Picnic tables today are made with different materials that can be effective in reducing vandalism

Picnic tables are a popular destination for family gatherings, children's parties and sometimes bored delinquents who have nothing better to do but to tear them apart and wreck the experience for everybody.

Warm weather is now here, and people are heading outdoors, including these hooligans.

Scan the national headlines, and you will see incidents here and there where a bunch of misguided miscreants met at a park and then at some point in the evening, thought it was a good idea to destroy the picnic tables on the premises. By the way, probably the same picnic tables their families or friends use during daylight hours.

These scoundrels either bust the tables up. Carve their names into the wood or even worse, add offensive words. Or they may decide to just spray paint graffiti all over the surface and seats.

Might be enjoyable to them for about five minutes. But it could leave families and the public without a place to eat and hang out for weeks.

In Mooresville, IN five teenagers were arrested after they went on a spree and destroyed 30 picnic tables, causing an estimated $4,400 in damages.

At a boat ramp in Corbin, KY, some vandals decided to wreck a picnic table near a boat ramp.

Up north, in St. Anthony, Canada, a group of young men were arrested after they thought it would be a good idea to toss a bunch of picnic tables off a cliff and into the ocean.

What gives with these scalawags? Why can't they toss a football around and tackle each other as an outlet for their aggression? Or maybe throw water balloons at themselves?

What's a picnic table ever done to them?

We're sure there's many a park supervisor or facility manager who was maddened and saddened after they arrived at work the following day to see their picnic tables scattered in bits and pieces all over their grounds.

Picnic tables built to take the abuse

One of the patterns you will see with this type of vandalism is that wood picnic tables will frequently be the target of bad intentions. If you have this problem at your park or facility, or the grounds go unmonitored for long periods of time, you might want to consider alternatives to wooden picnic tables.

Here are a few solutions to consider:

Metal picnic tables. We're talking heavy-duty metal picnic tables.

Metal picnic tables are made of steel. Thick gauge-steel. They're tough. These metal picnic tables can be embedded into a slab of concrete with an in-ground mount or surface mount.

These types of tables are not easy to destroy.

Metal picnic table with checkerboard

Secondly, you can order metal picnic tables with a hardened thermoplastic coating that is difficult to damage. This resilient coating is applied by dipping the steel parts into a bath filled with melted plastic powder, which then cools and turns into a hard-shell coating.

That coating is resistant to spills, cuts and spray paint. If vandals are able to somehow cut into the surface, the thermoplastic can be easily repaired with a simple heat gun and some new powder.

By the way, vandals aren't the only forces that can destroy a picnic table. The sun, rain, cold, ice, mold, mildew, rust, insects and corrosion can do a number on them as well.

Just sitting under the sun 365 days a year can take a toll on any product. The sun's relentless UV rays will just keep bombarding objects with electrons until they deteriorate. Look at what the sun can do to paint on a car, for example.

A thick thermoplastic covering is resistant to all of these elements.

In addition, with metal picnic tables, the metal is expanded or perforated. This way any liquids (or paint) flows through the holes and ends up on the ground.

Some of these vandals might be heavy metal fans. Well, they are going to meet their match if they try to damage these heavy-duty metal picnic tables.

Concrete picnic tables aren't going anywhere once placed

If you want to step up to an outdoor site furnishing that is even more substantial, there's always the option for concrete picnic tables.

These things are basically like planting boulders at Stonehenge.

For one, many weigh nearly a ton (2,000 pounds.) A forklift is required to offload these tables from a truck and place them at the desired location.

They are hard-coated and virtually impossible to steal or damage.

Concrete picnic table

What's interesting, however, is that concrete picnic tables aren't massive blocks of ugly, grey cement.

These concrete picnic tables can be ordered with smooth, polished tops and with many different aggregate finishes in pleasing earth tone colors.

If you prefer a wood-like appearance for your landscape (and to help the environment), another option is to order recycled plastic picnic tables.

There have been tremendous advances made in the manufacturing of these types of tables.

The recycled plastic planks used today are now packed tightly with plastic scrap that won't chip, warp, rot or splinter.

Some of these tables can also be in-ground or surface mounted to keep them in place.

By adding recycled plastic picnic tables to your grounds, you are diverting thousands of plastic milk and detergent bottles from taking up space in landfills. It takes about 400 pounds of HDPE plastic scrap just to make one bench.

And these tables are built to last. Many come with 50-year warranties against rotting, decay or termites.

Sure kids will be kids. They have lots of energy. Sometimes that energy is exerted in mischief.

What's ironic is that one day these kids will grow up and no longer be teenagers but will have families of their own. They will probably want to bring their family to a park for a picnic. They will need picnic tables.

But until then, it's best to be prepared.

Call the picnic table experts at The Park and Facilities Catalog. We've worked with parks, schools, colleges, theme parks, professional sports teams and other facilities for the past 17 years.

We can help equip your park or location with durable, commercial-grade picnic tables that will deter any miscreants and save your crew lots of time and aggravation.

Note: If your facility does encounter an attack by vandals, call us ASAP. The Park and Facilities Catalog has a quick-ship program called ParkExpress where we stockpile our most popular picnic tables at our facility and park warehouses in the central part of the country.

With this program, we can literally ship out picnic tables to you in just ONE-THREE business days.