So you’re ready to go camping! Congrats! But now you have to figure out what to pack. Pack too much and you can’t fit it all in the car. Forget to pack something and you’re stuck in the woods without a “must have” item! But we’re here to help!

The most popular series of questions we get asked is: “How do you pick up and go camping so quickly?” or “How do you pack your family for camping with six people?” Well, friends, here are the answers to all family camping packing questions!

Don’t worry – a printable version of this list is coming soon (as soon as I figure out how to upload a PDF). 🙂

CAMP HOUSE (A.K.A. TENT)

⇒ TENT. Obviously, you cannot forget the tent!

Tents come in sizes based mostly on how many people they can (allegedly) fit. Do not believe this number! This is based on how many sleeping bags you can fit with basically everyone touching – great for a couple’s weekend, not an ideal set-up for a family with kids.

My recommendation is to take your family size, double it, and buy a tent to fit that number.  This is the tent we have (see above) – it’s a 10-person tent for the six of us, and it is entirely adequate. As the kiddos grow and need more room, we plan to get a slightly bigger one (with higher ceilings throughout) so we have a bit more breathing room when we’re all bunked inside. Our friends also have six people and they have this 12-person tent which they love (and it’s an “instant set-up”).

• POLES. Don’t forget your tent poles! Just keep them in the tent bag and it won’t ever be an issue.
• Your tent should come with a RAIN FLAP and any ROOM DIVIDERS, don’t forget those. I often take my rain flap out when we get home to dry it off and have, more than once, left it at home for the next trip. Don’t be me.
• STAKES. These should also come with your tent.
  • SMALL HAMMER. For the stakes.
• TARP. – You will want a tarp under your tent.

⇒ CAMP RUG/MAT. We have a rug like this, but you can go all the way up to something like this rug explicitly made for outdoors.

⇒ SMALL BROOM. Your tent will get sandy/dirty and at the very least you’ll want to sweep it out before packing it up. We have a short broom like this (I only suggest short so it will fit nicely in the vehicle). We used to use a tiny broom like this and it was torture.

SLEEPING

So now that you have your tent all set up and ready to go, you’ll need somewhere (at least moderately comfortable) to sleep. There are several options to consider – both for adults and kiddos – and we’ve tried just about all of them! Borrow supplies from friends or rent supplies until you find what works best for you.

 

⇒ SLEEPING BAGS. We typically bring a sleeping bag for each person, regardless of what’s under the sleeping bag. We have a wide range, but we generally have something like this sleeping bag for the kids, and these sleeping bags for Cody and I. I’ve seen good reviews for these sleeping bags on Amazon so want to try them out the next time we need a sleeping bag. If you have one, please let me know how you like it!

⇒ SLEEPING PADS. Cody and I used to use these sleeping pads under our sleeping bags, but now that we’ve “upgraded” (my younger self would say “sold out”) to air mattresses, we’ve passed them on to the big kids. Our eventual goal is to get everyone self-inflating pads like these. Camp goals. 🙂

⇒ COTS. Once the kiddos out-grow the Pack N’ Pay, we move them to a kiddo cot. It keeps them off the floor and contained in their own little space (rather than being roly-poly all over the tent in a sleeping bag). We have these cots for the kids, but our dream is to own these cot bunk beds, mostly because they just look so cool. We have friends that use adult cots too – like these – but those weigh a decent amount and are a bit more of a pain than we’re willing to deal with.

⇒ PACK N’ PLAY. For the itty-bitties up until they really just won’t fit in it (or stay in it) anymore, we use the old standby Pack N’ Play. Easy setup and keeps the babe contained.

⇒ AIR MATTRESS. I’ll be the first to admit that for years I thought people who used air mattresses weren’t really camping. But I’m over that now so air mattress for the win! We have super cheap ones like this, but one day we’ll upgrade to nicer ones. If you have one that you recommend, let me know!

