Need camping tips.

[justinenycole26]

I am trying to plan a camping trip for my family and a friend from work's family. My kids are 7 and 8, their daughter is 3.

We have NO camping equipment and none of us have ever been.
I have been looking at some tents on www.walmart.com and the prices seem to be pretty good. Does anyone know anything about the quality? What else will we need to take? We have a Kia Sportage so space is kinda limited.

We are thinking of going around the Lake Okeechobee area. Not sure when, but hopefully before it gets too hot. South Florida can be super hot in the summer. I know we will need food, tents, something to sleep on, cooler, bug spray, clothes..... anything else?

The state parks prohibit alcohol and we wanna take beer, so we are gonna try to find a privately owned campground. Any suggestions?

[spongebob]

i would take some toys, a latern. and tp just in case there bathrooms don't have any soap, washcloths, a towel. maybe a deck of cards.if i can think of any more i will come back and edit.

[Electric Chameleon]

If you are roughing it and not staying and campgournd that has showers and such, make sure you pack water, and if you make campfire coffee, or do any cooking over a campfire coat the bottom and the sides of the pans and purculator with dish soap before you put them on the fire. The black soot comes right off! And will save years of use on them.

Most importantly have fun and go with the flow.

sleeping bags, pillows, lanterns, hot dog cookers and marshmallows,oven mitts, board games, warm clothes for cool nites, after bite insect stuff, first aid kid (fully stocked including aspirin or advil or tylenol) Non scented hand wipes, like the baby wipes.

Grap a bag of dryer lint (sounds crazy but.........)keep it to use as a fire starter! Makes great kindling when needed and things get rained on.

Plastic bags to store items that you don't want to get wet if it rains, and tarps, one for under the tent and one for shelter of both sun and rain.

If I think of anything else I will add it!

EC

[Judy]

Originally posted by Electric Chameleon
If you are roughing it and not staying and campgournd that has showers and such, make sure you pack water, and if you make campfire coffee, or do any cooking over a campfire coat the bottom and the sides of the pans and purculator with dish soap before you put them on the fire. The black soot comes right off! And will save years of use on them.

Most importantly have fun and go with the flow.

sleeping bags, pillows, lanterns, hot dog cookers and marshmallows,oven mitts, board games, warm clothes for cool nites, after bite insect stuff, first aid kid (fully stocked including aspirin or advil or tylenol) Non scented hand wipes, like the baby wipes.

Grap a bag of dryer lint (sounds crazy but.........)keep it to use as a fire starter! Makes great kindling when needed and things get rained on.

Plastic bags to store items that you don't want to get wet if it rains, and tarps, one for under the tent and one for shelter of both sun and rain.

If I think of anything else I will add it!

EC

This about covers it :) Great advice Chameleon :)
Have fun :)
I always loved campin' with the family :)
We still reflect back on those early days.
Especially all the spooky tales ;)

[catssass]

Lawn Chairs or stools to sit around the fire, and as for the tent, get the roomiest you can afford, try to get one with fiberglass poles(the bendy kind)they are much easier to set up than the aluminum kind and make sure you use the seam sealer that comes with it, try and set it up before you go,& seal the seams, it will be good to practice, too!....you might want to get air matresses to put under your sleeping bags...Have Fun! I love to camp, you can check on campgrounds in your area at www.koa.com or do a search for campgrounds on google...

[Lora_1994]

I love camping!! I sooo cannot wait until it gets warmer our so we can go. We usually take the basics ... blankets and pillows, fishin' poles, some toys for the kids, good and drinks, charcol, lanterns, tarp(in case of rain), cards for when the kids go to sleep.

We borrowed our tents from my mom last year(1st year we've actually went camping) but here in a week or 2, I'm going to put one of those big 3 room tents on lay-a-way at walmart for this summer. I think they run for about 170 or so.

[Tadbit]

We love to camp out too. I can't wait until we get to go this year. You might also want to take a flashlight, for those bathroom trips in the middle of the night, matches or a lighter stick, extension cord if you are staying where they have an electric outlit, a can opener, and don't forget the ice. :)

[catssass]

Here is a good checklist to print out, you might want to buy a couple of things a week till you go so it won't seem to overwhelming....

http://www.theoutdoorlodge.com/features/checklists/camping.html

[Tadbit]

Catssass, what a great link to go to. Thanks, this list will even help me out when we go. :)

[catssass]

Tadbit, Your Welcome! LOL, if I didn't have a list, I'd forget a ton of stuff, one time we forgot the tent stakes and another time we forgot the grill and hubby had to drive 100 miles back home to get it(we had a ton of chicken with)...We have had more fun memories camping than staying at 5 star hotels, the kids still talk about some of our CRAZY camping trips!

