Family Campout in the Living Room
Camping is great and fun, even exiting. Unless your 2-year old still sticks everything in her mouth, dirt or whatever she discovers. Or, your wife just does not want to face a bear in the woods. And, you would rather not work for hours – pitching a tent, cooking the meals, and cleaning up camp to keep the despised bears away. So now what?

The living room can be transformed into a wilderness that creates fun for the whole family. The kids sleep in their bags inside the tent with flashlights in hand. They actually enjoy pretending to camp in the dark unknown wilderness of the living room (with outdoor sound effects); and mom may not even wake you with the infamous question, “What’s that noise?†You may not even need to adjust your sleeping bag to get away from that rock sticking up out of the hard dirt floor.
Right, it’s not the real outdoors. You may need to add a scented candle and tell some scary stories. Roasted marshmallows on the stovetop may even kick the experience into gear.
Well it worked for me, at least a few times. When the kids are young and time off from work is hard to come by I got creative. The living room campout was a success. The night was full of laughter and fun, and no mosquitoes! At least this may warm up the family for the real, campout in the outoors.








