**Please note this is a guest post.
Remember when you were young and you loved to set up tent outside with your friends? You slept on the ground, peed in the woods, and made hot dogs and s’mores for dinner. As I have gotten older, the thought of roughing it outside and sleeping on the ground (even if I am in a gorgeous location) has sounded less appealing, but when the trend of glamping became popular, it made me rethink my opinion on camping, in general. I mean, there are so many beautiful places out there that I would love to see and camping, or glamping is a great way to save money while traveling to all of these places. But, sometimes it is hard to get away from home to travel. Maybe you have a baby, a job that has a certain number of vacation days, or maybe you cannot find a dog sitter. Whatever your reason might be, there is still a way to glamp and home and feel like you are adventuring. All you need to do is set up camp in your backyard and create an at-home getaway for yourself! Here are a few of my ideas on how you can create an at-home getaway for yourself and your loved ones by backyard glamping:
Choosing The Right Essentials
The first step to a successful backyard getaway is to choose the correct essentials. The trick is that there is no right answer to this – everyone is different, so everyone will have different essentials. Maybe you want a basic tent that can fit 10, or maybe you want more of a high-tech tent that can charge your phone and play music. Either way, do your research and find what works best for you. A few other items you will need other than a tent are some chairs, an air mattress (or something else to sleep on), lighting, a first-aid kit, and of course, s’mores essentials.
Setting Up Tent
Once you have all of your essentials, you are going to need to set up tent in your backyard. Choose a flat location that is preferably on lush grass. Make sure you remove all sticks and stones that could create an unpleasant sleeping experience (although it probably doesn’t matter too much if you have an air mattress). Another thing that you need to pay attention to before you set up tent is the trees around you. Are they healthy? You want to make sure that you will be safe throughout the entire night. If you know you are glamping in the near future, I would highly recommend hiring someone such as Frontier Tree & Turf to make sure your grass is lush and your trees are healthy, if you are concerned about them. Serving Monmouth County, NJ, Frontier Tree & Turf provides high-quality lawn care and tree services to towns such as Rumson, Fair Haven, Little Silver, Shrewsbury, Middletown, Holmdel, and other areas throughout Monmouth County. They create a precise schedule for your lawn, in order to get it back to a lush, green, weed-free lawn that would be perfect for backyard glamping. They have also been the leader in the tree service industry for over 30 years, so if you have a concern with your trees before you backyard glamp, or during the year in general, give them a ring! They provide a variety of tree services that will leave your trees looking healthier, and safer.
Decorating Your Space
Now, this is the fun part! Once you have set up camp in a safe spot, it is time to decorate! The point of glamping is to make it a bit more luxurious than normal camping. Since it is your design, you can make it as elaborate, or as basic as you want. A few ideas I have are layered rugs, string lights, flowers, an air mattress with luxe linens, pillows throughout, and woven blankets (if it is cold out). Layered rugs will not only add a look of luxe accommodations, but they will also add a layer of padding, making the tent more comfortable. String lights add a romantic, timeless feel and also increase your lighting inside and outside of your tent. Flowers add a pop of flare, luxe linens add luxury, pillows throughout help with the design, and woven blankets add to the comfort and coziness of the glamping site.
Dine Al Fresco
The great thing about being in your backyard is the fact that you have a kitchen at your disposal. You can also get delivery food! Purchase some disposable plastic plate that look like crystal plates, get plastic wine challises, and create a fancy meal. If you want to stay traditional and cook everything over fire, you can still create a fancier meal such as salmon, or steak – you do not have to stick to the traditional hot dog camping theme when it comes to food! I do, however, always suggest sticking with the traditional camping dessert: s’mores. Although they are not fancy, they are still so tasty and a blast to make!
Create A Party!
Make sure you think about fun activities that you can do and music you can play. Like I mentioned above, high tech tents offer perks such as USB outlets and plug ins, making it easier to play music and/or keep your phone charged. This is a great thing because unless you have a battery-run speaker, your speaker/player will eventually run out of power.
