Tent Camping with Kids

I used to set up the pack-n-play in the tent for my boys when they were little. When camping I will often bring cinnamon buns to have for breakfast on the day we have to pack up so I don't have to cook and do dishes. I always do hot dogs cooked on sticks over the fire and Jiffy Pop popcorn for one meal. I freeze juice boxes and water bottles for the cooler. Have fun.

We do this often. Bring extra clothes, just in case. WE always save one clean outfit for the ride home. We don't travel too far, but driving even 30 minutes with grit in your undies is no fun. :)

Baby wipes work well for clean ups. Hand sanitizer for before meals.

Make sure everyone has their own flashlight..it will save you arguments in the end.

We don't have an air mattress, but one of those would save your back. We do have individual mats for our sleeping bags. My mat and hubby's inflates just a bit for more comfort.

We always bring a few things with the kids in mind. Bubbles and a ball. We also bring buckets. One of our camp sites is near water and has a bit of "beach" area. Otherwise buckets are great for collecting treasures. We also bring our horseshoe set..grownups enjoy that as well. And we have a ban on all electronics (except the gps and emergency phone), so we usually bring a story book to read by flashlight after it gets dark. And I stock up on the glow stick necklaces at the dollar store. If the kids are wearing those, they are easier to keep an eye on when it's dark.

We try to keep meals filling, but simple. Often it's hotdogs. But we also prep fajitas before we leave and eat those. OR hobo dinners. If you do all the prep before you leave, there are lots of things you can cook. For breakfast, if we feel like cooking, we make breakfast burritos. Usually we don't want to mess with building a fire (we live in Texas, it gets hot early), so we bring things like granola bars, fruit or cereal bars. And obviously, you have to make s'mores! Freeze half the drinks to help keep things cold. (Only half so you have some to drink if you want).

Don't forget hats, sunglasses and sunscreen. ANd a first aid kit. Ours has all the stuff for boo boos, but other things as well. Meds, benedryll, ear drops, chap stick, cortizone creams, etc. Basically stuff we needed on other trips and didn't have. When we get back I add it to the first aid kit.

Have fun!

We are former tent campers who just bought a real camper! Other posters have given you some great tips. I'd like to add a couple: 1) Bring a large mat to put outside the door of the tent. Shoes come off there and feet get wiped so not as much dirt gets dragged in. 2) You can cook every meal in a pudgie pie maker. We've made cinnamon rolls, french toast, eggs in toast, hot pocket type sandwiches, etc in them. No dishes to wash, very little to pack. Not ready to invest in the pie irons? Grab a big cast iron frying pan, potatoes, eggs, ham, sausage, meatloaf mix, chopped veggies, etc. and have a skillet mix for each meal. You can pre-measure/mix/chop in plastic baggies to make it easier. And pre-chopped blanched potatoes will cook much faster than chopping from scratch at the camp site. Big a wate jug with bottom spicket for both drinking water and something to wash hands under. And don't forget the smores!

Easy breakfast could be bacon and eggs, cereal or something like croissants or bagels.

Make sure you have a good cooler and plenty of ice. You may want to freeze water bottles so that you 1. have cold water and 2. have extra, non melty ice. When we camp overnight with 3 people, we bring 2 gallons of drinking and washing water (we don't take baths, but we do wash faces, brush teeth, etc.) on top of other things to drink. When we camp longer, we bring 5 gallons or more.

My DD is pretty good about it now, but things you can do with the tent include having the 2 yr old in a pack n play (harder to get out of), and zip the tent closed such that the zippers are out of reach when kids don't need to be on the other side of the door. I also put bells on the zipper so I knew if DD got out.

Baby wipes can be your friend, and remember a trash bag as you will probably need to carry the trash with you.

Don't leave food laying around. Find out in advance if there are any precautions you should take for bears or other critters. Some spaces are too urban for such things and some areas have cautions on their websites.

If it's at a campground, find out where the bath house is and go there to freshen up at least once. If there are nothing but showers, you may want to take a bucket and sponge bathe the children if they don't like them (my DD hates showers).

Make sure even the smallest people have a chair with a drink pocket.

We prefer a camp stove over a grill or fire for cooking. It's a lot like using a gas stove at home and there are some very nice portable ones out that use those little canisters of propane.

Love:

Are you going to Lytle Creek? Or up the 15? Most of the State campgrounds have running water and bathrooms..I would assume that the people hosting this party would provide the food and camping supplies (i.e. cook stove, etc.) for meals..if not...

