Tent Camping - A Beginner's Journey

Our first tent was a 4-5 person dome tent.  We slept in sleeping bags on the ground.  We were young!  (The toddler in the picture is our now 14 year old son!)

After purchasing several more tents...

...we ended up with a 10 person cabin tent.

What to look for when purchasing a tent:

1.  Standing room.  Our first tent, my husband couldn't stand up straight in any of it.  Our second tent, he could only stand up straight in the middle.  Our last tent gives him plenty of standing room throughout.

2.  Room not only for the people in your family, but also for the luggage.  Unless you plan to keep your suitcases and bags in the trunk of your car, plan to have enough room for your suitcases in the tent with you.

3.  Sleeping room.  As we got older, we realized sleeping on the ground was uncomfortable.  We quickly graduated to air mattresses.  However, in our second tent, there was no walking room once we inflated 2 air mattresses (with an area to the side for luggage.)

4.  Ease of assembly.  The dome tents are fairly easy to get up.  The cabin tent is a little more complicated, although I won't say hard.  The steel poles are much more sturdy than the flexible ones of a dome tent and they are color coded for easier assembly.  I would just say, make sure to pitch your tent in your backyard before you go on an actual trip to be sure you know how it goes up and reduce some frustration.

5.  Do you need/want a screened in room?  We had one in the second tent pictured, and I have to say, we rarely used it.  There really wasn't a ton of room in there.  Now, if you are bringing a pet along to kennel, it might serve your purpose much better.  We kept our cooler in there at night to protect it from critters.  It was also nice to have when it rained for leaving muddy shoes outside the living space without leaving them out in the open.

6.  Layout.  Our last tent has a closet in the back.  Yes, you read that right.  There are pockets and shelves in a separate zippered area in the back.  This area comes in very handy for reducing the number of suitcases and dirty clothes laying around the living area.  It also became a nice changing room for me, since I'm surrounded by boys!  There is also an optional wall we can put up to have a covered "porch" area.  We only used it when we camped without the kids because that left little room for the air mattresses.

7.  Price.  Obviously you want to get the best for your money.  If you aren't in a hurry to purchase a tent, you might look at the end of the season (August-September) when stores begin to clearance outdoor equipment out.  Shop around.  Look online.  Make a list of what features you definitely want.  I know there are some tents out there that have electricity now.

This tent is very similar to what we have:




And this one has additional bells and whistles (like electricity and a hinged door):

But there are many more tents to choose from.