Camping with family questions

Ok so I have done plenty of camping with buddies but now want to take my kids. I just want to know any must haves or things you found that made it fun for the kids.

I have a nice Kelty tent that is still a great tent and has enough room for now. Also already have a grill we also use for tailgating.

Looking at getting:

• Either a air mattress or cots ... I hate waking up to a deflated bag so leaning towards a cot ... but just looking for experience
• Outdoor kitchen or make a chuck box?? I have a workshop so it would be easy to make but looks to weigh quite a bit.
• Screen enclosure tent... we live in Florida so we want our table to eat at to have somewhat of a barrier
• Don't have a nice cooler ... so this is an excuse to buy one ... are they really worth it ?

Any suggestions would be great. Weather is about to start getting nice and want to do some weekend trips. We also like the idea of just being able to load and go.

 

We did the air mattress thing and this year we switched to cots. Much better.

Clothes for kids. You have no idea how dirty they get. Bathroom conveniences. You need those. Some kids have issues squatting behind a bush so get yourself a dump bucket and plenty of baby wipes; they clean everything.

Entertainment for inside the tent in case of rain and you need to hide for an hour or so. Uno, dominoes, etc.

Storage space on your phone as you'll be taking a lot of pics of them cause they're having so much fun

Enjoy the time off.

 

As for the cooler thing, I'm sure the high $ ones work great, but I did lots of research/reviews and the Coleman Xtreme 5day works great. Walmart $25-50 depending on size. I bought on-line and got free delivery. Key with any cooler is a big block of ice along with crushed too. Enjoy that camping time with family

 

We just switched to Coleman cots with padding. So much better than air mattresses. Only problem, especially with the crewmax bed, 4 of them is going to take up almost a quarter of the bed space.

 

Yep. That is why we only have 2
Kids get Walmart $19.99 unpadded cots.

 

Good stuff thank you!! Which cots did you happen to get I have read so many reviews on different ones at this point.

 

Ok just saw the comment above thanks!

 

Just be aware with the Coleman xtreme it is easily opened by raccoons and whatever else is out there. If you do get that ice chest just be sure to secure it before going to sleep.

 

Outside games...washer boards horseshoe's corn hole a frisbee a football pair of baseball gloves n ball
Inside games (if raining)..
Connect 4 checkers uno deck of cards go fish

Don't forget items to do Smores by campfire that's a must!!!

 

As far as the expensive coolers go, I got a pelican 45q several months ago for $246. Same one now is close to $450. My buddy was looking for one. Did a search for rotomolded coolers and there's some great deals on off brand ones. Probably just as good as pelican or yeti at 1/4 price.

 

family has a bison cooler....we love it!

 

Try cabelas polar coolers they work well, some dry ice in there helps keep regular ice longer too. Games for the kids when slow or bad weather. Cots are a good choice

 

I have a Yeti cooler and yes they are expensive but I freaking love that thing. Holds ice for days

 

Bison coolers are awesome too

 

Canyon coolers are good too

 

I got a yeti cooler with cabelas points and did a side by side comparison against a colmen from walmart and the ice lasted about a half day longer in the yeti. If I would have paid cash for it I would have returned it not worth the money. Go with a cot vs air mattress they all leak and I find cots comfortable. If your looking for a screen enclosure you should check out CVT and tepui RTT they sell shades that have a enclosure that hook up to your truck. https://tepuitents.com/collections/awning

 

I’ll 2nd or 3rd the pelican. We have a tundra 45 in the tan coolor to match my truck and it’s phenomenal. We prefer the latches of the pelican vs a yeti.

If you do it right, we we’ve been able to get 5 days and still come home with plenty of ice that lasts another 4-5 days after we empty the cooler. My advice with little ones is get a good cooler for the food and get a cheapo for the drinks. I’m sure the kids will be in and out of the one with the drinks and that’s what kills ice. Also as mentioned, block ice is your friend. We use our home fridge and a Pyrex pan to layer the bottom and then store food in reverse order of how it will be used, so as the days go on, you can just open the cooler 3 times per day and grab exactly what you need. So block ice, food, more block ice, more food, block ice food and fill the gaps with cubes. Avoid the gas station stuff with holes in it. The less surface areas the ice has, the longer it lasts.

