Summer Travel: the Ultimate Camping Essentials List for your Family Vacation

Helllooooo everyone! Today I’m sharing my Summer Travel: the Ultimate Camping Essentials List for your Family Vacation.

If you know me at all, you know that I love finding creative fun activities to do with my family throughout the different seasons. One of my favorite things to do in the summertime with my family is go camping! Going camping with your family is such a beautiful opportunity to get closer to each other. One special thing that I learned during 2020 lockdown days is that, it doesn’t take much to enjoy the company of your family and the outdoors. I gained a whole new appreciation for activities that don’t necessarily cost money.

It taught me that we don’t always have to be so busy. It taught me that everything we need is right in front of us, and it’s the people we hold closest to us. Don’t get me wrong, I’m super excited to finally travel again with my family this summer! I’m just thankful for all the hardships as it helps you recognize the amazing little things in life. We couldn’t be more excited for another great summer with our kiddos!

When I think of some of my favorite summer memories, I think of simple days spent outside with friends and loved ones. Days spent lounging by the pool or beach. Nights spent watching stunning sunsets or catching fireflies. I think of camping trips, exploring nature and making s’mores by the campfire. I think its ironic how the most nostalgic summer memories didn’t cost a penny! This is good news for summer 2021, when everyone is looking free or cheap ways to have family fun and create lasting memories.

Today I’m going to be sharing my Camping Essentials List for all your fun camping trips you have planned this summer. Whether you’re going with family, friends, your significant other, or even alone; this is a camping essentials list that you’re going to want to have on your side!

1. Coleman Sundome Tent: there are literally so many tents that you can choose from and it totally depends on how many people are going to be sleeping in it, how much space you want to have, and how much of the stuff you’re bringing that you’re going to need to keep inside of it zipped up while on your journey. This particular one that I linked can hold 2-6 people! Who would have thought you could even fit 6 people in a tent?!
2. Sleeping Bag and/or Blankets: this is super important! Even though it may be hot during the day (depending on where you’re going), you underestimate how cold it gets at night usually. You’d rather have too much than not enough in this situation IMO.
3. Air Mattress: this is for the people that like the outdoors, but can’t quite wrap their heads around sleeping on the forrest floor. Oh, and if you have back issues. Or you’re above the age of 30… like me. We love an air mattress.
4. WaterBrick: this is absolutely essential. You do not want to be out in the middle of nowhere and run out of safe drinking water! You can never have enough backup, but obviously packing a sh*t ton of plastic water bottles with you can get wasteful and take up more space than you’d like. That’s why these WaterBricks are so awesome! Also, they are pretty much indestructible as well as stackable, easy for carrying, and each one contains 3.5 gallons of water.
5. Survival Knife: you never know what you may need this for honestly. It’s better to be safe than sorry. No, I’m not referring to using this as a weapon or defense (unless absolutely needed… like if a bear is on top of you or something lol). A fun part of camping is sometimes catching your own food fishing, or living off of delicious and natural foods of the land! To which you may find yourself needing to fillet, cut a rope, and/or cut or peel veggies.
6. Insect Repellent: I don’t need to explain why this should be at the top of your list. You simply will be miserable if you happen to get eaten alive by mosquitos.
7. Camping Chairs: duh. For sitting around the fire, roasting marshmallows, having a cocktail, etc.
8. Sunscreen: everyone has their favorites for sunscreen, but I would say get something that is waterproof, long lasting, and effective! If you’re going to be out hiking or in the sun throughout the day, you definitely won’t want to spend the remainder of your journey burnt to a crisp.
9. High-Performance Cooler: you can pack all your foods and beverages that need to be kept cold in here. However, I would recommend packing mostly non-perishable foods.
10. Campsite Lantern: this is crucial for having light at your campsite! I recommend investing in at least a couple so that you have all the light you need at night. Especially if you want to go explore!
11. Toiletries: this is a given and most of it can come from the stock that you already have at home. You’ll need things like toilet paper (and maybe a few extra rolls than you thought you’d need). Shampoo/Conditioner. Tooth brushes. Soap. You can figure out the rest. Just maybe leave the glam makeup and extras at home this trip… I’m talking to you boujee mommas.
12. Firewood/Firestarters: if you haven’t been living under a rock, you know that any good fire starts with sticks. This is step one. But being totally real with you, I’ve never started my own fire from scratch. I’m secretly hoping that I never have to and this is something that the dear men in our life can take pride in doing 🙂 although, I did link some fire starting cubes that work WONDERS if you’re stuck in a situation when the sticks just aren’t doin it for ya.
13. Camping Stove/Utensils: so great for innovative cooking/grilling when you’re camping! I love making a little grilled cheese or you can cook yummy meats! Like I said earlier, if you’re catching you food, this is so perfect for cooking your fresh fish dinner!
14. Warm Clothes/Socks: anything Smartwool brand seriously WORKS. I have never had cold feet when I’m wearing Smartwool socks.
15. Survival Tools/Kit + Medical Supplies: this is obviously not something you want to necessarily manifest when you’re going camping, but it’s so important to be prepared. Like I said before, better safe than sorry. I would do some research on the survival tools and see what works best with your budget and the environment that you’re going to be camping with – you can then determine what you’ll need. It’s all pretty universal. Think compass, map, signal rescue mirror, tarp, a radio, etc.

I hope that you enjoyed this camping essentials list! If you’re looking to take a quick weekend trip, camping can be the perfect little getaway. If this helps make your planning any easier, then I did my job 🙂