The clouds are beginning to part and the sun is starting to shine a little longer each day, and you know what that means…Camping Season is almost upon us!  If you’ve ever planned a camping getaway you know that surviving the great outdoors can be a pricey adventure.  Between campground fees, tents, sleeping bags, food, fishing gear and firewood you can spend a bundle if your not prepared.  Well although this dame prefers a day at the spa I am married to a fishing enthusiast and my son fancies himself a four year old Davey Crockett.  With multiple camping trips on the horizon this summer here a few frugal tips to make camping fun and affordable. [Read more…]

For those of you that didn’t know it – We’ve got our smores campfire and are camping at Cape Henlopen State Park in DE and having such a great time!  Our family started camping as a means of cheap, family fun about 3 years ago and we love it!!  We found Cape Henlopen State Park and it quickly became our favorite destination for outdoor, beach, camping and water fun for so many reasons.

This place is special in its own way and is very affordable which means we can come more frequently than we can afford to head to Disney. Its just thirty some bucks a night with water hook up and we’re allowed 2 sleeping quarters on our site, meaning 2 tents or a tent and a pop up etc.  We have a pop up and the teens stay in the tent.  Delaware residents get a special discounted rate on State parks making it even more affordable for them.

Getting back to the fun… For starters, Cape Henlopen has FREE bike rentals!  They offer children’s bikes, adult bikes and even toddler carts and bike seats.  They also have a small but quaint FREE nature center with a “touch me” tank, gift shop, and a few educational exhibits like tanks with fish and a camera on an Osprey nest.  That was really neat!  We home school all but 1 of our 4 kids so having fun and taking in a science lesson on the side is an added extra bonus!  My kids love the sandy beach and the fishing pier.  Last night my son reeled in a 19″ flounder.  I took a pass on the consumption of the ugly sea creature since it was charred in its final stages because my son insisted on cooking it himself over our smores campfire that was intended for marshmallows and chocolate, but I guess that’s all part of the camping experience.

Our next favorite adventure when we hit the sandy dunes at Cape Henlopen State Park is Fort Miles?  Wondering “What is Fort Miles?”  Well its an old place from World War II where the US soldiers were stationed to keep a look out and fire upon any German ships or subs coming up the bay.  Well this is BOY heaven….  They still have the barracks, guns and the original watch towers that you can climb up to the top in and survey the most beautiful coastline you can imagine – just like they did years ago protecting our great shoreline!

We climb to the top every time we come here and we never tire of the adventure!  My kids sit on the guns and have the most wonderful time re-living history. You can ride bikes through the barracks or walk through at a leisurely pace.  There was even a German sub that did come up the bay, was captured and surrendered at Fort Miles!  WOW – this place is amazing and its right smack next to Cape Henlopen State Park making this place the most amazing wonderland in the Mid-Atlantic region. You can even catch a live re-enactment of the surrender in August.  I saw it last year and it was a great event.  The kids loved it!

Are you wondering about any frugal adventures I’ve had while in Delaware?  Well one of my favorite things about this tiny state is that there is no sales tax!  Yahoo – I get to save 6% of my money just by crossing over the state line. I want to share with you my tent purchasing adventures because some of you may be in the market for a tent this year and my new favorite tent just happens to be on sale at Target this week for $169.  It is regularly $199.99!  Its a tent by Coleman and the 9 person large and roomy version gives plenty of extra space.  This tent boasts about a 1 minute set up – No joke!  When we arrived, 2 of the boys wanted to head right to the fishing pier.  Usually my husband and I insist that the older kids help set up the smores campfire and at the least their own tent but I remembered the squabbling over who was doing what last year so I made the choice to drop them off – chow!  I had my new Coleman tent and I was ready to put it to the test and cut down down on the sibling rivalry so my peace and quiet could begin! Sounds familiar?  Well it worked.  I never read any directions, pulled the text out of the carry case and erected it with no problem what so ever.  It was the easiest and fasted tent I’ve ever seen or used.  Very roomy inside too – sleeps 9 although they offer small models as well.  This tent has some awesome reviews – I can see why…..  Definitely worth the money!

Click here to go to Target and then type in Coleman Instant Tent and you’ll find it.  You can pick a smaller model if you don’t have a large family. I did a price comparison at Amazon and this is a good price for this tent!  Did you print out that Target coupon for 15% off any Coleman that was previously available for 2 weeks (remember Target coupons are in the footer of the home page)?  If you have that coupon then you’ll score an even better bargain!

Don’t forget all your samples and freebies too!  They are great to use when cleaning up at the bath house.  My camping chairs were an end of the year clearance 3 years ago for $5.00 each and my daughter’s princess camping chair was a freebie from freecycle.org. And of course I scored a bargain on all of the food packed in my cooler and the charcoal as well.  I was able to allow my 2 youngest to pick up any 1 item at the gift shop because I save so much from week to week on all of the other things I had money to spare.  It feels great to be able to do this!  The trip expenses were minimal and we created some family fun and experiences that will last a lifetime!

Keep couponing~It really will change your life!

Is it that time of year for Smores??? These are great to have for the camping trips you are taking this Summer!! Get this $1.00 off 2 Hershey’s 6 pk. of Chocolate Candy Bars and you are onto a good start!! You may also want to get these coupons together to make it a better deal!!

20¢/2 coupon for Kraft Jet Puffed Marshmallows from the 6/26 SS
FREE Jet Puffed Marshmallows when you buy Honey Maid Grahams 14 oz. & Hershey’s Chocolate Bars 6 pk. from the ALL YOU June issue or from here
$1.00 off Honey Maid Grahams, Kraft Jet Puffed Marshmallows &  Hershey’s Chocolate Bars 6 pk from the 5/15 SS

Thanks to reader Lacey for sending us this deal! This is a great way to get your golden grahams smores going. Use this coupon for FREE Marshmallows when you buy Honey Maid Grahms & 6 Pack of Hershey’s Candy Bars. Not much of a cookout if you do not have S’mores right? You can also get some really yummy looking Golden Grahams S’mores recipes. Those Easy S’more Clusters look good to me 🙂