Buying your family tent may not need the same considerations as buying a house, still there are important rules to know.

Most first time tent buyers look at the person or berth capacity a manufacturer recommends as their guide.  This can prove to be a very big mistake, unless you don’t mind sleeping like sardines in a can with no turn or stretch space.

What about your equipment and personal paraphernalia or privacy to change clothes?  Consider the following when looking for The Perfect Tent.

• Get the largest tent possible for your needs.  Add 2-3 person space.  In other words if you are a family of four and two friends or extended family are coming with you then look for an eight to nine person tent.  If everyone packs light, there should be enough room to store individual backpacks or duffel bags within the tent.
• If you are camping with your family, try to find a tent that will allow one sleeping area for a “quiet space” where a child or children can be alone.  This can double as the storage area if there is enough room to have a lay down.
• Look for a tent with good head space in the living area and in the sleeping areas enough room to sit upright.  If you have to, you can change your clothes in a sitting position if there is no other alternative.
• Make certain that your tent is suitable for the season you will be camping in.  Most family tents can be used for three seasons: late Spring, Summer and early Autumn.  These tents will have good ventilation.  Winter tents are constructed differently and are meant for extreme conditions.  You will be miserable in those tents for summer camping – they are too insulated and have poor ventilation.
• Do your research on the camping areas you want to visit to be certain your tent will fit in the space allotted to you.

Size may not matter in other areas, but for family camping it can make a difference between cramped and edgy nerves and happy campers having fun!

(By the way that’s a photo of the Ephor 6 person tent.)

I just stumbled across this site about natural insect repellents.  Now that’s a good thing.  Camping is fun but I think we are all on the same page about bugs and mosquitoes -  that’s not the fun part.

I use a natural spray that is harmless to children and pets that is based on a chrysanthemum extract and I tell you – it works.  It’s called ‘Don’t Bug Me’ by Foxfarm.

 Using it at home right on the threshhold or other favorite entry points for ants and they just don’t cross that line.  I think the active ingredient is Pyrethrin which is found in some, not all chrysanthemums.

Works great camping too.  Especially if your tent just has tub liners for the sleeping areas but the inner one has to be held in place with ties – no more bugs creeping in along the join…and no more coming in thru the entrance way.

If you don’t want to be bugged, then add a natural insect repellent to your ‘must have’ camping list!

Going camping with your children is an excellent opportunity for some real family bonding, through fun activities and a shared love for the outdoors. Be warned however, tent camping with kids is not all fun and games. It requires some planning and a little bit of patience to make sure that everyone has a great time, and gets their share of the activities they enjoy the most.

Get the kids involved with the planning

When you are planning for the camping trip, get the kids involved. Get them to suggest activities and meal ideas, and try to incorporate their suggestions into your camping plan whenever possible. If the children feel like they had helped plan the trip, they will be more actively involved, and that will go a long way towards making the trip successful.

Plan activities for the whole family

Plan activities in which the entire family can participate together. Sing-alongs and story-telling around the campfire are classics, and are perfect activities for the family to have a great time together and share a laugh or ten. You could go on a few nature hikes to explore the wilderness. Take along wildlife guide books, so that you and the children can have some fun learning about the trees, birds and animals you encounter on your hike.

Be sure to involve the children in camp chores. They would actually enjoy some of these out-of-the-ordinary chores, like gathering firewood and fetching water, and will feel like they are making a real contribution. You could even make games and contests out of these chores, to ramp up the fun and excitement even further.

Plan some individual activities

It is important to remember that not every child is going to want to participate in every activity. You should have something planned that each can enjoy by herself. It is a good idea to get your child to bring along a small backpack with her favorite books, toys, drawing pencils and papers, so she have can have some alone time if she wants. At this point, you will also want establish a “contraband list”, especially if over-texting or a Nintendo-obsession has been a problem at home.

Remember, you can’t control the weather – but you can plan ahead

Make sure you are prepared to deal with bad weather. A trip to the nearest museum or any other indoor venue of interest could be a possible solution, or perhaps a simple game of cards inside those family camping tents. You don’t need to pack a lot of equipment to deal with inclement weather, but you will need to use to imagination to figure out how best to keep the children entertained in a small, confined space for the afternoon. Engage the family in word games, which won’t require any additional equipments, or bring along a board game, and keep the family entertained through the rain.

Get trigger happy – with the camera

A good digital camera with long lasting batteries and ample space on your memory card is an absolute essential on your camping trip. Sharing the photographs with friends after you get home is the perfect way to relive those great camping moments again and again well into the future.

What comes to mind when you think of family tent camping? Lying on a cold, hard tent floor, in a wholly inadequate sleeping bag, shivering and cramped for space, completely sleepless, waiting for light to break? Flash lights or battery operated lanterns ceasing to function in your hour of need? Memories of having to carry unwieldy containers of (flammable!) fuel for those gasoline/kerosene lanterns? If so, you might want to acquaint yourself with all the wonderful new innovations in the world of family tent camping creature comforts.

