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Do you love the relaxed feeling of sitting around a campfire late at night with the stars shining and no noise except the brief breezes through the trees, the crackling of the fire and the laughs from your family when someone’s marshmallow catches on fire? While that is a feeling we may want right now, many of us have been asked to stay home. However, you can create the same feelings and same laughs in your own yard. (Don’t have a yard, check out our post on setting up a living room campsite.)
Start the activity by packing up all the gear as you would if you were headed out of town. Instead of packing the car, though, lug it to the back yard. (Have kiddos? Use them as your pack squad.) This is a great time to teach kids how to set up the tent in a relaxed environment. One important aspect of setting up a tent is site selection. While your yard is likely a pretty chill place, it’s always a good idea to run through the “5 Ws” of tent site section.
Stuff your tent full of cozy sleeping pads, sleeping bags (remember to give them a good cleaning!), blankets, and pillows. The house is right there! No need to skimp on comfort. Hot tip: since you all likely be going in and out of the tent frequently, set up a little tarp or rug outside the door as a spot to remove shoes.
Now that your tent is all situated, set up camp chairs around a fire pit or light up the grill! Pro tip: Turn off all the lights in the house to reduce as much man made light as possible! Soon everyone will forget you are in the backyard and enjoy the fresh air and smell of camp food! After camp songs and s’mores, everyone can tuck into their sleeping bags knowing they had a great adventure and learned some camping necessities.
The magic of the outdoors can still be felt. For now, we just have to be creative and focus on the ways we can access the things we love while following the given set of guidelines.
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