Also, here is a shootout fourwheeler did a couple years ago on all the bigger name brands of coolers. Even though yeti probably has the best advertising and name recognition, it Got last place. Canyon took the #1 spot and pelican tied for 2nd with Grizzly.

http://www.fourwheeler.com/product-reviews/1512-the-ultimate-high-end-cooler-shootout/

 

As far as air mattress vs cot, this is what I chose:

https://www.rei.com/product/113720/exped-megamat-duo-10-sleeping-pad

Yes, it's expensive. But I always hated waking up on a deflated air mattress and a Cot just seemed like it took up a lot of space. This Exped sleeping pad rolls up almost like a sleeping bag.

 

Not sure how old your kids are, but I've been camping with mine since 6 months old, and one of the most used pieces of equipment we have is a kid carrier backpack. I have a Deuter kid comfort 2. If you have any plans on hiking with little ones, get one. They can walk part and then rest in the pack for a while. It'll allow you to get a lot more distance, and maybe find some cool ponds/streams/waterfalls to play in. You may even get a favorite photo ever taken opportunity.

 

Excellent advice! Thank you for sharing.

 

Depends on your kids age. We started taking ours at about 1 and 4. Remote places, wouldn't see people for a week. Toys and games worked well for at the campsite. When they got older, we would do some target shooting. They both still have dimes with a hole in the middle that they shot with the .22 We did a lot of hiking, driving trails and getting out to look at interesting stuff. They slept in bags on the ground.

When they got older we did more beach camping at camp grounds, beach toys etc worked then. They still slept in bags on the ground. Since I got older also, we eventually got a pop up for my comfort. Had that until they moved away.

Tailgate grill plus grate for the campfire was all we ever used. My wife always also made sure to pack a salad in zip lock bags, as well as fruits, cereal, breakfast bars and a few other compact snacks.

Really, we started out by making a list and then modifying the list after each trip. It eventually turned into two lists, mountain tent camping and beach pop up camping.

Whatever you do, it's a great experience. Both of mine have their own tents and are taking their kids now.

 

If you are going to switch to cots your tent may be too small. If so the Kingdom cots from REI are beyond amazing. We have the kingdom 6 tent with garage. Depending on age head out and away as far as possible, but we saw a bear last year so we always have a sidearm too.

 

I have kingdom 8 with garage. Sucker is huge. Always have sidearm too. Just learned I should switch hollow points for ball.

 

Why? Please tell me it was a brown bear....

Black bears are harmless, and if you’re practicing Leave No Trace principles then even grizzlies will avoid you at all cost.

Helpful tips:

• Make noise while hiking and you’ll never sneak up on one
• Hide food properly
• Leave the delicious deodorant at home
• Clean dishes away from camp
• If In the EXTREMELY rare occurrence that you encounter a grizzly you should look down, back away, and AFTER you are away you should make noise to encourage it to move away
• If you are LUCKY enough to see a black bear, achieve some distance in the same way, and take lots of pictures because they are more afraid of you than you are them. Again, make noise and they will mosey on

Please don’t shoot a bear because you “see one”

 

I do all of this. Kinda happy I’ve never spotted a bear. I do carry a bear bell when I hike.

 

I always carried a sidearm, but it was more for the "Deliverance" factor than the bears. We went to some pretty remote places.
In the beginning we always went during spring gobbler season, I would hunt until noon. So there was a shotgun. Well, two shotguns... and a .30-06, .30-30, a couple of .22s...........

But seeing a bear in the wild was always a treat. Even though it was spring, showing them (the kids, not the bears) how to look for deer sign and picking a spot to sit in the late afternoon with a camera while they started stirring are some of the best memories. The snakes, owls, grouse, ground hogs and even the chipmunks were cool too.

One other thing, even if you're out for a week, never make the kids bathe in a cool mountain stream. My wife thought 7 days without a bath was too much and did just that. I didn't think they'd ever want to go back.

 

I’m from GA and those Deliverance folks ARE like spotting bears....”kids, don’t get near them!”

I spent 81 nights in AK in the Chugach and had 0 showers....man, I even offended myself

 

Baby wipes are great for this....just the soft squishy places

 

So that’s how you lost your hair!

 

Gross.....AT LEAST THE SOFT SQUISHY PLACES!