How to Convince Your Friends to Go Camping With You

The more the merrier, right? If you have friends on the fence about camping, here are some tips and tricks to get your non-camping friends excited about a weekend away in a tent.

I have a confession. Before my husband and I were Campers, we were MaybeOneDayWe’llBeCampers. While the idea of setting sail into the sunset with nothing but our tent, some fire starter, and our hopes and dreams sounded inviting, the reality of hitting the road for a weekend away with everything we needed to be self-sufficient was in the Too Hard Basket.

Our tent had a lovely holiday under our bed for roughly two years before some seasoned camping friends of ours finally invited us away.

And it was a game changer.

Suddenly, camping didn’t feel daunting. We had support. People who had done it before. And even better, they took our tent and set it up for us before we arrived.

Many hands equals light work and more camping!

It made me realise that while camping is great, camping with friends is fantastic, and we’ve used the below tried and tested methods to convince other friends of ours that camping can be easy – and importantly loads of fun.

C’mon, it’s time to finally start that camping group chat. Someone get some marshmallows, stat!

Read more: An Ode to The Golden Hour Campfire Chat

Divide and Conquer

One of the biggest issues with camping? All the gear. Where do you store it? And how does it all fit in the car?! To avoid playing a real-life version of hard-mode Tetris, we make a list of everything we need and divide it ‘round the group.

One friend has a camp fridge (luxurious, I  know) so we don’t need to bring our bulky esky, which honestly takes up an obnoxious amount of car space.

If you’ve got friends who are new to camping, they likely don’t have everything they need to be self-sufficient on their own, but with a group, suddenly it becomes manageable.

Microdose the benefits of communal living for a weekend without the long-term commitment (hello introverts)

You bring the camp stove, they can pick up some firewood on the way in. You bring the esky and perishable items, they can stock up on any canned food, bread, and wine.

We’ve managed a system that between six of us who go camping regularly, we have everything we need without everyone needing to own an entire Anaconda catalogue.

Read more: Outdoor Gear For Camping Couples

Meal Plan Ahead

Not only does meal planning spread the load of camp cooking, it also helps everyone feel involved. We write a list of every meal during the camp trip and assign it to someone. That way you don’t have one person or couple bringing all the food, and everyone cooks something they’re comfortable with.

Some of our favourite easy go-tos are overnight oats (just bung milk and oats in a container, keep in the esky, and serve with fresh chopped fruit) toasties (we bring an iron jaffle maker) and in milder months, nothing beats a cheeky cheese board with bickies and veggie sticks.

Bloody oath to overnight oats | Photo by David Liu

The key is to keep it simple. No need for lavish spreads -– when you’re out in the bush, an instant coffee and a pancake in the morning will feel like five-star dining.

Still need inspiration? Check out these 19 Camping Recipes

Check the Weather (and Cancel if it’s Raining)

Forecast serving up a whole lotta rain with a side of gale-force winds?

Just cancel.

There’s no shame in it. No one is going to have a good time in torrential rain, least of all your newbie camp friends.

We want crispy blue skies to wake up to!

Wet kindling, wet socks, wet shoes – it’s just not going to be fun. And then trying to dry your tent when you get home? Bleurgh.

A bit of drizzle is fine if you’re used to the camp life, but don’t subject your friends to a muddy campground and soggy everything. As the saying goes: there’s no bad weather, just bad preparation – until you’ve tried to set up a tent in a downpour.

Get Them to Buy (or Borrow) a Decent Mattress

A friend once told me ‘parenting is easy when you’ve had a good night’s sleep’ and honestly, the same goes for camping.

Camping on a comfortable mattress = wow amazing! So relaxed! What are those birds chirping at 5am? How wonderful, nature is truly magnificent.

Cosiness is key is for camper retention

Camping on an uncomfortable mattress = wow everything hurts am I 100 years old? Ow ow ow.

