordering stay easy. Even a small selection gives employees a sense of involvement.
Tips for Success
Besides the design, here are a few tips to make sure your custom shirt order goes off without a hitch:
- Choose a shirt for the weather: For a warm outdoor picnic, a lighter tee like the Bella + Canvas 3001 Unisex Jersey Tee or a cotton-polyester blend like the Gildan 8000 Dryblend 50/50 Tee will keep people comfortable. Heavier shirts like the Comfort Colors 1717 have a more substantial feel, and a performance shirt is a good fit if the day involves a lot of physical activity.
- Check sizes for the whole group: If families are attending, make sure your shirt color comes in both youth and adult sizes. Then, collect everyone’s sizes before ordering instead of estimating the breakdown.
- Order a few extras: If the event is several months away, a handful of extra shirts for new hires, family members, and last-minute additions can save you from placing a rush order later.
- Know what affects the price: The shirt, quantity, number of design colors, and print placements all factor into the final price per shirt. If you’re ordering with us, you can get an accurate per-shirt price with the Quick Price tool on each of our product pages.
- Get a head start on the artwork: Our Design Studio includes templates and a library of clip art you can use and customize.
A company picnic only comes around once a year, and the shirt is one of the few things people take home from it. Start with an idea that’s specific to your company, whether that’s a location, a tradition, or a joke everyone’s in on. Build the design from there, and you’ll end up with a shirt people keep wearing long after the picnic.