16 Backyard Camping Essentials For When You Don't Want To Leave Home | Swift Wellness (2024)

Camping in the backyard is a fantastic summertime activity to spend quality time with loved ones, enjoy the great outdoors, and make memories.

For a number of reasons, camping away from home can be complicated, time-consuming, or intimidating. Make life easy by pitching tents in the backyard, where you can enjoy all the perks of camping from the comfort of home!

What are the Perks of Backyard Camping?

• Little prior preparation and hassle-free set-up: No packing up the car, no booking the campsite, no crowds, no traffic, no planning!

• Indoor plumbing: No spider-filled outhouses this time around.

• Intro to camping: An easy way to get beginners comfortable with the concept of camping and sleeping outside.

• Cute date night, friend’s sleepover, celebrating an occasion or holiday.

• Free!

• Low-risk commitment: If something goes wrong–like bad weather or someone gets a little too *chicken* to sleep outside–your bed is still only 10 yards away.

How To Set Up an Epic Backyard Camping Experience

We have a backyard camping checklist here to get you started on your outdoor adventure.

Set up a campfire

Get the full camping experience with a roaring campfire if your space allows! As soon as that campfire flickers on, you can just as easily pretend that you are in the wilderness. Commence the heart-to-heart chats, ghost stories, music (if anyone has a guitar), and yummy food.

Prepare your favorite camping foods

Prepare all of your favorite picnic and camping foods, just as if you are camping away from home. Roast hot dogs over the fire, grill burgers, and don’t you dare forget s'mores. Other fun camping foods could be watermelon, pickles, corn on the cob, chips and salsa, and a cooler full of ice-cold beverages. Happy tummies, happy times.

Set the mood

Grab a speaker to blast your favorite summer bops, prop up camping chairs around the fire pit to get everyone together, and leave those phones in the house. Make it a no-technology evening! If you’re feelin’ extra, consider stringing up lights and running them out to the tent using an extension cord from the house.

Play backyard games

Lawn games are a super fun addition to your backyard camping experience! Corn hole, horseshoes, badminton, frisbee, kickball, baseball, volleyball, or croquet are just a few ideas. Anything that keeps you moving and laughing with your loved ones outside on the grass will be sure to make the night that much better!

PItch the tent

Be sure to pick the flattest patch of grass for your backyard tent, and use as many blankets, yoga mats, or air mattresses as your heart desires under your sleeping bag in order to have a comfy night outside. Setting yourselves up for success will ensure that none of your fellow campers are intimidated by sleeping outside!

Enjoy the summer night

When the sun sets and dusk settles, enjoy the beautiful summer night instead of retiring to your tent right away! Rekindle the campfire, tell stories, have a friend bring their guitar and serenade everyone, catch fireflies, star-gaze, or have an outdoor movie night projected onto a white bed sheet or blank wall. Ghost in the Graveyard is another super exciting game to include when camping with kids that will have everyone screaming, laughing, and chasing each other in the dark.

Best Backyard Camping Essentials

These camping supplies that will make your backyard camping experience all the more comfortable and successful.

Price Reference (average price):

$ | Under $50
$$ | Between $50-$100
$$$ | More than $100