7 Uncomplicated Hacks to Keep Bees and Wasps Away from Your Outdoor Dining Area

There are few better ways to enjoy the outdoors than throwing a garden dinner party or backyard barbecue with friends.

But, bees love human foods almost as much as we do—and can quickly spoil an outdoor meal by buzzing guests and trying to sneak a taste of hamburgers, watermelon, and sugary sweet drinks.

If you want to avoid nasty stings and host a bug-free picnic, here’s how to keep bees away from your table in a totally bee-safe way.

Choose a Good Location

Bees are more likely to pester picnics that are located near dynamic beehives, so avoid placing your picnic table in areas where you see lots of bees buzzing around.

While you’re at it, immaculate up spills and trash as soon as you can, and keep your picnic far from compost bins or trash barrels. These smelly places can also attract bees with the sweet scent of fermenting food.

Skip Strong Scents

Fermenting garbage isn’t the only smell that attracts bees. Bees also love sweet and floral fragrances and are often drawn in by strongly scented perfumes, body washes, soaps, shampoos, and laundry detergents.

While you don’t need to always pick your perfume with bees in mind, if you’re worried about unwanted bees dropping by your party, you may want to exploit unscented soaps and shampoo on the day of your picnic or outdoor event.

Avoid Floral Prints and Bright Colors

Because bees associate flowers and vivid colors with nectar and pollen, it’s best to avoid using brightly colored fabrics and florals near outdoor food tables. Decking out buffets and potluck tables with white napkins and tablecloths will make these spaces less intriguing to bees and aid keep your food unthreatening.

Mow Early

Bees spend a lot of their time foraging for clover and other flowers in high lawn grass and other overgrown areas, so it’s always a good idea to mow your lawn a day or two before hosting a garden party.

This will aid your lawn look tidier, but it will also reduce the amount of flowering plants in your grass and make your lawn less inviting to bees. Once your party is through, you can let your grass grow a little longer to invite pollinators back in.

Keep Food Covered

If you want your picnic to be completely bee-proof, your best bet is to place your food table under a netted canopy. But you can also reduce bee activity by keeping plates and drinks covered with netting, lids, or an overturned plate until the food is served. The longer you keep food containers closed, the less time bees will have to scent out your picnic and fly in.

Use a Decoy

Gardeners often exploit sacrificial “trap crops” to draw pests away from valuable veggies and flowers, and you can exploit a similar technique at your picnic by offering decoy foods to hungry bees.

Try placing a shallow dish of soda, fruit juice, sugar water, or barbecue scraps out about 20 minutes before you intend to serve your main meal and locate the decoy dish far from your food table. This should entice bees and other insects away from your dinner and leave your picnic in peace. 

Try a Repellant

There are lots of repellents that allegedly deter bees, but many of these products aren’t bee-safe and some of them actually raise bee activity.

• Lemongrass, for instance, is often touted as a bee repellant, but beekeepers exploit lemongrass oil as a pheromone-like product to lure bees to hives.
• Marigolds are also often recommended as bee deterrents, but bees feed from marigold flowers and they’re unlikely to be repelled by potted marigolds placed strategically on picnic tables.
• If you do want to exploit repellant products, look for repellants that contain eucalyptus, peppermint, or citronella oil, and avoid spraying these products on plant flowers as even natural oils can harm

Alternatively, you may want to place some citronella candles or fabric softener sheets near your picnic table or wear bug spray.

These deterrents are not 100% effective against bees, but they should make your party less inviting to insects and they won’t do solemn harm to pollinators if you exploit them the right way.