HOLIDAYS
HOLIDAYS
Enjoy summer fun with the family!
Backyard Camping with the kids is the perfect excuse for quality family bonding. It's a safer and economical alternative to camping in the wilderness, yet it shares the same potential for fun and adventure. Here's how to enjoy backyard camping to the fullest:
All you need is bananas, marshmallows, and chocolate chips.
Ingredients
- Bananas (one per person)
- Chocolate Chips
- Marshmallows
Steps
- Use a knife to cut a lengthwise slit into the center of the banana, keeping it in its peel.
- Fill the crevice with chocolate chips and marshmallows.
- Wrap the banana in tin foil and cook over a fire or grill for a few minutes (5 or so).
- Devour the treat using a spoon to get all the melted goodness
Though it may be tempting to grab some food from the kitchen, keep with the camping theme and eat easy-to-grill foods you can make outdoors.
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- Start with hot dogs and finish with two campfire classic: S'mores and Banana Boats.
- Cooler for food & beverages
- Food Supplies: hot dogs, buns, condiments, graham crackers, chocolate bars, chocolate chips, bananas and marshmallows.
- Long skewers or sticks for cooking food
- Tin foil and spoons for the Banana Boats
- Portable Fireplace that doubles as a grill.
If your kids are old enough, enlist their help with building the tent. It's a great exercise in patience and teamwork! You'll need:
- Tent
- Sleeping Bags (if indoor weight, you might need extra blankets) & Pillows
- Optional: For added comfort, bring an inflatable air mattress to put under the sleeping bags
Here's how to make sure you get the right ambiance with your decor.
Turn off all the lights in your house so the backyard is fairly dark. Use a fire, flashlights and lanterns to light the night just like a real campground. Flashlights also come in handy for telling ghost stories around the fire.
Turn off all the lights in your house so the backyard is fairly dark. Use a fire, flashlights and lanterns to light the night just like a real campground. Flashlights also come in handy for telling ghost stories around the fire.
- 2 Battery-powered lanterns
- 1 Flashlight for each family member
- A Portable Fireplace, unless you already have a firepit.
Entertain the kids with traditional campfire games and activities.
Steps
- Start by doing a little mutual storytelling, which goes like this: one person starts off a story with a sentence.
- The person to his or her right continues by adding another sentence, and so on and so forth.
- The only rule is that you can't deny or undo something someone has already created as part of the story.
- Once it's time to end, each person gets one last sentence to bring it to a close.
Finish the campout by telling spooky tales to each other.
Steps
- If kids are young or scare easily, you can either reverse the order of the games (so ghosts aren't the last thing on their mind before bedtime) or tell funny stories instead.
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