• AIR PUMP. If you bring air mattresses, you CANNOT forget the air pump (we have, and like, this one)! We had a family next to walk over to borrow our air pump once – they had been trying for an hour to blow up an air mattress with thier mouths! Don’t be these people – remember the air pump!
• POWER INVERTER. If you’re staying at a site without power (which many of the good ones are), you’ll need power for that air pump (and any other electric items you may bring). Yes, you could get a battery-powered one (and we have several) but we’ve never found a battery powered pump that works well enough for air mattresses – they work fine for tubes, but not mattresses. So make sure you carry a power inverter. We have one like this one and love it.  It just plugs into the cigarette lighter/power thing in your vehicle and converts the power to a regular power outlet. Ours has two power outlets and two USB ports. This is helpful if the passenger needs to plug in a computer on the driver, or you need to use an air pump, or charge up a few phones.

⇒ PILLOWS. Bring your pillows! Nothing worse than settling in for the night and finding out you have no pillows! So pack them along or buy cool “camping pillows.”

⇒ EXTRA BLANKETS. There’s unexpected cold. Or unexpected pee. You’ll be happy you have extra blankets in either situation.

⇒ For the kiddos: LOVIES, STUFFIES, PACIFIERS, BLANKIES, ETC. – whatever the kiddos need to sleep!

CLOTHING

For packing clothes, we have one of these duffel bags for each kiddo, each in “his” color. It fits enough clothes for a decent trip and is sturdy enough to be handled by the kids. 🙂

We usually pack for the weather plus an extra “in case” outfit – i.e. we’ll bring a pair of pants and light hoodie even in summer and a set of shorts/t-shirt even in winter. We’ll also pack for the number of outfits we’ll need – plus at least one extra, because, well, kids (and dirt, water, etc.). 🙂

When camping, moisture-wicking material works best – especially for sweat, kids that jump every bit of water, or cold weather.

In addition to your standard tops, bottoms, underwear, and socks, don’t forget:

⇒ PAJAMAS. Make sure to check out the forecasted low temperatures even in the summer to make sure the kiddos are appropriately dressed for outside at night.

⇒ SHOES. We usually back one pair of sneakers and one pair of sandals per kid, because sure enough they’ll get one wet and need a spare.

FOR WINTER WEATHER:

⇒ HAND WARMERS. These are great but be especially careful with them around little ones to ensure they don’t get burned.

⇒ COATS/JACKETS.

⇒ MITTENS/WARM SOCKS/HATS.

⇒ THERMAL UNDERWEAR. In the winter, my biggest concern is keeping the kiddos warm at night. These help keep their body heat in while sleeping (or during the day).

FOR SUMMER WEATHER:

⇒ SWIMSUITS.

⇒ SWIM GOGGLES and/or SNORKEL/MASK. 

⇒ BEACH TOWELS.

⇒ LIFE JACKETS. You can read about our life jacket recommendations here.

⇒ WATER SHOES. 

⇒ SUN HATS and SUNGLASSES.

⇒ SUNSCREEN.

CAMP HOME

 

⇒ CAMP CHAIRS. Most campsites have a picnic table which is fantastic for sitting around at meals, but you really need a comfy spot to relax around the fire. Enter, the camp chair (this is the one we have for Cody and it even has a neat cooler in the armrest). You can also buy them at Academy Sports pretty cheap. I like to lounge so I’m dying to try out one like this.

⇒ LANTERN. You’ll want light when you’re out camping and a lantern provides a bunch of hands-free light pretty easily. The big decision is battery-powered or propane. I tend to think the propane ones are brighter and I always have extra propane around (for the grill), but the top of the lanterns get SUPER hot (I burned myself pretty badly on one when I was a kid) so I tend to only use it when the kids go to bed. We have this propane lantern and I love how I can adjust it to any brightness. We also now have a few battery-powered ones – like this one – and we like them too. You’ll want to have extra batteries, but they do a great job of lighting up the camp area after dark.

