16 Backyard Glamping Essentials For A Luxury Home Staycation

Camping always seems like a great idea until you try roughing it out in the wild with the limited supplies you can carry. After all, living off the land, going off the grid, quickly freshening up in a nearby water source, and fighting off bees and mosquitos isn't everyone's idea of a good time. However, if you want to enjoy the great outdoors with all the creature comforts you're accustomed to, try out glamping, aka glamorous camping. While you can reserve a gorgeous Airbnb rental for serious glamping, turning your backyard into a luxury home staycation is as simple as pitching a tent, setting up bedding, and stringing lights.

Besides saving your hard-earned dollars, the biggest advantage of glamping in your backyard is you won't have to pack your bags with necessities, like toiletries and clothes, and part with the comforts you're used to. You can simply pop into your home and get whatever you need whenever you need it. Plus, you don't have to worry about privacy or hygiene while you shower or use the toilet when there's a sanitary bathroom inside your home, ready for use. Being able to get food delivered from your favorite eateries and remaining connected to the world are other advantages. You just need a few essentials, including cozy bedding, seating, battery-powered lights, and twists on classic camping activities, to turn your ideal glamping daydream into reality.

Although your bedroom is just a stone's throw away, pitch a tent to admire the bright constellations while you fall asleep and wake up with the sun rising in your backyard. But don't prop up a camping tent. Select a glamping-approved tent for a luxurious touch and feel. Generally, these tents are big enough to comfortably accommodate all your family members, with partitions, so you can enjoy some much-needed privacy with your partner while the kids have their fun. Additionally, these tents are tall to facilitate movement inside.

After you get the tent situation sorted, think about the bed you'll be chilling in. Since glamping is all about comfort and luxury, you can bring out your mattress (along with the bed frame) from your bedroom and set it up for the ultimate experience. However, if that's not possible, get an inflatable mattress or a sleeping pad. Once you've marked this off your checklist, outfit your bed with a fitted sheet. Don't forget to consider the weather when choosing a sheet, opting for cotton in summer and fleece in the winter.

A bed isn't incomplete without pillows and blankets. Outfit yours with lumbar pillows from your bedroom, choose a striking pillow cover to add visual interest, and throw in a few Euro shams and accent pillows to make your bed look luxurious. Now, turn to the comforters or duvets you want to layer on your bed. Ideally, you want to check the tog rating of your duvet to keep your mattress cool during toasty summer nights and vice versa. Lay a colorful throw blanket at the bed's foot for a playful finish.

Rugs aren't just meant to be used inside your home. Lay down a rug in your glamping tent to walk barefoot without worrying about the bumps and rocks littering the floor. Besides cushioning the harsh surface under your soft feet, rugs help insulate the ground. This means the floor will be cool during the hot summer months and warm during the frigid winter. Place a textured or patterned rug outside the tent to distinguish between the two spaces and upgrade your backyard's look.

Do you want to define a theme for your backyard glamping but aren't sure how to go about it? You can never go wrong with bunting. The colorful flag decorations will draw the eye and add a festive feel to your backyard. Experiment with the color, material (fabric, paper, or cardboard), and pattern to brighten the insides of your tent or string them outside to become the envy of the town. Alternatively, install the strings next to your dining spot or conversation pit to take your backyard staycation to the next level.

A lack of light can make it difficult to have fun once the sun goes down, especially on cloudy nights or when the moon is waning. So, get the fairy lights out of your attic (or basement) and string them along the length of your backyard to cast your campsite in a warm glow. Moreover, use flameless lanterns and candles to light up your tent's interiors, and place them on the dining table to cultivate a warm ambiance. Use solar path lights or battery-operated tiki torches to ease navigation at night.

Comfortable seating options are a must to create an inviting atmosphere. To encourage your family members to lounge about and converse with each other, grab a few chairs from your home and place them outside. But don't just spread them out willy-nilly; be deliberate about the arrangement. Ensure you place the chairs on a plastic sheet (or tarp) to prevent lawn furniture from turning your grass brown. In case you don't have enough chairs or they're too heavy to be dragged outside, use floor cushions and bean bags instead. Sun loungers and camp chairs work, too.

