25 Jul Tips for Camping with a Large Group

Camping is a great way to get large groups of family, friends, and colleagues together for some fun in the outdoors. Whether it be for an annual family reunion, a birthday celebration, a team-building event, a corporate retreat, or a gathering of college friends that haven’t seen each other in years, camping brings people together to experience and enjoy the great outdoors.

However, as with anything that involves large groups of people, group camping comes with its challenges. We’ve prepared a list of tips to help ensure that everyone in the group has a memorable camping experience (and we mean memorable in a good way).

Do your research!

Before you even book a campsite, do your research! Make sure that large groups can camp together. You don’t want to arrive only to find out that your campsites are spread out across the campground.

Check out the amenities offered at the campground and ask about campground rules. Are there quiet hours that are observed? Is there a restriction on the number of vehicles you can park? Is it pet-friendly?

Are water and electricity available? Are picnic tables onsite? If finding a campground with shower facilities is important to the group, make sure you look into that ahead of time.

It’s also important to research what activities are available around the campsite. If the group is looking to do some hiking, check out the trails in the area. If the group wants to dine out and camp close to a town with restaurants and shops, don’t go somewhere very remote.

Team meetings aren’t just for work.

Have a team meeting before you book anything to figure out what’s most important to members of the group for their camping experience. Talk about location, activities, amenities, etc. This is also a good time to make note of any food allergies or dietary restrictions in the group so everyone can be mindful of those when shopping and meal prepping.

Figure out what dates work best for the group. You may want to plan this excursion around a holiday weekend which likely requires booking far in advance as campsites tend to fill up quickly for holidays.

Once you have booked your campground reservation, it’s a good idea to get the group together again to discuss preparation and assign responsibilities. Will you approach the camping trip as individuals/small groups or as one single group? Take inventory of the gear that everyone has and who will be bringing what so you don’t end up with 30 flashlights and no bug spray.

Divide and conquer.

There is a lot that goes into a camping trip, from campsite setup and teardown to campfire maintenance, meal planning, food preparation, and cleanup. It’s a good idea to assign tasks ahead of time so everyone knows what is expected of them and there aren’t 30 pairs of eyes with blank stares when it comes time to wash the dishes after dinner.

If you have a very large group, it might make sense to create groups like set-up crew, breakfast cooks, dinner cooks, clean-up crew, fire crew, and teardown crew, and assign members to each group.

Assign a group “accountant.”

Choose someone fiscally savvy in the group to track all expenses related to the trip: campsite fees, food, drinks, excursions, etc. This will make it so much easier to “settle up” when the trip is over and make sure that everyone contributes their fair share.

Meal planning will save a lot of headaches.

There are tons of meals out there that are easy to prepare for large groups of people. It’s a good idea to prepare some meals ahead of time and store them in heavy-duty freezer bags for ease. Then simply let them thaw in your cooler and throw them on the fire or stove to heat up when you are ready to eat.

Check out this post from Camping For Foodies that features easy camping meals for large groups. They have some great suggestions, including a delicious breakfast skillet with ham and eggs and walking tacos that use individual-size Fritos bags instead of bowls.

Assign someone in the group to take charge of meal planning and create a menu for the duration of your trip. That way, there are no surprises, and everyone will go to sleep content and with full bellies.

Clean up every night, even if you don’t feel like it.

You will be glad you did for many reasons. It will help prevent the spread of waste and help you keep track of all of your trash so nothing blows away during the night. You will be able to start the day with a clean campsite and not waste precious daylight hours cleaning that could be spent swimming, hiking, or relaxing around a campfire.

Daily cleanup is also important to ensure that your campsite isn’t invaded by any unwanted visitors like bears, mice, raccoons, or other wildlife. Animals can detect even trace amounts of food, so make sure there’s no food left out at night.

Someone in the group likely has a wholesale club membership – use it!

Buying in bulk for a large group just makes sense, and chances are that someone in the group has a BJs or Costco membership – use it. Stock up on water, wine and beer, coffee and other beverages, eggs, meat snacks, and more. Wholesale stores often sell camping gear at a discounted rate as well, so you can truly stock up on everything you need.

Ready to start thinking about a group camping trip? Consider camping in upstate New York with us at Lake George Campsites. We welcome large groups and have all the amenities you will need for a memorable Lake George vacation. Plus, we’re close to everything that the Lake George area has to offer, from hiking trails to beaches, restaurants, amusement parks, mini golf, museums, and more.

Book your group camping trip today>>