Not everyone is a fan of camping. To them I say, "Nobody's perfect."
A shut-in campout can be a great alternative in a family of mixed interests or in the middle of winter when it can be too cold for many-a-camper to go out. Of course, a shut-in campout is really a good idea any time whether you like camping or not, and whether it's the middle of winter or the middle of summer, because it's a simple way to have a good time.
The first step in camping, whether shut-in or outdoors, is to set-up your shelter. So to begin, you need a tent. Now this can be one of two things. First, it could be a real tent. Second (if you don't have a real tent, or your real tent is not big enough for your family, or your real tent is stored in a 'special place' in the garage where you knew you'd always be able to find it) your shelter could be a collection of large blankets and/or sheets, and objects like chairs, couches and other props.
Now choose a room in the house that will function (with a stretch of the imagination) as your wilderness--this could be a large room with a lot of open space, or perhaps a room full of clutter would more approximate wilderness in your opinion (if you've got a musty basement, or neglected food storage you may find a veritable wilderness growing inside anyways). In any case, you need to know where you want to go camping. I always prefer the living room.
If you've decided where to pitch yourself, do so. Set-up your tent or fort or whatever you want to call it. Once that's done, make sure everyone has a comfortable place to sleep; this can mean anything. Sometimes we've dragged the mattress off of our bed and into the fort, other times we just lay down some blankets, and other times we pull out sleeping bags. The only rule here is to make sure everyone has what they need to feel comfortable for the night (favorite blanket, stuffed animal, ear plugs, you name it). Now if that is all done, then you know where everyone is going to sleep and that's that. So move on to step 2.
Step 2: I would always prefer to have a fireplace in my home and to have our shut-in campout next to a real fire. As you've experienced yourselves, that's not always possible. So if you can't have a real fire inside in a fire place, then build a fire ring in the middle of the room somewhere and do it that way--just kidding. A lantern is the second best option for light and warmth and coziness. If that's not possible either, the third option is to use a quaint little desk lamp and as a very last resort, a collection of flashlights all congregated in one area. The point being that you want a light source (with a little warmth if possible) for the family to congregate around.
--As a quick note, if you have any of those glow in the dark stars that you can put on walls, those do a great job of adding some atmosphere to the night if you put them on the ceiling overhead and let them power up throughout the day.--
Step 3: A little ambient noise is always good for the mood as well. We own a few CDs of nature sounds, but they can cost as much as a regular CD. My suggestion, to those wishing to just 'try it out' and not yet fully converted to the idea of shut-in camping, is to find some free sound-effects on the internet to download. Then you can either play them through the computer in the background, or burn them to a CD and play them that way. In any case it is always really neat to wake up to nature sounds. Even when you know you're inside, it does an amazing job of relaxing your day right from the beginning when you wake up to such peaceful noises (which is why I don't recommend CDs of African Savannah sounds--something about elephants and lions does little to relax me). Try one of the following links to start your search for ambient nature sounds: JCO Free Nature Sound Files, Absolute Sound Effects Archive.
So now that you're all gathered around in some--now cramped--room in your home, what should you do? Well, what does anyone do on a campout? You sit around the fire (or lantern, lamp, flashlights, etc...) eating food and talking or singing camp songs. When you have your own fire place you can roast hot dogs and all that stuff. Without one, we're a little more limited, but none-the-less creative. If you have a small camp stove you're willing to use, you can light that baby up in the room, but be careful to not let the fumes become too strong. Without a camp stove, again more limited, but probably more conveniently, I recommend using the oven. Cook some hot dogs then bring them into the room and everyone eat together. Some potato chips and drinks are a great addition. For dessert (always a favorite) make s'mores in the oven. Just lay graham crackers down on the cookie sheet, then put your chocolate and marshmallow on top of one piece and heat until melted. All at once you have a slew of s'mores all ready for you instead of the one at a time business of camp fires. So there's your food. The talking is up to you.
Talk about anything. Bring a supply of jokes with you. Bring some books. Card games are good for a campout (board games kind of ruin the campout feel because most of us don't pack in large boxes when we camp--if you do, more power to you). This portion of the activity is a little bit more up to you. The point of shut-in camping is to provide the intimacy of a real camp out (close quarters, warm fire, natural odors, cheap food), so that everyone can get to know one another a little better and spend what some call 'quality' time together. I hope everyone who ventures to try it has fun. Let us know how it goes for you and don't burn the house down (possible even with just flashlights, believe me).