• EXTRA MANTLES and PROPANE (for propane lanterns) or EXTRA BATTERIES

⇒ POP-UP CANOPY or SCREEN ROOM. These are not a necessity, and we generally don’t get to bring ours because of space constraints, but if you have the room, they are a comfortable place to escape the sun, rain, or bugs. More than a few times we have wished we had packed the canopy due to rain or blazing sun.

⇒ GO POD. This is my all-time favorite camping-with-baby gear! I loved this thing when my littles either couldn’t walk or could walk but needed to be contained. It’s lightweight and compact and saves your sanity with a little one! These things are great on the beach when the babe is trying to eat all the sand. 🙂

⇒ HAMMOCK. Any compact, lightweight hammock will do. We use this one (see above) and love it – it’s even held up to all the kids rough-housing on it! They tend to do more swinging and “extreme hammocking” on it than actual resting.

⇒ SUNSCREEN, BUG SPRAY, MOSQUITO COILS, MOSQUITO BRACELETS, MOSQUITO CANDLES. Two things you don’t want to happen are getting sunburned or getting eaten alive by bugs. Prevent both appropriately.

⇒ FLASHLIGHTS and EXTRA BATTERIES. Kids LOVE flashlights. Flashlight tag, flashlight sword fighting, flashlights to walk to the bathroom. Bring extras and lots of batteries.

 

⇒ RAIN PONCHOS. Buy enough for the family and a few more. Keep them handy – you never know when you’ll need them.

⇒ CAMPING JOURNAL. We have this camping journal and it’s one of our favorite camping items. The kids love writing down the info from our current trip and flipping back and reminiscing on our old trips.

⇒ ROPE and CLOTHESPINS. You never know when you’ll need to hang a laundry line (but check with the park to make sure you can tie around trees) or just need rope for something else. It’s always nice to have both of these.

⇒ FIRST AID KIT. No need to go super fancy here, but it’s always helpful to have cleansing wipes, band-aids, antibiotic ointment, anti-itch cream (for bugs or poison ivy), burn cream (for the kid who always grabs the metal part of the s’more stick), and some essential medications (adult and kiddo acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and allergy medicine).

⇒ POWER INVERTER. If you’re staying at a site without power and didn’t already need a power inverter for an air pump for your air mattresses (see above), I’d still suggest one for your camp home if you are bringing anything that needs to be plugged in – coffee pots, computers, etc. We have one like this one and use it often (even when not camping).  It just plugs into the cigarette lighter/power thing in your vehicle and converts the power to a regular power outlet. Most also have USB outlets to charge those phones too.

CAMP KITCHEN

Most campgrounds have drinking water, if not at your site, then at a central location. If you’re going to be doing backcountry camping (in which case this is likely not the list for you), make sure to bring your own water or a way to treat your water.

I keep my camp kitchen items in tote bins. Not the huge ones, but two smaller ones. I typically keep COOKING and CLEANING together and EATING in a separate bin, but that’s only because that’s how my bins fit best. I wouldn’t suggest one big storage bin- we tried that and I was continually fishing around for things in one giant bucket. The smaller buckets work much better for us and I can easily find anything I need.

COOKING

⇒ OVEN MITTS/HOT PADS. There’s not much worse than trying to get a hot pan off the grill while scrambling to find something to protect your hands!

⇒ CUTTING BOARD. 

⇒ HEAVY DUTY ALUMINUM FOIL. Yes, spring for the Heavy Duty kind, you’ll be happy you did. Aluminum foil is great for covering the grill to cook things that may slip through the bars, covering the gas grill to keep juices off the flames, and for making foil packet meals.

⇒ KITCHEN SCISSORS.

⇒ KNIFE SET WITH SHEATHS. Yes, you need the ones with sheaths. When you’re fishing around for your knives and you find one, you’ll be happy it has a cover. 🙂

⇒ CAN OPENER, BOTTLE OPENER, WINE OPENER, WINE STOPPER, etc. For all your opening and drinking needs.

⇒ PEALER and GRATER.

⇒ SALT AND PEPPER.

