When it comes to camping with kids, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how much their little social calendars dictate the frequency with which we can get out there. And don’t forget the sporting events. And clubs. And academics.
Listen, my kids are truly living their best lives, and I’m their ride… so I guess that makes me busy, too. 🤣
Ok, but that doesn’t mean we can’t camp - it just means that periodically we need to get creative with HOW we “camp.”
Sometimes our hectic schedule only leaves us with one free weekend night, and if you’re an experienced camper, you know it’s not worth packing up the kids (and everything else) to set up camp for one silly night. Other times, we are booked solid all weekend and then suddenly it’s all canceled (for whatever reason), and at that point, it’s too late to book a campsite - a total missed opportunity. Or how about when the weather looks iffy and you don't want to chance camping in the rain? Have you ever camped in the rain with kids? It's not ideal to put it plainly.
This is the perfect time to introduce “the compound.” Basically, we invite our camp besties over to camp out in our driveway and we do a bit (okay, a lot) of pretending. Believe it or not, we are almost able to recreate a campground vibe while never leaving home. They bring their camper, my husband gets a raging fire pit going, the ladies cook up some traditional camping grub (look for a recipe post soon), and the kids break out the s'mores. I'm sure my neighbors think we are crazy. Maybe we are. We still play BINGO, we still sit around the campfire telling war stories, we still get the kids in their jammies and throw on a movie, and we still stay up way too late once the littles are asleep in their bunks. But my favorite part of the compound might be waking up to hot coffee and good friends. What beats that?
I know that driveway camping at "the compound" may not be the most exciting adventure out there, but I remind myself often that my most cherished childhood memories took place in my own backyard. Dorothy said it best: There's no place like home.
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