Some camping purists will tell you sleeping rough is part of it, and to them I say pish posh. Insist your newbie friends buy or borrow a decent mattress to ensure a good night’s sleep. If they’re cranky, sore, and tired, they’re probably not going to join you for camping adventures again.

Don’t Arrive at Night Time

In our early days of camping my husband once set off later than the rest of us, with an ETA of after nightfall. We had no reception, and when he was over an hour late to camp, we were starting to worry.

Turns out, he’d missed the turnoff (it was a tricky one even in daylight). He was panicked, we were panicked, and the dark made everything feel much worse. Plus, he had all of our stuff in the car so when he finally arrived around 9pm, we still had to pitch our tent… in the dark. It was not a good start to the weekend.

Nighttime is for campfire, not dire straits (unless it’s the band) | @lisabenjess

Set yourself (and your friends) up for success and plan to arrive during daylight hours. It minimises the chances of getting lost, and setting up a tent for the first time is infinitely easier when you can see what you’re doing.

Set Up Their Tent for Them Beforehand

If for some reason your new camping friends HAVE to arrive after nightfall (I get it, Flexi Friday hasn’t caught on yet) but you’ll be onsite before them, consider taking their tent with you and setting it up in advance.

Not only will you win Friend of the Year (also hasn’t caught on yet, rude) but they’ll be more likely to enjoy camping if they’re not wrangling flyscreens and tent awnings in pitch black when they’d rather be chowing down on a toastie and roasting marshmallows.

Setting up their tent for them also means they can’t say no to coming 🙃 | @gwhotravels

Friends With Dogs? Find a Dog-Friendly Camp Spot

One of the main setbacks for some of our friends when it comes to camping is they don’t want to leave their beloved pooch at home. Well, you don’t have to! Loads of campgrounds are pet-friendly – it just means giving the national parks a miss and hitting up a state forest or private campground instead.

In fact, We Are Explorers has even compiled a list of dog-friendly campgrounds around Brisbane, in New South Wales, around Victoria, and in South Australia, so the hard work has been done for you.

At least we know dogs will always want to come camping

Pack Toilet Paper

Okay, this one’s for camping in general, but it’s nice to have a little reminder.

PACK SOME TOILET PAPER.

Always be prepared for the drop dunny | Photo by Alastair Waller

The only thing worse than being confronted with a drop toilet for the first time in your life, is to do so and realise you don’t have any bog roll. Keep some in the car. Have it handy in your camp box. Just don’t make your friends use leaves.

And on that note…

Choose a Location With Facilities

I get it, you’re a bonafide camper and you don’t need a hot shower or flushing toilets, but this first trip isn’t about you. It’s about easing your friends into the camping life. If you can find a campground that has even one facility like a shower, it’ll go a long way with someone who isn’t used to spending a whole weekend covered in their own filth.

Baby steps, people.

We must trick our friends into thinking camping is always this easy (which it is, of course…) | Via NPWS

Choose Mild Weather Seasons

The first time I went camping it was MINUS SIX overnight and I was deeply, deeply unprepared for how cold it was. Avoid extremes and try to plan a trip in autumn or spring. You’ll have milder conditions, (hopefully) none of the flies that summer brings, nor will your friends’ toes freeze off in their extremely impractical summer sleeping bag in the middle of winter.

Bonus tip! Get your friends to check their sleeping bag rating before they go camping. I wish someone had told me…

Read more: The Car Camping Gear You Need for Winter

Spring or autumn is that sweet spot for temps! And you can walk around in shorts

Hire Some Gear

And finally. Camping gear can add up! One of the reasons many friends don’t go camping is because they simply don’t have any gear, and it can be expensive to buy it all at once.

This is where hiring camping gear can really help. Borrow from friends, use a ‘things’ library, or use one of the companies in Australia that rents out camping gear.

Also knowing which cheap camp gear is actually worth it, and what’ll likely end up in landfill can also help when it comes to eventually making some purchases without breaking the bank.