As a child did you play "camp out" in your backyard?

[Ireneparalegal]

I had a few sleepovers in my backyard with our camping tent that my family used when we went camping. It was fun. I remember we would take snacks out to the tent and something to drink so we wouldn't have to go into the house for anything other than the bathroom. I remember my older brother scared the bejesus outta me and my friends... It was dark and quiet and then all of a sudden he made this loud noise and we screamed our heads off.

[sweetdiggity]

I did that a few times! It was always fun. Except one time...
My dad and brother scared the hell outta me and my two cousins. They told us about a killer that had escaped from jail (wasn't true), and late that night when we were in the tent, they snuck outside and were making noises with the gate. Then, they were throwing tiny chunks of ice at the tent trying to scare us. Well, it worked.
We thought the killer was in our yard, and we were damn near crying.

I can laugh now, but I was only like 9 when that happened and I could have killed my dad and brother for doing that.

[sweetdiggity]

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

I remember my older brother scared the bejesus outta me and my friends... It was dark and quiet and then all of a sudden he made this loud noise and we screamed our heads off.

Older brothers can be so mean!!!

[Ireneparalegal]

Originally Posted by sweetdiggity

I did that a few times! It was always fun. Except one time...
My dad and brother scared the hell outta me and my two cousins. They told us about a killer that had escaped from jail (wasn't true), and late that night when we were in the tent, they snuck outside and were making noises with the gate. Then, they were throwing tiny chunks of ice at the tent trying to scare us. Well, it worked.
We thought the killer was in our yard, and we were damn near crying.

I can laugh now, but I was only like 9 when that happened and I could have killed my dad and brother for doing that.

OMG, reading your post just made me

I am certain it was traumatic when it happened, but it is funny!!! See how things that were so bad for us as kids, we can look back and laugh our a$$e$ off abt them.

[Mikado]

I used to do it "In style" in the 20ft Jayco hardtop trailer we used to travel with, after my parents stopped taking holiday trips for awhile
( wed set it up in the backyard the same way we had set it up on numerous campsites )

[freshprinceofLA]

No but I did camp out in a fort I made inside the house never outside though.

[80sTrivia]

I used to pitch the tent in the back yard and sleep outside quite a bit as a child. We lived out in the country, so there was plenty of room, and I loved sleeping outside, with the sounds of the frogs and crickets to help lull me to sleep!

[coffield3]

No my parents never allowed us at our home, but i went to friends homes and camped out.

[Ireneparalegal]

Mikey, you reminded me of something else. We had a camper, the kind attached atop a truck. My friend and I used to love playing in there. We pretended it was our "apartment" that we would one day have after we established ourselves in our "clothing store" and make lots of money!

I remember when the tents were gone but we still wanted to "camp out" we used the camper instead.

[catlover79]

I think we camped out in the backyard at least once - but mostly we camped out on Friday nights in the living room.

[Ireneparalegal]

Originally Posted by catlover79

I think we camped out in the backyard at least once - but mostly we camped out on Friday nights in the living room.

Oh even that way too. My gosh, you guys are reminding me of stuff I forgot. We would get big blankets and throw them over the furniture and pretend they were tents. We'd put pillows inside and have a ball!

[Mikado]

Quote Irene:

Oh even that way too. My gosh, you guys are reminding me of stuff I forgot. We would get big blankets and throw them over the furniture and pretend they were tents. We'd put pillows inside and have a ball!

On a similar note, when i was little, we had a big apple tree that used to make TONS of fruit, unfortunately, because of the insects, it would invariably fall off the tree before ripening, meaning we had a yard full of spoiled apples, however, there was a bright side..........
Me , my brother and friend Jackie would gather up as many of the rotten fruit as we could carry in our little plastic buckets, make forts out of blankets, tricycles, wagons and whatever else was handy and have a great time throwing smooshy, rotten, overipe apples at each other's forts!

[Ireneparalegal]

Originally Posted by Mikado

Quote Irene:



On a similar note, when i was little, we had a big apple tree that used to make TONS of fruit, unfortunately, because of the insects, it would invariably fall off the tree before ripening, meaning we had a yard full of spoiled apples, however, there was a bright side..........
Me , my brother and friend Jackie would gather up as many of the rotten fruit as we could carry in our little plastic buckets, make forts out of blankets, tricycles, wagons and whatever else was handy and have a great time throwing smooshy, rotten, overipe apples at each other's forts!

OMG, what a mess that must have been. What did your parents say abt the mess????

[Mikado]

I honestly cant recall them making a big deal out of it, we had a big cotton mill on one side and Jackie and her family on the other, so no one really saw our backyard, it was pretty much a wilderness!

[Brieannas21]

No I never did that. I camped out in our family room when I had sleepovers . We would put a tent up in the middle of the room. I grew up in "the country" where we had wild animals wondering about, so my mom wasn't too keen in letting me sleep outside.