I am not a woodsy or outdoorsy person in the purest sense. I love being outdoors, for sure, cooking on the grill and enjoying the backyard or local park on a warm and pleasant spring, summer or fall day but the act of camping out – of actually SLEEPING outside is something that has never appealed to me – not even a little bit. Seriously, the bugs? No Thanks! But the communal act of being together and spending that time in a general woodsy calm is highly intriguing to me. I just wish there was a way to do it without actually, you know, sleeping outside – haha.
Well, good news friends – you can have your cake and eat it to! Host an indoor campout and get the best of both worlds. Your family can still be snug together, enjoying the sing-along fun and general peacefulness of a typical campout without being eaten alive by mosquitoes and other creatures of the dark.
Ideal locations for an indoor campout would be the living room, under the kitchen table or in mom and dad’s room. Gather up the sleeping bags, books, flashlights and a radio and enjoy bringing the outdoors inside!
Indoor encampments are great for families with small babies or children with terrible pollen allergies (or a healthy fear of snakes, big scary bugs, suburban bears, etc.) In this way, you are able to share that communal camp experience without the side effects that prohibit your gang from heading to a real campsite.
Last year, I made a big deal about The Great American Backyard Campout campaign on my personal website, but wound up not participating due to a ferocious summer storm that tore through my region on the day of the event. I was fully prepared to head outside and attempt to fall asleep in the relative “wild” of my backyard. I had borrowed my brother’s tent, registered on the official website and had some standard campout activities planned for my family. I never did reschedule, I guess I was caught up in the excitement of the organized national effort and have since come back to reality – a reality that I much prefer camping out, indoors!
Families.com Camping and Hiking Forum
Camping Option for the Non-Camper