Family camping tips to keep in mind
Are you looking to increase the fun factor for your kids this summer without creating more stress for yourself in the process?
Last month, I shared our own experience of camping as a way to create unstructured family time and lots of summer memories. Now I am happy to provide a few more camping tips that I hope your family will enjoy.
My biggest tip for camping is to keep it simple. You don’t need the fanciest equipment and you don’t need to go far away from home to have fun camping as a family. Some of our favourite camping ‘trips’ when our kids were little were held right in our backyard. As long as you plan for time to be outdoors with your family and relax the structure of your day a little, you’ll have fun.
Some of my favourite memories from childhood are the days when I was allowed to just run around the yard or eat ice cream and watermelon all day. Especially when kids are small, they don’t care if you have the latest gadgets or glamorous destinations in mind.
Some toys and games we love to bring to the campground are a soccer ball, a pack of cards for a fun game of Go Fish or Crazy Eights, a kite and a night star finder. Almost all of these are cheap, easy to pack and, best of all, we can use them together as a family.
One of the things I love most about spending time camping with my family is enjoying foods I might not have time for during the work week. Even going to the grocery store before our weekend getaways can be fun, because I get to choose different and new foods that are fun to make at the campground. With camping, the most important thing is to keep the food fun and easy.
We always pack the basics like watermelon, coffee and pancake mix, but every year I also pick up some new items from the President’s Choice Insiders Collection. This year, my favourite new products perfect for camping are the PC Sliders Mini Beef Burgers and the PC Not-so-secret Spread and Dip. This combination is fantastic for kids who love to grab-and-go while at the campground. After all, who has time to stop playing just to eat?
We also love the PC line of Smokies Fully Cooked Pork Sausages. These being pre-cooked takes the guesswork out of heating them over the campfire or on the grill. (Even kids will have success and you won’t have to worry about anyone eating halfcooked food.) The latest flavour to look for is Cheddar Jalapeno; they’re not too spicy but have a nice kick of heat.
Of course, s’mores are a camping staple. Have you ever tried making them with PC Maple-flavoured Marshmallows? We also just tried a new recipe on our most recent camping trip. It was a hit. We took a sheet of tinfoil, put a peeled banana on top, spread some PC Hazelnut Spread on top of the banana and sprinkled mini marshmallows and chocolate chips on top of that. Then we wrapped it up, placed it on the fire (you could also put it on the barbecue) and waited five minutes. When it was ready, the marshmallows had melted and the banana was warm. It tasted like a French crepe and was delicious.
I hope you have some great family camping adventures this summer. Keep it simple and have fun.
Laura Snow is a Halifax-based travel blogger at mylifeinthesun.ca. This summer, she is partnering with President’s Choice to share her ideas for choosing experiences instead of things for her family and becoming closer as a family through travel.