Here are just a few things that will take the inconvenience out, and put the comfort back into your camping trip.

Sleep in style – Inflatable mattresses and sleeping bags

If you are worried about sleepless nights in hostile environments on your tent camping trip, don’t be. Modern camping equipment is able to tame even the most uncomfortable environments, and a good night’s sleep and great wilderness camping experience can very easily coexist. Things like inflatable mattresses and sleeping bags are nothing new, but what is new however is the unprecedented comfort levels some of these modern-day products offer.

Today’s inflatable mattresses are not only more comfortable, but are also much easier to carry. A self inflatable, easy to roll up and carry inflatable mattress will turn those sleepless nights on cold, hard surfaces, and annoying little pebbles, into a perfect night’s sleep on a cushion of air.

Once you have the sleeping surface sorted out, you will want to think about the weather and time of year. Modern sleeping bags come in a number of sizes and shapes, stitched together using a variety of materials.  They are designed to deal with all kinds of climate conditions, from sub-zero temperatures to tropical heat. These sleeping bags are spacious, and will not constrict your movement while you sleep. All in all, it’s a good night’s sleep guaranteed.

Solar Powered Lanterns, Flashlights, and Radios

In terms of the latest camping equipment innovations, solar-powered devices have been all the rave. Camping essentials such as camping light, flashlight and even radios are being equipped with solar powered batteries. When properly exposed to the sun throughout the day, these solar-powered camping lights will provide more the ten hours of nonstop service all night long.

There are also some pretty interesting composite devices out there, such a light and radio combination. These devices are worth checking out, as they will help you cut down on the weight you have to carry.

A pretty handy new innovation in solar powered lanterns is the motion-activated lantern. You no longer have to worry about that exasperating search in the dark tent for that lantern. Just set one of these up in the tent, point it towards the entrance, and watch the lantern light up on its own each time you walk in.

As backup to the solar batteries, many of these devices come with regular batteries or hand cranks. This will come in handy just in case you forget to set them outside in the sunlight or if there is not enough sunlight for them to recharge.

All of these new camping innovations make sure that you only have to worry about the important things for that camping trip: having a great time with the family.

Creature comforts? Leave that to the latest technology to take care of.

What makes for a great family camping trip?

Great company, the perfect campground, and getting your list of camping essentials right. Pack too much, and quality time with the family turns into time spent packing and unpacking. Pack too little, and you are potentially packing a recipe for disaster.

Getting your list of camping basics right can be tricky at times, and depends on where exactly you choose to pitch that family camping tent. Whether you choose an organized campground with all the amenities, or you venture out to a campsite in the wilderness, this article will help you get your camping basics right.

Organized Campgrounds with Amenities

These types of campgrounds usually come with all the perks: clean drinking water, hot showers, and electricity. These are perfect places for camping light, places where you can get by with the bare basics. Here is a list of what you will need:

• A family camping tent, with adequate space for sleeping and storing equipment,
• sleeping bags,
• food,
• water,
• flashlight/lanterns,
• matches,
• first aid kit,
• cookware/eating dishes,
• multi-purpose camping tool/knife,
• personal hygiene items, such as towels, wash cloth, sunscreen, and clothing.

You should be able to get by with very few cooking utensils. One frying pan, a medium size cooking pot for heating water and making stews and a couple of spoons will be enough to cook for a group of four.  For larger groups, simply double the numbers for each increment of four. Remember that it is more practical to have two medium pots than one large one – you can cook much faster over two fires than one.  Don’t forget the can opener, the coffee/tea pot and cups!

Rustic Camping

These campgrounds offer an outhouse and a pump for clean water, but little else in the way of amenities. You would need to expand your list of camping essentials to include basic equipment such as a shovel, a pail, and an axe. You will need the shovel to dig or clean out a fire pit, the axe to chop your wood, and the pail for a whole number of small but important tasks, such as gathering twigs for the campfire or carrying water or sand. You could consider carrying a small propane cooker or a charcoal BBQ as an alternative to using a fire pit for your cooking.

Wilderness Camping

If you want to head off into the great outdoors, where there is nothing but you and nature, wilderness camping might just be your thing. The camping essentials you pack should make you completely self-sustainable, and, in addition to the items already listed for the other campsites, you should include a supply of water, purifying tablets in case you run out of water, maps, a compass, and a little extra dry food in case of an emergency.

If you are hiking into a wilderness area, consider purchasing collapsible shovels and a small hand ax with a case that will attach to your belt, decreasing the weight you carry in your backpack. Leave the pail behind, and replace the medium cooking pot with a larger kettle with a handle, so that it can double as both a pail and a cooking pot. 

For cooking, consider which would be your best option: a fire-pit, which would require dry wood being available, or a small propane cooker and charcoal BBQ, both of which will add considerable weight.