What to Pack: Camping with a Toddler

Written By Becca Payne

We just wrapped up our first family camping trip with my 18 month old in tow. The trip exceeded every expectation I had, in large part because my little guy is just very happy adventuring. But it also involved a lot of planning and preparation, ahead of time, to anticipate the many possible scenarios. I’ll get into the trip, overall, in another post, but first I wanted to focus on how we packed for our successful trip! To say that I am not as minimalist for camping as I am for the beach is an understatement.

If you’ve got the main gear, camping is a really inexpensive way to have a very rich vacation experience. That being said, even if you have to make some larger purchases upfront, the investment is worth it for your future trips. Our trip was just an overnight, and we were car camping, so had the luxury of packing more than we could carry. At some point, we’ll be brave enough for a backpacking trip with T, but for now, here are the items that proved to be key for our trip (bulleted list at the bottom of the article as well). Please keep in mind, I am not sponsored and do not receive anything at all from the companies I’ve linked. I’m just trying to make life easier for those of you reading the list.

The Staples: We opted for tent camping, so we obviously needed a tent, and sleeping bags. We also brought a folding chair for each of us. T used his Summer Infant folding chair, and Alex and I had a pair from REI. Anytime I go anywhere without power, I always bring an external battery which can be used to charge my phone or other products. I have one, that was given to me years ago, that is incredible. Can charge multiple devices all day long for at least 2 full days. It’s worth the investment.

Supplies for our Site: Our site, which we found on HipCamp, is primarily intended for RVs, so it was bare bones. It had a wooden platform for the tent, and a small fire pit. Not restrooms, no potable water, and no table. So we brought our own firewood, and a 7 gallon water drum with water from home, which we used for washing hands and dishes, cooking, and drinking. This water drum was awesome, it has a spout that can be turned around for easy use, which prevents too much waste. If we had been very conservative with the water, we could easily have used this for 2 nights (this does not include bathing).

Cooking and the Food: We felt that cooking over a fire could be a little risky with a curious toddler. It would be hard to keep him from trying to reach in and grab things. So we opted to buy this Eureka butane stove, which was amazing! Worked better than my stove at home, sadly. If I could do it again, I MIGHT buy the double-burner one instead, but this worked fine. We prepared marinated steak tips with grilled peppers, and corn on the cob for dinner. I also prepared berries, veggie sticks, and watermelon ahead of time. And snacks galore! Because snacks are how I entice my toddler to chill in once place, and keep his energy up on busy days! In the morning, we used the stove to boil water for our instant coffee, and our Backpacker’s Pantry freeze dried oatmeal breakfast. Overall, the food was great!

Toddler Necessities: I was trying to set up T’s sleeping arrangement to mimic his room at home, as much as possible, which is very dark and his sound machine is VERY loud. So I purchased the cordless, travel, version of his machine. The sound machine was nice and loud, but unfortunately the battery did not last all night. Which resulted in a 2 am wakeup! Luckily I had that external battery to charge it the rest of the night. I couldn’t do much about blacking out the tent, so it just took a little longer for him to fall asleep. In another season, when it gets dark earlier, this may not be an issue. I also packed our BabyBjorn travel crib, which fit nicely into our tent. In addition to these items, and the chair we brought for him, I also packed a play yard gate. I know that seems both excessive, and cruel, since the point of camping is to be free, but it was something I threw in last-minute because our site was on a river, and I didn’t want him running down to the river while we were preoccupied setting up the tent and cooking. We only used the play yard once, briefly. But it did the trick. He had a shovel, and a toy truck, and busied himself just fine. Lastly, because of the river, I brought a life jacket (we didn’t end up needing it) and some water shoes for T. I own Keens, and although you may find them goofy looking, they’re great. But I didn’t want to spend that much on toddler shoes, so I found these incredible knockoffs instead! T didn’t care that they were goofy, he loved them, and had the best time wading in the water without hurting his feet. And it goes without saying that I brought enough clothes for a week (because toddlers will be toddlers), diapers, wipes (which came in super handy for multiple purposes), and swim diapers.

Bugs Galore: We knew that we’d have a lot of bugs to deal with because it’s New England in the summer. Mostly, I was concerned with mosquitos and ticks. The flies, spiders, ants, and other crawly critters don’t bother me so much. So I did my research and ultimately landed on deet-free Picaridin spray (although there isn’t anything wrong with deet!), and a Thermacell Portable Mosquito Repeller. We went through 3 of the repellent mats, and one of the fuel cartridges. I also had some BuzzPatch mosquito stickers that I put on T’s back, and let him play with a bit. I came home with one mosquito bite, which I think I got on our hike the next day. So these items were insanely effective!

A bulleted list, to summarize:

Becca Payne
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