It’s been another one of those years for our family where taking a family vacation doesn’t seem to be in the budget. (It’s not the cheapest to vacation with 9 people!)
That doesn’t mean that we don’t make plans for a fun, memorable summer with our kids! The summer has always been my favorite season, and I want to get out there with my kids and seize every moment!
Tips For Keeping Summer Fun Affordable
I’ve got a few tips for you if you’re also trying to keep your summer affordable yet fun.
- When you spend money, spend it on items you can reuse many times- a pool you can use all summer, a tent or firepit you can use over and over again, etc.
- You have to eat anyway, so include food, but spend a little bit extra if needed to make the food memorable and seasonal. Hot dogs are cheap and become 10xs more exciting and yummy to kids when cooked on a stick over a fire or grill.
- Take advantage of free opportunities. Look for great public parks, join the summer reading program at your library, etc.
- Take advantage of yard sales! You can find a lot of great things for your home and yard at great prices by shopping at yard sales.
Try Camping In Your Own Backyard
One thing that my kids LOVE doing in the summer is to go camping. We bought a home in the country about 3 years ago and now we can do that in our own backyard.
Camping is a fun and relatively cheap way to entertain kids all summer long.
This year we had a new tent to try out for our backyard campout nights – the Magellan Outdoors SwiftRise 8-Person Lighted Cabin Tent available from Academy Sports + Outdoors!
The kids couldn’t wait to get outside and camp!
Features of the Magellan Outdoors SwiftRise 8-Person Lighted Cabin Tent
- Sleeps up to 8 people
- 6.5-foot center height
- 1 door and multiple zippered windows which provide good ventilation
- Polyester construction for a soft feel
- Mesh roof that allows for good air circulation
- Fully seam-sealed fiberglass rainfly and raised floor seams that help the interior stay dry
- 2 storage pockets
- Pre-attached poles for quick setup
- Leg poles are fixed by base anchor for stability
- Integrated lighting system provides visibility at night
- Near-vertical walls allow for headroom
- Simple and quick setup
- Floor space (sq. ft.): 120
- Product length (ft.): 10
Review of the Magellan Outdoors SwiftRise 8-Person Lighted Cabin Tent
This tent comes in a nice storage case with handle. It was also very easy to setup. I set the whole thing up myself, except for putting the rain flap on the top of it. I probably could have figured out a way to do it alone, but it was way easier to do that with a helper.
My son (age 12) was big enough to be a big help in getting that in place. It was setup and ready to go in about 10 minutes our first time.
The instructions were clear and easy to follow. I’m sure when we put it up in the future it will be even faster since we are familiar with the setup now.
I was very pleased with the amount of room this tent has. We are a family of 9 and we all fit inside of it nicely. Of course, 7 of the 9 are children ages 14 and down, so if you are sleeping adults 8 is probably the max you’d want in this tent.
Above this is my son, Jacob, demonstrating how much room he takes up in the tent.
The tent is also tall and easy for me to walk around in. Here are my kids demonstrating how tall it is in there.
The windows are great for offering good airflow. I appreciate that there are so many windows to let air flow into the tent. There are 5 windows plus the door can be zipped in a way to allow airflow in as well.
We’ve already spent quite a few nights in this tent and the kids have had a blast! We’ve used it so much, we haven’t even taken it down yet.
We just move it to a different location in our yard every few days so it doesn’t totally kill the grass. I suspect it will stay up all summer long.
We had wind and rain over the past few weeks that the tent has been up and haven’t experienced any issues from either with this tent.
Overall, our whole family has been very pleased with this tent and I would definitely recommend it.
Make It a Night
Round out your camping experience by roasting hot dogs followed by marshmallows for smores over the fire. My kids also love it when we pop popcorn and set up our video projector and watch a movie outside under the stars.
Another great idea is to read some picture books outside by the light of flashlights. Speaking of flashlights, flashlight tag is always a blast too!
Buy the Tent and Other Fun Summer Supplies
This tent is available to purchase exclusively from Academy Sports + Outdoors. They have tons of great products to help you make summer entertainment affordable AND fun!
I was truly shocked at how affordable some of their items are. For example, they have some $5.99 outdoor pop-up chairs on there right now.
They have pools, water guns, camping supplies, boating supplies, fishing supplies, sports supplies, and so much more!
