Group Camping

As you make your holiday plans or try to figure out a new idea for your next family reunion, consider group camping. You can gather all of your friends and family in one spot to enjoy their company while experiencing the beauty of the outdoors. Whether your family likes to hike, fish, or just gather together to cook and chat, they'll find it all on a camping trip. 

When planning for a group camping trip, you will need to make some advanced preparations. The larger the group, the earlier you need to make your campsite reservations. Some campgrounds have special spaces for very large groups. If you can't find a space large enough where you want to go, look for a campground with multiple spaces and reserve those. Reserving individual sites allows for a little more privacy for individual family units or groups of friends. Alternately, individual sites may interfere with the group atmosphere you are seeking. You should make your decision based on how you want your group camping trip to go.

One essential aspect of any large gathering is food preparation. In order to make your group camping trip as fair and pleasant as possible for all parties involved, plan on sharing the meal duties. You'll need to plan ahead, making sure that you have enough food for everyone. You may not have easy access to a grocery store, so be sure to bring what you need. To make the cooking fair, everyone should contribute to the food and cooking. There are a variety of ways you can make the meal duties fair.

A great way to share meal duties is to divide up the days of the trip between different people. This allows each person to bring what he or she would like to eat on one day of the trip, and then they have the responsibility of preparing the meal for everyone. In large groups you will have plenty of help on your day of preparation. You could also get together to plan out your meals ahead, split the grocery bill and take turns preparing the meals and cleaning up. Whatever you decide, be fair in the division of meal duties so no one person feels too much pressure to cook.

Another important issue to be aware of while group camping is the impact a larger group will have on the environment where you are staying. Always make sure to clean up after yourselves. If you are camping in a more natural area, camp with as little impact as possible. Learn about leave no trace camping and share your knowledge with your group. Always make sure to follow the rules of your campground and help the rest of your group comply with them.

The single most important part of group camping is to have a great time. Come prepared to minimize stress. A little pre-planning will help you have a good time and enjoy the company you are keeping.