Family camping is an awesome adventure for a family. Kids can enjoy the outdoors such as the nature, beaches, and even farms, depending on the places you want to visit. Camping has also been a popular way of traveling since the corona pandemic. Everybody would like to enjoy more the nature than before, while keeping distance from others. Of course, it is still possible to contract a corona depending on the level of interactions with other campers.

Here in the Netherlands, family camping is also a popular way of traveling. Many families choose to do camping because it is cozy, affordable, and gives a new level of adventure for children. At the same time, there are many camping sites to visit throughout the Netherlands, and even in Europe. For instance, you can find in the website of ANWB, Euroglamping, and Camping.info a range of thousands of camping sites in the Netherlands and Europe. These camping sites often offer various kids activities especially during summer period. So if you look for fun and a new level of experience, perhaps camping is something for you and your family.

In this blog, I will discuss the decisions you need to consider whether to go for a family camping and why you should do family camping.

How much do I need to invest on family camping tent and equipment?

Going on a family camping may sound easy, but setting it up requires preparations. You need to do make some decisions such as whether to buy camping tools, and if yes, what camping tools do you need to invest first. Buying camping equipment are not cheap therefore, you need to be convinced on going on a camping. A good camping investment could cost you as much as 500 euros (a good family tent, inflatable beds, pillows and blankets, table and chairs, etc). If you want to be saving, you may invest on a good family tent and buy other camping materials second hand.

In the Netherlands, there are various shops to buy camping tents. You have the camping tents from ANWB, which ranges for 2 to 6 people capacity. The quality of their tents are also of good quality, but the price could be more expensive than a regular camping store. For instance, a tent that has a capacity for 6 people can cost more than 800 euros. Another camping store to buy camping tent is the Nomad.nl. This site offers a good quality camping tent at a higher price than ANWB. If you want to buy a budget but relatively good quality camping tent, then Decathlon is a shop to consider. For instance, it is possible to buy a family camping tent that can accommodate four people, for as low as 130 euros while a 6-person tent can costs on average 350 euros. Imagine if you booked a 2 to 3 nights hotel accommodation for a family of four, you will immediately spend the amount that you need for buying a 6-persons camping tent. While if you buy a camping tent, you can still use again the tent for a few years in various camping places. Of course, when buying a camping tent, you need to consider your budget and how often do you need to use the camping tent. If you are more of a long-term camper and would like to often go on a camping with your family, then investing in a very good quality camping tent is a must. In our case, since we are just a started and we only go camping during summer for a few nights, we started with a low price tent.

Buying other camping equipment such as beds, chair, etc. can immediately accumulate in costs. Therefore, for starter like us, we buy things second hand, or buy on a period where the camping equipment are on sale (not on summer period, but during autumn or winter!). Then you can save more money for your next camping trip.

Why go on a family camping?

Now that you have an idea about the investment for a family camping and which equipment to buy, the next thing to determine is whether family camping is for your family or not. By looking at the following reasons below, you should or should not be convinced why your family should consider or not consider camping in the future.

1. Camping is very cozy family experience.

For most children, camping is going on an adventure and being close to their parents even during sleeping in the night. Sleeping outdoor gives them a feeling of new experience and being one with the nature. At the same time, parents are able to spend quality time with their children since they are often away from busy work and technological distractions. The family can get to enjoy being together at the moment.

2. Save money from hotel bookings.

As I mentioned earlier, investing on camping equipment is more long-term, but you immediately recover these investments from hotel bookings. Because of these savings, going on a camping even gives you more freedom to discover and visit new places, which might be difficult before due to costs issues. For example, going on a Dutch island is quite expensive when booking hotels. However, camping make it possible to visit these islands without spending too much for the hotel accommodation.

3. More outdoor and survival exposure.

Going on a camping also teaches both children and parents to survive outside the comfort of their home. They learn how to set up a tent, prepare food, or even light a fire. Most camping sites in the Netherlands and in Europe also have outdoor recreational outdoor activities for family such as swimming, climbing, fishing, or sports. The opportunities and exposure of the family for these activities are endless.

4. Camping makes time slow and allows family to enjoy the moment.

Going on a camping enables you to escape the busyness of life and to simply enjoy the nature and your family. This makes the time slow down. You get to immerse yourself in the moment without worrying to much about deadlines and waking up early to go to work. Through camping, you can enjoy breathing fresh air while sitting in your chair and getting soak up in the sun.