174: Family Camping Tips

Whether you are a frequent camper or a newbie, our guest this week, Catherine from To and Fro Family, offers up some great tips on camping with kids. We talk about how to find campgrounds, packing tips, and great ideas for entertaining young kids at the campsite. ON THE PODCAST 00:30 - Talking about Tamara’s Huttopia glamping trip 16:13 - Talking with Catherine 21:35 - How to choose your campground 30:30 - How to choose your campsite 32:55 - Camping in the Fall/Winter 35:20 - What to pack with Kids 42:15 - What to do at your campsite 46:55 - Planning for meals 52:27 - Catherine’s Favorite Gear 57:30 - Catherine’s Book 59:50 - Book Giveaway ABOUT CATHERINE RYAN GREGORY Catherine Ryan Gregory shares travel hacks and kid-friendly destinations to de-stress family travel. She founded the family travel website To & Fro Fam and is the author of Virtual Travel Activities for Kids. Follow Catherine on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. TIPS FOR CAMPING WITH KIDS The first thing you should do when picking your campground is figure out how far you want to drive. Next, think about the kind of terrain you want to camp at; in the mountains, by a lake/coast, or in the desert. Campgrounds offer different amenities and campsite locations. Some campgrounds are first-come-first-served. With first-come-first-serve campsites, the sooner you get there, the better chance you will be able to grab one of these spots. Going on a weekday can help with this since the weekends will usually fill up fast. Keep in mind that first-come-first-serve campgrounds have different rules/restrictions. Some have restrictions on how long you are allowed to stay at the site. Make sure to check this out if you are planning to get a spot at one of these campgrounds because some sites have a one-night limit! Before booking your campsite make sure to double check the amenities that the campground offers. This is especially important if you would like to have certain amenities and services. If you plan on taking a camping trip in the fall or winter months when it will be colder, you really want to make sure that you are checking the high and the low temperatures for the time you are going. Make sure that your sleeping bag is rated for the colder temperatures and you may also want to pack some more layers for the night time. No matter what time of year you are planning on taking a camping trip you want to check to see what the weather is supposed to be like and plan accordingly. If there is any chance it might rain when you are camping, you might want to think about bringing a kind of canopy so that you are not stuck completely inside your tent for the times that it rains. Less is more when it comes to clothes. You can always rewear if they are not too dirty. For kids you don’t need to change their clothes everytime they get dirty. Just let them go and be dirty! Minimizing the changes of clothes will help you downsize your packing. You are already bringing a lot of other supplies, you don’t need to bring a huge suitcase with clothes on top of that. One item that you don’t want to under pack on is wipes. Especially if you have younger kids having wipes to clean their feet and hand, and even their face, without having to make the trek to the bathroom that may not be all that close to your campsite to get clean. In regards to your meals, you might want to prep as much as you can before your trip. Depending on what you are eating that might just mean cutting up potatoes, vegetables and mixing them with seasoning and oil in a bag. Then for your meal you can pull the bag out of the cooler and using some foil pour some of this mix in with a burger or meat and heat it up. FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR Catherine loves all things REI. The quality of the items they have gotten from them have lasted them for years! Catherine loves to use her fanny packs but recently she has not needed to wear them because of the Alder Apparel pants that she has fallen in love with that have lots of pockets and are super comfortable. Along with that she loves Columbia and Eddie Bauer, that make up the majority of her summer clothing. This post contains affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commission. MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST Tamara's Huttopia White Mountains review Fun family camping hacks The best way to pack a cooler for your camping trip Outdoor art projects for kids when camping Recreation.gov Hipcamp Tentrr Digital Courses during Covid  FOLLOW US AND SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this show, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and leave us a review! Have a question or comment? Send us an email at podcast@vacationmavens.com. You can also follow our travels on Stuffed Suitcase and We3Travel, or follow the Vacation Mavens on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!