Garden Camping

This weekend we decided to camp in our garden. My eldest has been desperate to camp since last summer and I've always sort of discouraged him. I'm not a big camping fan to be honest but my husband is and our eldest is dying to so we decided we would give it a try. We thought camping in the garden would be a good place to start, all the conveniences of home but the fun of sleep outside. Also Angus is only 4 so we weren't sure he'd want to stay in the tent all night.

We already have a tent, it's just a 2 man tent but it was perfect for what we needed this weekend. My husband has a roll mat and his own sleeping bag but we needed to get one for Angus. We went to the Mountain Warehouse which is just round the corner from us. Angus got a very nice sleeping bag, roll may and a mini torch. What was even better was all of our items were reduced! Yay!

We then spent the afternoon setting up the tent and getting things ready. Honestly I think Angus had as much fun putting up the tent as he did actually camping! After we had gotten the tent all cosy we started to think about dinner. As we were camping, we had in a bag tacos, I'd seen this idea on another blog, This Big Adventure and thought it was awesome! We were not disappointed, everyone loved it, even my fussy 2year old!

Once dinner was done and tidied up, it was on to the next authentic camping experience - toasting marshmallows! Both the 4 year old and the 2 year old loved this and who am I kidding me and the husband liked it too!

Then it was bedtime, Brodie and I were sleeping in the house so that was pretty uneventful but husband and Angus were in the tent and that was much more fun! They got into their pjs and read stories by torchlight, talked, listened for owls and other animals and eventually Angus went to sleep. Once he was sleeping husband came into the house for a little bit and we had a glass of wine and chatted while keeping an eye on the tent!

And I am pleased to say that Angus slept all night and thoroughly loved it, in fact he wanted to sleep in it again tonight! So a massive success really, I think we will be investing in a bigger tent and some more equipment and going on lots of camping adventures! And we will definitely be garden camping again!

Here are a couple of tips that we found useful:
1. Put a duvet on the ground under your mat or blow up mattress, it really helps keep you warm through the night.
2. Get little torches for your kids. Angus loved his and it came in handy for trips to the toilet
3. Lots of blankets and pillows to make the tent cosy and comfy!

Have you camped in the garden? What are your tips, favourite camping food, favourite places to go?