We have spent some extended time in hotels and I know a lot of families are going to be on the road this summer. So I thought I would share one of the most genius things The Man came up with to make hotels stays more fun for The Bug, make it easier to put her to bed earlier at night and to give everyone a little more privacy.
He purchased a two-person tent for camping and when he saw it in his car he grabbed it, took it to our room and set it up. The "easy-up" tents now require only a couple of minutes to pull it out of the bag and pull up on the top until everything locks into place. This also makes it very easy to take the tent down when you're done. Our's is a rectangle shape so it's easier to deal with space-wise. I think a round tent might make this a challenge unless you have a very big hotel room.
We turned the door towards the wall, so she had a little walkway and it felt a little like a fun cave. We set it up on the side of the room and while it did make things a little crowded on that side she was in heaven and we realized we had just created a fantastic situation for everyone.
I don't think we had a mattress pad that first time but we used the extra blankets and pillows one can always find in the closet, along with anything we weren't using on the bed. Our kiddo also never travels without her own entourage of pillows, blankets and stuffed animals so she had plenty to keep things plush and cozy in there.
When we had the back of the tent to the rest of the room, it gave us a few benefits, including more privacy for dressing and made it easier to stay up later without disturbing her. Our tent is dark army green so it stayed pretty dark in there when we turned the lights down. It also kept her from popping her head out constantly to see what was going on in the rest of the space.
I pretty much always have a few glow-in-the-dark bracelet packs on hand during the summer, so I gave her two-packs, that's 30 bracelets she could connect together. That created two awesome party garlands to hang from the ceiling hooks. It was like a disco atmosphere inside the tent and they made a great nightlight too. It was really cool when she held one end and whipped them around in circles. Awesome light show.
This also gave us a place to throw her toys and blankets during the day so there was less clutter all over the room. She thought the tent was the coolest thing ever and I'll say we loved it too. It gave us all a little more space and freedom to unwind. If you're car traveling and have the space a kids tent is a great way to give kids a sense of home and space of their own while transitioning from place to place. It's also a great way to have more privacy for parents who may be a little weary by the end of a long day of "togetherness."
Tent by L.L. Bean
Image via Amazon
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