⇒ OLIVE OIL. I use a good bit of olive oil in my cooking so I keep a small bottle in my cooking bucket. I usually put it in Ziploc bag just in case it leaks.

⇒ NON-STICK COOKING SPRAY.

⇒ FOOD COVERS/SHOWER CAPS. Hear me out here, there are bugs outside. Bugs are fine, you will learn to be fine with them, but bugs on your food is icky. So while you’re plating food or setting out snacks, simply pop a shower cap over the food to keep the buggies off. You can buy cheap plastic ones and rinse them off or throw them away, or cloth ones and just throw them in the laundry with everything else. You can also buy food covers made for this purpose, but they are more expensive.

⇒ UTENSILS/GRILL SET: SPATULA, TONGS, SLOTTED and REGULAR SPOON, LONG FORK

⇒ LONG-HANDLED LIGHTERS (yes, more than one) and MATCHES. Yes, both, because, they will all get lost or stop working in the same trip and fire is important if you want to eat or stay warm.

⇒ ZIPLOC BAGS and RUBBER BANDS. We always end up needing both of these things.

⇒ TRASH BAGS. I just use whatever I have at home. I pack two for each day we’re camping and then a few more because you never know when an extra trash bag will come in handy (wet clothes, sandy towels, etc.) or one will rip (or get torn apart by racoons).

Cooking Items not in the Bucket:

⇒ GRILL and PROPANE. We used to never camp with a grill and would cook everything over the campfire. Until the trip that it rained and we couldn’t find dry firewood or keep a fire going. Now we use a grill when we need to cook fast (fires can take a long time to get coals good enough to cook on) or when it’s too hot to want to start a fire – or when it’s raining. We have this grill – but we do not love it. It hasn’t lasted well and doesn’t cook great. We’re looking at this grill for our upgrade.

• EXTRA PROPANE.

 

⇒ CAST IRON PAN. A cast iron pan is a camping staple. Learn how to care for it and it will last you forever.

⇒ COFFEE/TEA MAKER. If you can drink instant coffee, or drink tea, simply use a kettle or pan to boil water. If you need to brew coffee, there are several camp options available.

⇒ Depending on your meal plan, you may need a SAUCE PAN or SOUP POT.

⇒ Some people also love camping with a DUTCH OVEN and/or CHARCOAL.

⇒ S’MORES/HOT DOG STICKS.

CLEANING

⇒ DISH TOWELS. Whenever I get new kitchen dish towels, I just rotate the old ones into the camp supplies, but many people like quick-dry towels for camping.

⇒ DISHCLOTHS. I just use whatever I have on hand, but many people like the microfiber washclothes for camping.

⇒ PORTABLE CAMP SINK. This is one of my favorite camping items! It’s great to have a place to do dishes and wash hands that folds up so compactly.

⇒MESH LAUNDRY BAG. After washing the camp dishes, I just throw them all into a mesh laundry bag to hang and air dry. I suppose I could use a towel and dry the dishes, but this is more fun/lazy. 🙂

⇒ KITCHEN SCRUBBIES.

⇒ BIODEGRADABLE DISH SOAP. You can either buy dish soap specifically made for camping, or we use Dr. Bronner’s. Dr. Bronner’s soap is biodegradable so we use it for any outside washing – dishes, hands, and body (you can even use it to brush your teeth but it tastes like soap). And it has lovely scents.

⇒ BIODEGRADABLE HAND SOAP. If you have kids, you’ll want a hand-washing station. We use Dr. Bronner’s soap because it’s biodegradable and can be used for about anything, but you can buy other camping hand soap as well.

EATING

⇒ TABLECLOTH.  Camp picnic tables are great but they can be icky. It’s a nice touch to have a tablecloth that you can easily wipe down after each meal.

⇒ PLATES AND BOWLS. Use whatever mix of enamel, metal, plastic, or paper plates works for you. You can buy cute mess kit sets online, but we tend to use a set of sturdy plastic plates and bowls, but also bring along paper plates for when we need something disposable.

