5 Things We Wish We Knew Before Our First Family Camping Trip

Our first family camping trip was a success! It was a very local, one night excursion at Kenneth Hahn State Park in Los Angeles. (read: perfect for rookies 😉 )

Camping can be intimidating + expensive. So we decided to do the bare minimum. We had a brand new tent sitting in our closet for about a year and a propane cooktop we bought for a previous 🏖 beach party. Besides getting☝🏾 sleeping bag, we avoided making any significant purchases.

Here's what we learned:

1. Camping mats might be the best option for us 🛌

There's usually three ways to approach sleeping outdoors: a) Nothing/yoga mat

b) Camping mat

c) Air mattress We used yoga mats and I’m ready for the upgrade!! I’ve never loved air mattresses so I’m looking forward to trying out a camping mat next time.

2. Add the topper to your tent ⛺️

We left the topper off our tent in hopes to lay and stargaze 🌟 but there was so much moisture in the air by nightfall, it might as well have been raining ☔️

3. Beach 🏖 chairs are not camping chairs. Not much to say here except, we learned our lesson.

4. Bring a camping table! There are plenty of park benches on site. But we ended up cooking on top of rocks 🪨 , which was fine, but a table would have been nice to eat on.

5. Try camping with outdoor groups (if you want to know more, hit us up!)

If you’re thinking about camping for the first time, don’t be like those tourist who travel halfway across the world to eat McDonalds and chicken fingers.

You could’ve stayed home for that! Enjoy the experience for what is! Observe your relationship with nature and don't be afraid to do it with others. We got some work to do… 🏕☀️🌲✨

(UPDATE: we've had several camping trips since then, so we put together a list of family camping gear essentials)