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If you have a big garden you don’t need to drive to the woods when you want to take the kids camping. You can have a great experience in your back yard and we’re going to look at everything you’ll need to do to make your camping adventure great.

Get a mattress for your tent

When you go camping in the woods it’s not a great idea to take a blow-up mattress with you because you have to carry it on your back, but when you’re camping in the garden it’s different because you just need to drag it a few meters. It’s going to be pretty uncomfortable lying on the ground especially if you don’t have soft grass, so the mattress will ensure you have a good night’s sleep and you wake up feeling fresh in the morning.

Set up a small fire

Before you start playing with fire you must make sure you’re allowed to set one in the garden otherwise you might get a nasty surprise when the fire engines come speeding to your home. Hopefully you can have a fire because it’s not really camping without one and your children won’t be able to enjoy melted marshmallows. You won’t want to burn wooden logs in the middle of your grass because it will make a lot of mess, so look into setting up a fire pit.

Throw some blankets on the ground

Once it gets dark you will get to retreat to your tent, but you will need to organize an area where you can sit on the ground. You can throw lots of old blankets on the ground and once they’re down you can put pillows on top of them so everyone can lounge around. If you live near a forest you could also collect some old logs to sit on. Another way to be really comfortable is to hang some hammocks from trees if you have any in the garden.

Prepare some activities

Your children will demand some cool activities otherwise they would rather be sitting in the house watching cartoons and playing on their computer. If you don’t live in the middle of a city you should have a good view of the stars at night and if you use a telescope you’ll be able to see them ever better. It might be a good chance to team your children about space. You can also have scavenger hunts, singalongs, or anything else you can think of.

Buy some solar lights

The sun will eventually disappear and that doesn’t mean the party has to end, but if it’s very dark you won’t be able to see anything. If you don’t want to rely on the fire and the stars you can get some outdoor solar lights. The reason I mention them is because they are very convenient and not too expensive. Once you stick them in the ground they will light up your garden and you don’t need to worry about any external wires.

Decide what you want to eat

We’ve saved the most important thing for last because eating food is one of the great joys of camping, especially when you cook something over the fire. If you don’t want to go that far you can always use your barbeque, but try not to pop into the kitchen to use the oven if you want the experience to be authentic. Instead of eating from plates you can also get some mess tins to eat out of because dinner will be a lot more fun.

The kids will love it

Kids love camping outdoors and if you’re not the kind of person who likes to rough it in the woods they might not be able to experience a lot of it. You should definitely attempt to camp out in your back garden because it’s the next best thing.

Featured images:

•  License: Creative Commons image source 
•  License: Creative Commons image source 
•  License: Creative Commons image source 
•  License: Creative Commons image source 
•  License: Creative Commons image source 
•  License: Creative Commons image source 
•  License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://pixabay.com/en/sheets-towels-blankets-linen-72155/

The author of this article, Paul Ferraro, works as a product designer at Discount Portable Garages, providers of temporary garages. Paul loves photography and sharpens his wildlife photography skills whenever he gets time.

About the author
Andreas co-founded Xavier Media® in 1996 and has since been involved in all kinds of development, marketing and making money online.