⇒ CUPS and MUGS. The kids love to drink hot chocolate out of their mugs around the fire. It’s just camp fun. 🙂

⇒ SILICONE WINE GLASSES. If you’re drinking wine, these are a must. I love my unbreakable wine glasses. They fold up into each other for easy storage and don’t break!

⇒ UTENSILS. Use whatever combination of metal or plastic that works for you.

⇒ HAND SANITIZER. Always good to have around before eating – especially with kids.

⇒ SALT AND PEPPER.

⇒ PAPER TOWELS.

⇒ BABY WIPES. Even if you don’t have a baby anymore, wet wipes are a great thing to have on hand always, but especially meal times.

⇒ DISINFECTING WET WIPES. Like Clorox wet wipes.

⇒ WATER BOTTLES. Another must-have for every camping trip is a water bottle for each person. We use these water bottles for the kids and these for the adults. They are all nearly unbreakable, easy to clean, and last for years and years.

⇒ JIFFY POP and S’MORES SUPPLIES. When I asked the kids what we could absolutely not go camping without, they responded JIFFY POP and S’MORES! I’ll preface this with, in my opinion, Jiffy Pop is not good popcorn. But the kids get a kick out of watching it pop over the fire, and they’re kids so they eat anything (even bad processed popcorn). As for s’mores, don’t forget the graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate!

BATHROOM/TOILETRIES

I pack all our bathroom/toiletry items in one bag that zips at the top and organize things inside Ziploc bags inside that bag. I like taking a bag with handles so I can hang it on a hook in the bathroom. This cool mesh hanging shower caddy is on my wish list.

⇒ SOAPS. Don’t forget your soap – bar soap, shower gel, kid soap (no tear formula), biodegradable soap (like Dr. Bronner’s).

⇒ SHOWER POOFS or WASHCLOTHS.

⇒ FACE PRODUCTS. Face wash, moisturizer, make-up, any other facial products.

⇒ DEODERANT, CHAPSTICK, Q-TIPS, HAND LOTION.

⇒ SHAMPOO, CONDITIONER, HAIR PRODUCTS.

⇒ HAIRBRUSH, HAIR TIES, HAIR BANDS, ETC.

⇒ TOILET PAPER, FLUSHABLE WIPES.

⇒ FEMININE PRODUCTS.

⇒ COMB/BRUSH.

⇒ RAZOR AND SHAVING CREAM.

⇒ TOOTHBRUSHES, TOOTHPASTE, DENTAL FLOSS, MOUTHWASH.

⇒ QUICK DRY TOWELS.

ENTERTAINMENT/EXPLORATION

⇒ DECK OF CARDS. You need a deck of cards for any camping trip – kids can play Go Fish or Crazy 8s and adults can play card games after the kids go to bed.

⇒ AT LEAST ONE GOOD BOOK PER PERSON.

⇒ CRAYONS AND COLORING BOOKS.

⇒ GLOW STICKS.

 

⇒ KIDS HIKING VESTS. We have these vests from the National Parks Junior Ranger program and the kids LOVE them! We stock the vests with snacks, bandaids, a poncho, whistle, mosquito bracelet, and anything else we can think of to give them that extra excitement about being on the trails.

⇒ HIKING STICKS. We have hiking sticks for each of the kids but I have mixed feelings on them. On one hand, they love to get out their sticks to hike and it gets them excited about the trail. On the other hand, they often become weapons and I end up carrying four walking sticks. Pick your poison, I guess. 🙂

⇒ HYDRATION BACKPACKS. The kids are loving these right now. We’ve always hiked with water bottles, but they’re cumbersome to carry and make climbing up steep inclines difficult. We recently purchased a few hydration backpacks – two MIRACOL ones and an Osprey pack – and the kids love them. They drink a lot more on the trail and I’m happy they’re hydrated. They aren’t the easiest thing in the world to clean, but it’s worth it.

 

Did I leave off any must-have items? Do you have any tricks or tips for packing for a camping trip? Pass them along!

As always, thanks for stopping by and happy adventures!

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