So making friends is hard. Making friends on the road is even harder!
If you are traveling from campground to campground and enjoying extended travel you might be concerned that your kids aren’t getting to know many other kids.
Most campgrounds have a bulletin board or facebook page to advertise activities that are taking place.
Take the lead and organize a meetup!
What if no one comes? It’s possible, maybe even likely that no one will show up. Just be ready to be consistent. Meet every day for three days, or every thursday for a month. This has worked for us every time.
What if there are no kids?! Could you reach out a little further to find a local mom’s group or homeschool group? Meet up and hang out!
Here are all my best ideas for activities you can quickly and easily organize to get the social life jumping at your campground!
- Cardboard Flower Vases – Cut out some rectangles of cardboard and draw vases on the bottom half. Poke holes in the top and let kids collect flowers to put in the holes! We did this with great success.
- Hot Wheels Races- I love Hot Wheels! Cheap and readily available at Dollar General and most thrift stores! Grab some cars, set a course and create a leaderboard! This is a great one to modify for older kids by weighing cars, creating tricky courses or making it a game of predictions.
- Tie Dye Party – A few packets of Dye and some 5 gallon buckets from the hardware store make a great party. Tell people to bring whatever they want to dye and hand out the rubber bands. Our college sponsored a big Tie Dye party and I’ve hosted several since, always a big hit!
- Hopscotch Race – Drawing out an elaborate Hopscotch in a common space would be a great way to advertise for your meet up! Write the time and date next to your hopscotch grid. You can learn the rules and variations here!
- Scavenger Hunt – Scavenger hunts are all over Pinterest! There is one for every occasion and this can be modified for all age groups.
- Progressive Dinner – Once you have gotten to know a few families you can host a progressive dinner!
Every group I have ever gotten together includes quite a few moms who would love to host a meat up at their house. Give everyone a chance to show off their campsite during a progressive dinner. Assign someone appetizers, someone gets the main course and then dessert.
- Tug Of War – Adults and kids can compete bracket style in a Tug of War Tournament! Have families register team names and pit them against each other in a battle for the ages!
- Map Reading Challenge – Map reading is a skill that few people have, but if you do, or if you know someone who does, create a treasure hunt with a real map and let everyone practice!
This would be great with an older crowd of teens and young adults.
- Book Club – Help your kids make friends by choosing a book that they might enjoy and advertise a book club. Set up a patio table and host weekly meetings to discuss the story.
- Guest Speaker – People love to talk about their passions. Look to the local universities, community colleges, churches or organizations and see if they have anyone willing to come do a guest lecture on a topic that interests them.
Try:
Local Author
Food Bank Coordinator
Habitat for Humanity Spokesperson
Campground Owner
Local Alpaca Farmer
- Mom’s Night Out – This one’s for you mom, I know it might be hard to put yourself out there. What if no one comes? That’s ok. Invite some other moms out to the local Mexican Restaurant, or to join you in the clubhouse for Chinese takeout. There is nothing like raising kids in a home on wheels, you all will be laughing together about black tanks before you know it.
- Board Game Night – Choose a familiar game like Chess, Trouble, Monopoly or Go Fish and host a game night.
- International Music Night – Set out some snacks and play the Russian Folk songs!
- Clothing Swap – If you have kids I am sure you have clothes that are outgrown or seldom worn. Set up a few tables for genders and sizes and invite the other moms to bring the clothes that are not being used by their family. Anyone who brings clothes can take clothes! Bag up what is left and donate it for them.
- Free Yard Sale- In the same vein is a free yard sale. You could call it a junk swap too! Set up some tables and tell everyone to bring anything they want to get rid of and everyone can shop each other’s cast offs. Again, volunteer to drop off whatever is left at the local charity shop.
- White Elephant Game- This traditional Christmas party game can be fun all year round. Buy some wrapping paper and ask everyone to bring a gift to give, they get wrapped and set on the table. Everyone sits in a circle, the first person chooses a gift to unwrap, then the second person has the chance to take the gift the first person opened or take a chance with a wrapped gift. If they choose to swap then person one can unwrap a new gift, and so on.
- Face Painting – There are some really cool youtube face painting tutorials. Offer up your newly learned face painting skills and get to know the kids in the campground!
- Bob Ross Painting Night- There are lots of great Bob Ross episodes available online, host a paint night! Have each participant pay a fee to cover supplies and follow along with Bob painting happy trees.
- Egg Drop Contest – This is a really great explanation for this time honored science project.
- Design A Family Crest – Families can use this generator to come up with a coat of arms, and then copy it onto a large poster board!
- Knitting Night – Grab your knitting needles and relax while you chat with other knitters. This is a wonderful cross generational activity. You could specify if you want to teach knitting or just work on UFOs.
- Giant Memory Game – Grab a pack of 3×5 cards and have each participant draw a set of matching cards. Lay them all out on the table and take turns trying to collect matches. You could make it more fun by offering a prize for the player with the most matches at the end of the night.
- Outdoor Movie – If you do not have a projector, talk to the campground owner and see if they have one. They might be willing to host a movie if you are ready with suggestions. They should be familiar with copyright laws and fair use. If you have a particularly creative group, you could host a film contest and show the film entries on a large outdoor screen or the side of your rig.
- Visit a Fire Truck – many fire departments do what is called a “Public Display” where kids can see a fire truck up close! I have found these very easy to schedule. In my experience, this has also brought in the most families of any event I have ever organized!
I love planning family meetups and I do it weekly in my little town! What has been your most successful get together?
