Just because we have to stay home, doesn’t mean we can have some fun! Grab some blankets, pillows and head to your backyard for a fun evening under the stars! Backyard Campouts are great ways to prepare for an upcoming camping trip, test out camping equipment or just have a good time at home! One of the best things about Backyard Campouts is everything is close at hand, including the bathroom, and well, there’s no need to pack everything including the kitchen sink! Check out my tips for making a Backyard Campout your favorite thing about Staying at Home!
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1. Don’t stress the small stuff. Even if your Backyard Campout doesn’t last after 9pm, the kids will still have fun memories of it, and be tempted to try again later, as long as you keep it fun and light! For younger children, start off with an afternoon nap in the tent! Backyard Camping doesn’t just have to be for the kids, either! It can be a fun date night during a time when date nights are a little hard to come by!
2. Setting up your tent. Remember, a tent can be sheets and blankets for a blanket fort, or a real camping tent. If this is your first time camping, set up your tent on a level place in the yard. A few important rules make for great camping, such as no shoes in the tent, and keep it zipped up in case of mosquitos! Also, and this is a hard one, but no food in the tent that might attract ants.
Backyard camping in the Summer? Ditch the tent and set up hammocks or just sleep under the stars to enjoy the cool breeze!
3. Sleeping Camping is not fun if you can’t sleep well. While you can always just fill the tent with blankets for a softer sleep, sleeping pads, air mattresses and cots are all fun options, too! Inside the tent, you’ll want to add blankets and pillows for sleeping, or sleeping bags, or a mixture of both! Depending on where you live, outdoor noises may make sleeping outside more challenging. Consider taking a battery operated noise machine with you.
4. Lighting is important when camping, even if you have great landscaping lights! We have a tent light, but some tents come with lights already on them. In a pinch, Christmas lights are a fun way to illuminate the yard, too. Beware that white lights will attract flying bugs. Kids love headlamps that they can wear, or fun lanterns to carry around, and glow sticks make every campout exciting! I love this cute citronella candles from Amazon.
5. Campfire For us, the perfect campout involves a campfire and s’mores! We have a fire pit, but there are a ton of easy campfire options, from little gas stoves to pop-up pits! Grab the chairs to sit around the fire for fun ghost stories or campfire sing-a-longs! If a campfire isn’t an option, make a pretend one with glow sticks, flashlights or even a candle!
6. Camp Food Hot dogs and chips may be a staple at most campouts, but there is a never-ending list of tried and true camping foods! Keep is simple but don’t be afraid to step outside of the box, either!
7. Picnics Never fear if you don’t have a picnic table! Lay out a blanket on the ground, include some candles, and paper plates. Keep clean up to a minimum.
8. Outdoor movies Bring a little of the inside out with a fun movie night! We love this neat little projector from Amazon, which plays a movie off our phone, which we projected on the side of our house!
9. Games and Activities While our family go-to game is Uno, and we are almost never without a deck of Uno cards, we really branched out on fun games during our Stay At Home Coronacation! Fireside Bears is a fun game to play in the tent!
10. Reading Time One of our favorite activities when camping, either in the backyard or away from home, is cuddling up together and reading a book!
Keep Having Fun in the Texas Sun!
Michelle
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