How to Prep For Your First Camping Trip (Part 1)

Hey guys! Welcome back to the blog. I wanted to start sharing here allll the things Tommy and I are buying to prep for our first camping trip and many more to come. Originally I was going to just make one big blog post about everything we are getting but I decided to break it all up and make separate ones as we go. I have a lot to talk about and I’d rather go into detail and really describe the items, why we bought them, etc and not have a 100 page blog in the process.

I also want to point out that nothing in these posts are sponsored. They are 100% my own opinion.

SO… First things first, a tent. Yes, we will be sleeping in a tent guys. I’m not sure how to feel about it yet. I’ve always only gone camping in a camper when I was younger so this will be an experience. A fun one I’m sure. I’m beyond excited about the trip guys!! Tom’ sick of hearing about it haha.

I saw Dick’s was having a sale and we made a very last minute decision to buy a 8-person tent before the sale ended that night. It was only $80 so how could we pass up a deal like that!
The tent we bought was by Field & Stream. Last I checked, it was on sale again for $80 from $200! What a steal guys!! It does have mixed reviews on the site but most of them were good. It sounded like the ones that were more on the negative side were due to a faulty product. You take that risk with anything you buy IMO.

Another camping prep hack. Set up your tent BEFORE you go camping. Make sure it works properly, all the pieces are there, and there are no malfunctions so you don’t end up with a faulty product and stuck with it for a weekend in the wilderness. We haven’t done this yet which is why this blog took so long lol. There’s just been so much rain or extra hot days when we had the time to set it up. I’ll take a pic when we do it and upload it in another blog.

It came in a nice little bag so it won’t take up much room in the car either.
Tom and I decided on an 8-person tent because 1…the price lol, 2….the room. As much as we love each other, we still like our space.

I also needed to invest in a better water bottle. I typically drink out of blender bottles at the gm or if we are out and about. I don’t mind room temperature water and I actually prefer it since it doesn’t hurt my teeth.
Camping in July means my water will end up tasting like plastic, it’ll probably get way too hot to drink, and who drinks hot water in a plastic bottle? Not this girl!

When we stopped at Walmart over the weekend, I took a stroll down their camping isle to check out their thermos bottles. I decided on the Ozark Trail 24-oz bottle. I got it in pink! I honestly loved the light blue color too.

I opted for this one over the others because I wanted something I can either hook on my bag, throw in my bag, or just carry without it leaking everywhere. I do want the 30-oz that comes with a lid but it really isn’t a priority at the moment.

The reviews are really great for Ozark and you don’t have the hefty price tag that comes along with other name brands. Since we are already purchasing a lot, I opted for the more affordable bottle.

Next I would say are foldable chairs. We already bought a some a few weeks ago to sit outside but they are on the smaller end. Tom is looking for a larger one that fits more his size. Since I am only 5′ tall and tiny, these chairs we bought work perfectly for me. I think these are the one’s we got? If not, they are veryyyy similar. I picked the teal color but we also have blue and black.

If you are camping, you’re gonna want a chair to sit in to relax, eat, nature watch, whatever have you lol. They each come in a bag and fold nicely so they aren’t taking up much room in the car just like the tent. Always a plus when it comes to storage or packing for a road trip.

I wanted to add this here before I published this blog, that we bought a few other things recently to bring camping!

We added a first aid kit! Highly recommend just in case of a scrape, a tick, or an emergency, first aid kids are necessary. You can build your own OR you can find one that has everything you need. We bought this one at Walmart in their camping isle for $25. It has so much included and since we will be hiking for awhile on day 1, we felt a larger kit like this was necessary.

At Walmart we also purchased a fire starter kit $5, a pack of flashlights (batteries included) $10, an extra para cord $3… the first aid kit came with one but it’s always good to have an extra just in case, a commando saw (idk lol ask Tom why) $5, carabiners $3, and a camping tool set $29.

It might sound like a lot but these things are going to last awhile and we plan to go camping more than just this one time. We are going to get a large tote to put everything in and store it. The next blog will be about the cooler we get, air mattress (no sleeping bags here lol), a small grill, and maybe a few other odds and ends.
I will always link where we made our purchases if I can and if not, I promise to at least tell you lol.

I also will make a blog specifically for meal/snacks we will be bringing with us, what else we are packing that isn’t mentioned in these blogs, plus the trip itself.
Basically, expect a lot of posts guys haha.

Do you have any questions for me about anything in this post? or any camping ones to come? Let me know below!