Our Essentials for a Camping Weekend

Ok – we may be more ‘glampers’ than campers just to get that out there. I would like to think that I could carry just a backpack, hike 15 miles to our camping spot, and eat freeze-dried food but that’s just not appealing to me when I am wanting a relaxing weekend in the outdoors. All the more power to you though if you’re a serious hiker like that! I always tell Thomas I would like to do a backpacking trip someday…but for now I am good with coolers of food & snacks, our comfy tent with an air mattress, and lots of beer & wine, s’mores and board games!

Here’s our essentials for a camping weekend!

1. Find a good camping spot. I love scouring The Outdoor Project for recommendations.

2. Pack a couple of coolers to the brim with good food and drinks for the weekend! I love Yeti coolers as well as their ice packs to keep everything cold.

3. Speaking of good food – meal plan for breakfast, lunch, and dinner so you bring the perfect amount. We usually do eggs and bacon for breakfast, sandwiches or hotdogs for lunch, and steak, veggies, and potatoes on the grill for dinner.

4. Even though we love cooking over the fire, a Coleman stove is essential for making something quickly or boiling water for coffee in the morning.

5. Speaking of coffee, a French press is great since it’s easy to just add boiling water and not deal with any filters.

6. Board games – Yahtzee and cards are a must.

7. An air mattress – we use a battery operated pump which makes things easy. It’s always hilarious when it starts to deflate and you both end up crammed in the middle!

8. Libations – I love sitting by the stream or lake during the day with a cold beer, and then cozying up by the campfire with red wine at night. Or hot chocolate of course 🙂

9. Bug spray and citronella candles. Those little suckers are intense! Our last camping trip there were a ton of wasps and I luckily had this natural lemongrass bug spray that actually kept them away from the camp!

10. S’mores of course! Hershey’s chocolate all the way. I bought a thicker bar of chocolate last time that I thought would be good, but the chocolate didn’t get as melty as Hershey’s does.

11. Dry shampoo. This is very necessary. 3 day- greasy-camping-head is not a good look.

12. Something to read. Spending the quiet mornings and afternoons reading is my fav! This last trip I brought my newest issue of bon appétit and i’m also reading Sara’s Key which is so good!

13. The last essential is to completely disconnect. Not that we have any service anyways when we normally camp, but regardless we always turn our phones off. Besides the occasional picture, completely disconnecting from social media feels so good for the weekend.