A Parents Guide to Camping with Toddlers - Buying Tips and Camping Tricks

Camping out is such a fabulous way to make memories that last a lifetime. Even if you are not an experienced outdoors person you can still enjoy a night out under the stars. But as a mother, it's sometimes hard to determine if your children are ready for camping.

One inventive idea is to start small.

Camping in your own yard may be the best place to start. The kids wont mind having all the convenience of bathrooms and a safe place to run if things get too scary. Parents will love not having to drag half the kitchen out to a campsite. Even our toddlers made it through the night in our own front yard. Getting them familiar with the tents and camp gear in such a way made it a lot less scary. It also gave me an indication of what it takes to camp with small children.

Good planning is crucial to making things run smoothly during camping. Bringing a diaper bag out to the tent full of spare clothes, diapers and wipes is a very handy idea. I even pack some empty plastic grocery bags on the flat sides of the diaper bag to contain trash and other toddler messes. The end pockets on the diaper bag were perfect for holding my twins sipper cups so that they didn't spill inside our tent.

Placing your camp fire into a cheap aluminum stand up grill is a great idea if you have smaller children. This keeps babies from getting too close to the fire. Also as the Summer gets drier laws may prohibit a campfire on the ground, but often still allows for grills to be used. A smaller fire like that you would get from a standing grill is a lot safer to contain once your ready for bed too.

Another good tip is to check online for camping gear deals.

I found almost everything we use on our small overnight camp outs on Ebay for a fraction of the retail price. The first thing I found was a campfire grill, this converts a campfire into a cooking station where you can grill, roast, fry or even boil water. Searching around I found this cast iron one for an incredible bargain of about $30.00(with shipping and handling). Other websites were charging double or more for the same product so I was happy to find a dealer with a good price.