A shut-in campout can be a great alternative in a family of mixed interests or in the middle of winter when it can be too cold for many-a-camper to go out. Of course, a shut-in campout is really a good idea any time whether you like camping or not, and whether it's the middle of winter or the middle of summer, because it's a simple way to have a good time.
The first step in camping, whether shut-in or outdoors, is to set-up your shelter. So to begin, you need a tent. Now this can be one of two things. First, it could be a real tent. Second (if you don't have a real tent, or your real tent is not big enough for your family, or your real tent is stored in a 'special place' in the garage where you knew you'd always be able to find it) your shelter could be a collection of large blankets and/or sheets, and objects like chairs, couches and other props.
Now choose a room in the house that will function (with a stretch of the imagination) as your wilderness--this could be a large room with a lot of open space, or perhaps a room full of clutter would more approximate wilderness in your opinion (if you've got a musty basement, or neglected food storage you may find a veritable wilderness growing inside anyways). In any case, you need to know where you want to go camping. I always prefer the living room.
If you've decided where to pitch yourself, do so. Set-up your tent or fort or whatever you want to call it. Once that's done, make sure everyone has a comfortable place to sleep; this can mean anything. Sometimes we've dragged the mattress off of our bed and into the fort, other times we just lay down some blankets, and other times we pull out sleeping bags. The only rule here is to make sure everyone has what they need to feel comfortable for the night (favorite blanket, stuffed animal, ear plugs, you name it). Now if that is all done, then you know where everyone is going to sleep and that's that. So move on to step 2.
Step 2: I would always prefer to have a fireplace in my home and to have our shut-in campout next to a real fire. As you've experienced yourselves, that's not always possible. So if you can't have a real fire inside in a fire place, then build a fire ring in the middle of the room somewhere and do it that way--just kidding. A lantern is the second best option for light and warmth and coziness. If that's not possible either, the third option is to use a quaint little desk lamp and as a very last resort, a collection of flashlights all congregated in one area. The point being that you want a light source (with a little warmth if possible) for the family to congregate around.
--As a quick note, if you have any of those glow in the dark stars that you can put on walls, those do a great job of adding some atmosphere to the night if you put them on the ceiling overhead and let them power up throughout the day.--
Step 3: A little ambient noise is always good for the mood as well. We own a few CDs of nature sounds, but they can cost as much as a regular CD. My suggestion, to those wishing to just 'try it out' and not yet fully converted to the idea of shut-in camping, is to find some free sound-effects on the internet to download. Then you can either play them through the computer in the background, or burn them to a CD and play them that way. In any case it is always really neat to wake up to nature sounds. Even when you know you're inside, it does an amazing job of relaxing your day right from the beginning when you wake up to such peaceful noises (which is why I don't recommend CDs of African Savannah sounds--something about elephants and lions does little to relax me). Try one of the following links to start your search for ambient nature sounds: JCO Free Nature Sound Files, Absolute Sound Effects Archive.
So now that you're all gathered around in some--now cramped--room in your home, what should you do? Well, what does anyone do on a campout? You sit around the fire (or lantern, lamp, flashlights, etc...) eating food and talking or singing camp songs. When you have your own fire place you can roast hot dogs and all that stuff. Without one, we're a little more limited, but none-the-less creative. If you have a small camp stove you're willing to use, you can light that baby up in the room, but be careful to not let the fumes become too strong. Without a camp stove, again more limited, but probably more conveniently, I recommend using the oven. Cook some hot dogs then bring them into the room and everyone eat together. Some potato chips and drinks are a great addition. For dessert (always a favorite) make s'mores in the oven. Just lay graham crackers down on the cookie sheet, then put your chocolate and marshmallow on top of one piece and heat until melted. All at once you have a slew of s'mores all ready for you instead of the one at a time business of camp fires. So there's your food. The talking is up to you.
Talk about anything. Bring a supply of jokes with you. Bring some books. Card games are good for a campout (board games kind of ruin the campout feel because most of us don't pack in large boxes when we camp--if you do, more power to you). This portion of the activity is a little bit more up to you. The point of shut-in camping is to provide the intimacy of a real camp out (close quarters, warm fire, natural odors, cheap food), so that everyone can get to know one another a little better and spend what some call 'quality' time together. I hope everyone who ventures to try it has fun. Let us know how it goes for you and don't burn the house down (possible even with just flashlights, believe me).
No comments:
Post a Comment