If you are only going for one night? Here's what I would take:

* tent
* ground cover for under the tent
* sleeping pad
* sleeping bag
* pillow(s)
* cooler with ice
* Quart of milk
* dry cereal
* bread
* butter
* paper plates, bowls, etc.
* plastic silverware
* dinner plans - keep it simple
Put all the food in Ziploc bags to ensure they do not get wet from the ice. I would put the ice in double ziploc bags as well.

DIAPER WIPES!!! Can't tell you how great diaper wipes are for camping!!!

for the 2 year old? If you have a pack and play and a big enough tent - then bring that - if not - just make sure you are at the front of the tent so your toddler doesn't try and toddle out!!

have fun!!

Cooler that is a coleman 5 day cooler is the best.
We do a ton of different things to cook, I guess it depends on what Camping tools you have.

Do you have a gril? Camping pans?

We have a pie die maker. We make fruit filled ones for desert, and we make breakfast ones with egg, chees and "meat".
We make pancakes
We do cereal, or yogurt and fruit.

The options are endless.

Have fun.

We tent camp all the time..it's a blast. We bring sporty toyss for the kids..their bikes to ride around the campground, frisbee, fishing rods, bubbles. To make it comfy bring thick sleeping pads (I actually bring a blow up mattress for myself!), and extra blankets and pillows. Bring their favorite blanket or stuffed animal to sleep with and some books for bedtime. Bring wipes, flashlights (one for each kid and one for you!), paper towels, extra water. Make sure you have sunscreen and bug spray (if the bugs are out). If it is cool at night bring hats and warm clothes/jackets/gloves for the evening. Sleep in your hat if you are cold. An easy breakfast is cereal or oatmeal. You could splurge and bring doughnuts. Or pre-mix pancake mix and have it in a ziplock bag ready to go. Don't forget to make smores! Have fun.

In addition to all the great suggestions below... We just went camping last weekend, and I would highly recommend not allowing water in the tent at any time. Soggy sleeping bags are no fun!! I definitely second the glow stick suggestion. We also made hot dogs (tofu pups, to be honest) wrapped in Pillsbury biscuit dough and cooked over the fire, which was really fun! You stretch the dough out, wrap around the hot dog, and toast over the fire, yummy!! You can also take the same prepared biscuit dough, snip it into pieces, dip in cinnamon sugar, wrap in a bundle of tin foil, and cook in the campfire.
When I was a kid, camping was the only time ever that we were allowed sugared cereal. My parents would buy the mixed pack of little cereal boxes, my sister and I loved it!

Tent camping with kids is pretty fun. We did it for the first time last year and the kids loved it!

We also did the egg baggie thing for breakfast one day and it was fun and tasted good. You could cook them in a skillet too but this makes for less dishes to clean. We also did instant oatmeal by just boiling water over the fire. Donuts are of course a great option as well! You could even make cinnamon rolls or something the day before and take those.

Horizon makes milk boxes that don't need to be refrigerated so those are handy too. You could do dry cereal and that.

Since you're only going for one night, do whatever is easiest. You don't need a ton of variety since it's only one meal of each.

Other things I would make sure to have are bug spray for inside and outside the tent (you can just use the same kind you spray on yourself) and air mattresses. For the kids we just put a bottom sheet on and spread out their sleeping bags for the top. I would think your two y/o is still in a pack and play so that is easy too.

I would make sure they have a flashlight or something for each kid plus yourself for a night light or middle of the night potty breaks. I would take extra water and baby wipes. My kids had a reusable water bottle we kept out and about during the day. Camp chairs are a must too.

take lots of baby wipes for cleaning hands/faces, feet! LOL! and extra socks.
Sunday brfst - will you have a fire?? If so, do little smokies (pre cooked sausage links) heat over the fire and you can also do toast over the fire with a fire fork - just stick the bread on and toast! Or just do cereal or pb sandwich and banana :)

Super easy "good" breakfast is omelets in a baggie. You get a BIG pot of water boiling then break eggs into quart size baggie, add cheese, meat, veggies, whatever, squeeze out air, write name on baggie with sharpie and boil in water for 15-30 min depending on how "done" you want eggs. Good luck!

If you know how to cook on an open fire then you can cook anything you want. We often had fried potatoes then cooked scrambled eggs in them when they got done. We had just about anything we wanted. Whatever you want to pack and take is fine.

It really is not so different then camper camping, except you sleep on the ground. One of our fav. fast breakfasts for camping is baked oatmeal (can find several recipes on google to fit your families tastes. We serve it covered with either Van yogurt or Almond milk (which keeps better then dairy).

Donuts make an excellent camp breakfast. I'll even volunteer to do the dishes afterwards!

Instant oatmeal w/fruit (or dried fruit), brown sugar, nuts if they like 'em.