Stay-Flat Blanket Is a Real Picnic to Use

Handy for pregame football picnics or beach-going is the new Pop-Open Blanket. Unlike an ordinary blanket, it stays flat once opened, thanks to a tempered spring steel frame.

Made of a poly-cotton blend, the 40-by-60-inch blanket can be removed from the frame for machine washing. It folds into a 20-inch disc and has a matching pillow and carrying bag.

The Pop-Open Blanket is available in reversible solid colors of yellow and navy, yellow and turquoise or yellow and red, and in a design of bright pink with black and white stripes. It costs $39.95, including shipping and handling, and may be ordered from Pop-Open Co., P.O. Box 23, Pacific Palisades, Calif. 90272; (213) 874-0346.

The blanket will be available nationwide next spring in sporting goods and department stores, college bookstores and selected catalogues.

Kit Lightens Up a Day at the Beach

Want to spend a day in the sun without carrying along a half-dozen bottles of suntan lotion, moisturizers and lip balm? Consider the new “A Day at the Beach Survival Kit,” a small, brightly colored box containing a day’s worth of everything needed to avoid a sunburn.

The sun survival kit contains two half-ounce tubes of No. 6 suntanning lotion, a packet of lip balm with sun block, a 2-gram packet of zinc oxide and a half-ounce tube of after tanning moisturizer. All the products are unscented, PABA- and alcohol-free, and made of natural ingredients. Suggested retail price for the kit is $3.

Larger bottles of the same items would cost from $14 to $22, says kit developer Tom Greene of Massachusetts, who came up with the idea for the one-day kit after a Florida vacation, when his wife unpacked 12 different bottles of partially used suntan lotions.

The kits are available nationwide in selected drugstores, gift stores and hotel shops. In Southern California, they can be purchased at all six Sun Diego stores (at Fashion Island in Newport Beach and various locations in San Diego County), and at the Hyatt Newporter and Marriott Hotel in Newport Beach.

For more information or to order kits in bulk--24 for $60, plus $3.50 shipping and handling--contact Mike Kapowich, West Coast Representative, P.O. Box 812, Corona Del Mar, Calif. 92625; (714) 640-7051 or Production Plus Inc. P.O. Box 495, Amesbury, Mass. 01913; (508) 388-7137.