Family camping trips are a lot of fun! Even when you’ve packed a bit poorly and don’t know your tent poles from your ground pegs, it’s a hearty learning experience for everyone!
That being said, it’s nice to go into your first camping trip with a bit of knowledge on your side. And if you’ve got young children coming along too, you’d like to think you can at least look like you know what you’re doing!
And that’s why we’ve put together 3 simple tips to keep in mind for such a trip. Here’s what to remember about camping as a first timer.
Don’t Go Too Far!
That’s the main thing to remember. If this is your first time, and your whole family is with you, treat it like a practice run. Don’t go too far from home. If you can get back to base within a couple of hours, that’s good!
And if you can, try to book into a staffed campsite. The kind of place where there’s always someone on duty who can be reached no matter what time it is.
You don’t want to go wild camping or anything, but even putting up a tent in a national park, with all the natural wonders and no flushing toilets or showers around, can be a step too far at this stage!
Take an RV
Choosing an RV for a camping trip is a bit like taking a hotel room on the road with you. And while some people may not like that when they’re trying to ‘get back to nature’, we thoroughly recommend it if you’re going on a family camping trip for the first time.
After all, there are plenty of well stocked, amenity-rich RV campgrounds to be found up and down the US.
You can hookup your vehicle at any one (although you may have to book in advance, so double check!) and have at least one night with full electricity and no lack of running water. And if that’s the one thing that’s worrying you about a family camping trip, problem solved!
Keep Your Food Options Simple
And finally, with a family camping trip, the food needs to be easy, simple, and tasty. You’re going to need to prepare meals at least once per day, usually for dinner.
As such, make sure you pack things that either don’t need cooking or come pre-cooked and just need to be heated. If you’ve got a fire and/or a cooking stove to use, canned goods will win every time.
When it comes to breakfast, keep it simple with small packets of cereal, or even let the kids have a go at toasting some bread over the fire pit you’ve set up. That’ll be a lot of fun!
Family camping trips can be a bit intimidating the first time round. But, if you stay close to home, go the RV route, and keep food simple and fun, your camping trip will be totally fine!