[MsLynn]

with kids, lol, LOTS OF HOTDOGS, and just a suggestion, make hamburger patties in advance, or buy the premade ones. and MARSHMALLOWS.

[Lora_1994]

YES, gont forget the weiners and marshmallows for the kiddies!!

[catssass]

Here's a good book, it has lots of fun ideas, some are really weird but kids love them...

ROUGHING IT EASY by DIAN THOMAS

Iam sure Amazon has it, or the library (just go take a look)

[ntgsmommy]

:D A camera for all the memories the trip will bring, and film if you don't have a digital....ghost stories--and of course marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate bars for smores! yummy!:D

[twinkiesmom]

wow. no kidding that is a great link, catsass! Bookmarked it for myself! One thing that's missing on there unless I missed it is a clothesline/pins. For your wet towels and bathing suits and stuff. Also, Don't forget stuff like frisbies, baseball gloves, balls, bats. Paper towels, a pan to wash dishes in and dishtowels (I use those pans u get from a hosp. stay) A can opener if u take anything canned. And a necessity on my camping list is a few packages of smokey links! MMMmmmmm. Great snack over the campfire! Have a good time!

[onfire4god57]

Okay everyone remembered the marshmallows but you forgot the graham crackers and the choclolate hershey bars so you can make s'mores.

Also just a few suggestions; hubby and I go camping alot. All of our essential camping equipment (not counting tent, sleeping bags, etc) is all stored in a big rubbermaid container (it also doubles as our hurricane disaster kit).

I always save all the packets of mustard, ketchup, mayo,etc that you get from the fast food restaurants, we use those when we camp instead of having to take all the bottles of everything, takes up alot less space and they don't have to be in the cooler.

We also have a couple of the touch lights that you just push and the light comes on, you can buy them at the Dollar tree for a buck, they work great in the tent, you don't have to worry about any knocking over a lantern (if its a fuel one). You have instant access to a light whenever you would need it in the middle of the night.

Also take some citronella candles or the big insence sticks helps with those pesky critters, You can also take citronella oil, and put some on a small cloth and pin it to the back of a shirt collar or pant cuff and it will keep the skeeters away. We do that alot when we night fish. It reall does work.

And a word of warning DON'T keep any food sitting out on you picnic tables, not even in containers, the racoons will get into anything, we've even had them take the lid off of a rubbermaid container before.

Gosh we've been talking about going camping in the near future, now I even want to go more. Hope you all have fun. And most importantly relax and have fun!!!

[Jolie Rouge]

Originally posted by catssass
Here is a good checklist to print out, you might want to buy a couple of things a week till you go so it won't seem to overwhelming....

http://www.theoutdoorlodge.com/features/checklists/camping.html


AWESOME ! made copies *and* bookmarked for future reference !


So many great suggestions here that I can not think of anything to add.

[Kyla Kym]

We had the only store around in our area and it's a heavy tourist area for camping, hiking, canoing, biking, trout fishing, etc...and the things that I had a hard time keeping in stock during the summer months was things like this:

Fire starter logs, Coleman fuel, fire wood, mantels for Coleman lanterns, wind up alarm clocks, battery operated radios, batteries, tarp straps for ice chest to keep the coons out, tent stakes, fishing baits, ice, marshmallows, Hershey bars, salt & pepper shakers, tooth picks, Styrofoam plates, bowls & cups, paper towels, plastic forks, knifes & spoons, disposable cameras and film, flip flops, cheap air mattress, underwater goggles, we always got allot of request for reading material so I kept my old books up there for sale for the campers, can openers, maps of our area, vinyl repair kits, tarps, twine, clothes pins, matches, charcoal, charcoal starter, coffee pots that you can use on a camp fire, bug repellent, fly swatters, suntan lotions, bandannas, and we sold tons of snack foods. Be sure your first aid kit is prepared for everything. I've had them come in our store for everything from snake bite to hypothermia. Zip lock bags to keep your foods in after they are opened....umm..that's all I can think of right off hand.

:)