Today I’m sharing 10 great tips for solo parent camping. If you read my blog regularly, you’ll know I’m a big fan of camping. My hubby is definitely not, though. (He loves his creature comforts far too much)! I have taken the kids camping by myself a few times now, so today I am sharing my tips for solo parent camping.

I am by no means a camping expert, but hopefully these tips will come on handy if you’re considering solo parent camping!

Ten Tips For Solo Parent Camping

10 tips for solo parent camping Pinterest pin - showing young girl stood by a blue tent
Ten great tips for solo parent camping

Practice pitching and packing up your tent before you go!

The biggest worry for me has always been getting the tent pitched by myself. The last tent I got was a 4 man Vis-a-Vis style one. It was a great tent, but impossible to pitch on my own. It was so hard, I ended up borrowing my sister’s pop up tent rather than using my own!

I was recently sent a Coleman Valdes 4 Fast Pitch Air Tent to review, and I did my practice pitch and pack earlier this week. Feel free to watch this video to see how I got on!

Making sure you can pitch the tent before you head off on your first adventure is without a doubt the most important of the tips for solo parent camping I have. It’s also important to pitch your tent at the start of each year to make sure it’s still watertight and aired out.

Research Your Campsite

I spent a great deal of time finding the perfect campsite for us to visit the first few times. It’s under an hour away, you can choose your pitch in advance, and there’s a play area and cafe bar too. It’s also small – there’s only 20 camping pitches, so I knew I wouldn’t be worrying about my daughter getting lost.

I chose a pitch which allowed me a clear view of both the play area and the toilet block from our tent. This meant I could let my daughter play on the play area without having to stand around there all the time.

Get Warm Sleeping Bags

Our 1 season sleeping bags weren’t warm enough for August in North West England. The days we were camping were 28 degrees, but the nights were cold, as there was no cloud cover. I have replaced out 1 season bags with 3 season sleeping bags this year. You can always layer up Pyjamas or blankets if you don’t want to replace your existing bags.

mum and daughter snuggled up inside a tent. The mum read some tips for solo parent camping
Reading these tips for solo parent camping will help you avoid drama.

Take Regular Bathroom Trips And Consider A Potty

We were lucky, and I could see the toilet block from our tent. If you’ve got quite a way to go, it’s worth making regular trips as a family. This way, nobody should be desperate to go, just as you start making lunch, or are falling asleep. It’s also worth considering packing a potty for middle of the night wee wee’s for the younger family members. It’ll stop you having to drag all of the kids out of bed if one person needs to go!

Consider Your Meals In Advance

My kids are both fussy eaters, so food was always going to be an issue. I invested in a bread toaster, which meant I could at least keep them full on toast! It was definitely a staple for us all, and £5 well spent! I packed eggs, so I could do scrambled eggs or omelettes, as well as several cans of baked beans.

Our campsite had a communal freezer you could use, so I put freezer blocks in there. This meant I could keep my cool bag cold, and also stop the milk and margarine turning. I took small cartons of long life milk for brews, so that I wasn’t dealing with sour milk. A 500ml carton was perfect for a couple of brews for me, and a glass of milk for my daughter.

green plastic plate with beans on toast on it - camping food
Beans on toast – perfect camping food! Planning your food ahead of time is one of the tips for solo parent camping.

Buy 2 Cheap Washing Up Bowls

Our campsite had dish washing facilities, which was great. It was a pain carrying everything over there though, so I have bought 2 cheap plastic washing up bowls. I’ll use one to store clean dishes, and the other for dirty dishes. It’ll be easier to carry them to and from the sink area, and won’t take up much space in the car, once they are stacked and full of the pans, cutlery and crockery. If you have a decent storage area for your clean dishes, you’ll only need one bowl.

Make Sure You Have Enough Seats

Camping chairs are great, but they take up a fair amount of boot space. Inflatable chairs are a good option, if you don’t have much room in your car. When deflated, they can fit in a much smaller space than a folded chair can.

Car Tetris is a real skill. So if you’re not sure everything will fit in your vehicle, you may want to practice loading it up ahead of time. This is one of the tips for solo parent camping someone else passed on.

If you want to really utilise the space in your tent, these inflatable sofa beds double as chairs in the daytime, and fold down into air beds at night. This will free up more space inside your tent during the day. Make sure you triple check the measurements will work inside your tent though! Using space effectively is definitely one of the tips for solo parent camping.

inflatable chair bed - perfect for camping
Using space effectively is one of the most important tips for solo parent camping.

Consider Activities In Advance

Try to pack some fun activities to keep everyone occupied, which won’t take up much space in the car. A pack of cards is small, but it offers many fun options – especially if you have a camping table. Playing cards are great if there’s a rainy day while you’re away.

If you have a table, you can stack them into a pyramid, or teach the kids how to play SNAP! Patience or Go Fish! Dominoes are another camping favourite. I used to love playing domino rally with them when I was a kid. This is something the kids can be doing while you’re cooking.

One important thing to note is: You should never blow bubbles around tents, as the liquid may destroy your tent’s water resistant layer. A football is brilliant fun too, if there’s a space to play on the campsite. If there isn’t, a Velcro throw and catch game will be a good alternative.

Keep It Fun

It’s easy to keep spending money to keep the kids happy, but I am usually camping on a tight budget. I keep things fun for the kids by joining in with their games. Another of the important tips for solo parent camping. I was given is that bubble mix can take the waterproof coating off tents, so never use bubbles on campsites.

We also do things like toasting marshmallows in the evening, and telling stories. The kids love to stay up and watch the stars too. This is one of my favourite parts of camping.

Seeing the amazed looks on their faces as they snuggle up in their sleeping bags watching the stars twinkle. It really does make all of the stress of doing it alone worth while!

girl eating toasted marshmallows while camping
take supplies to toast marshmallows. This is one of the most fun tips for solo parent camping.

Camping in the sunshine is great, but camping in the rain is very different. Check out these tips for camping in the rain, so you can plan ahead. Being prepared is definitely one of the biggest tips for solo parent camping.

Bribery Isn’t Bad

Packing up is usually the most stressful part of solo camping for me. The kids usually don’t want to leave, and make it as difficult as possible for me to pack up. This is where I pull out the big guns. I don’t feel even slightly guilty letting them have their tablets so I can pack up in peace. Please let me know if you have any tips for solo parent camping when you’re packing up!

I have even been known to bribe them with the McDonalds drive thru on more than one occasion too. “Let me pack up now, and we can have McDonalds for lunch once we are almost home”. That one hasn’t failed me yet.

I hope these tips are useful for you! Do let me know in the comments if you have any more tips for solo parent camping! Finally, check out more of my camping content here!

One thought on “10 Great Tips For Solo Parent Camping

  1. These are useful tips! Thanks for sharing ♥️ ♥️

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