Preparations for Wild Camping with A Large Family

 

I love to be organized and it’s no different when planning a camping trip for my family. To make it as easy as possible I always create an Excel document listing everything we need to take for each person and our dog. It also includes our food and what we’ll be eating each day. Below is an example of what I used for our last trip.

 

	Camping List
	15Year Old	12Year Old	11Year Old	6Year Old	4Year Old	Wife	Me
Backpack	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Tent/Hammock	x	x	x			x	x
Sleeping Bag	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Sleeping pad	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Clothing	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Cup/Spoon	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Cooking Stuff						x	x
First Aid	x	x	x			X	X
Water Filter	x	x	x			x	x
Bug Stuff						x	x
Headlamp	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Fire Kit	x	x	x				x
Knife	x	x	x			x	x
Saw	x	x	x				x
Cordage	x	x	x			x	x
Food	x	x	x			x	x
Bandana	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Toilet Kit							x
Tissues	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Water Bottle	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Bear Bag							x
Hand Gun							x
MultiTool	x	x	x				x
Camp Soap							x
Iphone Tripod							x
GoPro (?)							x
	Food
Fri. Lunch	sandwiches (6)	& chips (6)
Fri. Snack	Granola Bar (6)
Fri. Dinner	Hot Dogs (12)	Cut Peppers (3)	Ketchup	Rolls (10)
Fri. Dessert	S’mores (11)	Coffee
Sat. Breakfast	Oatmeal (12)	Bacon (2)	Coffee	Hot Cocoa (10)
Sat. Snack	Granola Bar (6)
	Dog
Food	(2 Scoops)
Bowls	-2
coat
Bug Stuff
Leash
Tieout	(25′ of cord)
Bedding

 

Next, I’ll break the excel document down further into word documents for each person to pack from. Each person in our family gets a sheet with a list of items to pack. This way as each person packs, they can cross off the things as they are placed in the pack. This has helped us tremendously to not forget things. Examples from our last trip.

 

15 Year Old’s Camping List

Backpack

Hammock

Under&over quilt

Clothing (stuff to sleep in and wool pullover)

Cook kit with spoon

Water filter

Headlamp

Fire Kit

First Aid Kit

Fixed Blade Knife

Folding Saw

Cordage

Bandana

Tissues

Water Bottle

Swiss Army Pocket Knife

Food

 

12 Year Old’s Camping List

Backpack

Tarp, Ridgeline & Tyvek

Sleeping Bag or Wool Blanket

Sleeping Pad

Clothing (stuff to sleep in and Sweater or jacket)

Cook kit with spoon

Water filter

Headlamp

Fire Kit

First Aid Kit

Fixed Blade Knife

Folding Saw

Cordage

Bandana

Tissues

Water Bottle

Swiss Army Pocket Knife

Food

 

11 Year Old’s Camping List

Backpack

Tarp, Ridgeline & Tyvek

Sleeping Bag or Wool Blanket

Sleeping Pad

Clothing (stuff to sleep in and Sweater or jacket)

Cook kit with spoon

Water filter

Headlamp

Fire Kit

First Aid Kit

Fixed Blade Knife

Folding Saw

Cordage

Bandana

Tissues

Water Bottle

Swiss Army Pocket Knife

Food

 

6 Year Old’s Camping List

Backpack

Tent

Sleeping Bag

Sleeping Pad

Clothing (stuff to sleep in and Sweater or jacket)

Cup & spoon

Headlamp

Bandana

Tissues

Water Bottle

 

4 Year Old’s Camping List

Backpack

Tarp

Sleeping Bag

Sleeping Pad

Clothing (stuff to sleep in and Sweater or jacket)

Cup & spoon

Headlamp

Bandana

Tissues

Water Bottle

 

 

Doing lists like this makes it so much less stressful to pack our large family for a trip and makes it more delightful. It gives me peace of mind and I’m not racking my brain at the last minute trying to think of things we may be forgetting. It also makes our trips more successful and enjoyable. What things do all of you do that helps or hinders your trip planning and packing? Thanks for stopping by. Please like or leave a comment with your thoughts on trip planning.