What's the point of deliberately arranging your furniture to promote conversation if you don't have a fire pit to anchor the arrangement? You can't even roast marshmallows and show off your superior s'more skills. The frightening ghost stories and haunted incidents lose their dramatic touch, too. To ensure this doesn't happen, create a DIY fire pit in your yard with rocks, stones, and bricks. Alternatively, spring for a smokeless fire pit to reduce smoke. Otherwise, get a portable fire pit to warm chilly evenings and get the conversation flowing.

Since glamping is the epitome of luxuriousness, you'd be remiss not to consider a heater in the cold months and a fan (or air-conditioner) in the summer. If you're uncomfortable in the tent, you'd be quick to take shelter inside your home, and all your backyard glamping efforts will go to waste. So, get a camp-safe heater — portable electric space heaters are safe if you follow the guidelines — to remain toasty when the temperatures drop. Similarly, install a tent fan or portable camping AC to keep temperature-induced night sweats at bay.

Although you can have food delivered from your favorite restaurant, consider breaking out your BBQ to embrace the camping feeling. A BBQ grill is an entertaining essential for your outdoor space because no glamping party is complete without mouth-watering food. Take charge as the grill master and flip burgers, roast vegetables, and marinate steaks to appease your growling stomach and demanding taste buds. Clean the grill before using it and ascertain you have adequate charcoal or propane gas to cook food. Moreover, skewers, tongs, and spatulas can be used to grill food items safely.

If you'd like to keep your smartphone and portable speaker charged, the lights turned on, and the heater or fans doing their job, you need a power source on your glamping staycation. While you could get an extension cord connected to your home's power supply to plug in all the devices requiring electricity, a portable power generator or portable solar power bank could be a simpler option. Without any long wires to trip on or overloaded powerstrips, you can keep your devices juiced up until you're ready to head back indoors.

Having a movie night with your friends and family seems impossible unless you huddle together to watch the action on a tablet or PC. It would make for an uncomfortable experience and quickly sour the mood, with people teaming off to enjoy other activities or scroll social media. So, get (or rent) a movie projector to watch your favorite movies cinema-style. Just imagine how majestic a "Jurassic Park" dinosaur's roar would be. Don't forget to get a portable movie screen, too, or all your big movie plans will be for naught.

If you've ever wanted to simply sit still and lose track of time while you admire the world around you and catch shapes in the fluffy clouds above you, a swinging hammock is the perfect way to achieve this dream. Watch your project deadlines and other worries float away on a warm breeze as the swinging hammock lulls you into a deep sleep. Don't worry if you lack perfectly placed trees for your hammock; try TikTok's woodworking DIY to turn your backyard into a model glamping staycation spot.

Nothing will interrupt your glamping buzz as quickly as mosquitoes constantly buzzing about you and feasting on your blood. Use citronella coils to prevent the party-crashers from killing your buzz and forcing you indoors. To confuse mosquitoes and make it difficult for them to smell your human skin, use the coils in tandem with citronella candles and plants. Moreover, use mosquito repellent sprays to keep the bloodsuckers away. If you're not a fan of the packaged repellent sprays, make a homemade mosquito repellent using citronella essential oil.

Gazing at the twinkling stars while lounging on a chair with a cool drink in hand is the height of relaxation. But having to run inside your home each time you need a top-off will leach away the enjoyment and burst your bubble. So, ensure you have an ice bucket available to fill it with your preferred drink bottles, snacks, fancy cheese, and chocolates, and keep them at optimal temperature. You can even roll out your cooler cart if you have one.

Uninterrupted music is the key to dancing with your partner under the starlit sky or letting your kids live out their fantasy of being Elsa from "Frozen" (you'll be Oleg, of course, or Sven — the decision rests solely with your child). So, don't rely on your smartphone's speakers. Get your Bluetooth speakers out to bring the party to your backyard. Brownie points if they're water-resistant (accidents happen!), seamlessly assuming the role of DJ for the night(s). Don't forget to curate a few situation-specific playlists before you embark on your glamping staycation.