This Friday at 4PM....
I can't wait for this time and day.
I have been waiting for this time and day for months.
We are going on vacation!
We planned an eight night camping trip at our favorite camp ground. We are also going white water rafting on a guided tour on Saturday.
This is the week of our wedding anniversary and my birthday.
Summer has finally arrived and its going to be hot while we are there.
I have spent the last week shopping and getting ready.
I still have to buy a lot of our food but the rest of the items have been purchased and I have been just making a pile.
Now, I need to start packing everything.
This is very hallenging becuase the most nights we have gone camping at once is four. Eight is double and I barely have room for four nights as it is. I also want to do things up a bit bigger since this is our yearly vacation.
I have a few ideas up my sleeve.
This haul is HUGE!
Everything but the blue table that can hardly be seen, is for our camping trip. Like I said, I still need to do the big food shopping and get a few more supplies but so far, this is so much and I need to start getting it packed. I am planning a food haul and "Get ready with me to go camping" post as well. Hopefully I can make time.
I am overwhelmed.
Haul Time!
I shopped at the Dollar Tree, Target, Ace Hardware, Walmart, Kmart and Rite Aid,
This haul is too big for one post. I will divide it up into two parts.
Part two can be read here.
Part One: Dollar Tree, Target, and Ace Hardware
Dollar Tree
Here, I show everything I got from the Dollar Tree.
Those pretzels are actually from Rite Aid dollar section! I guess they snuck in the bag and I was not paying attention! Did I mention I'm overwhelmed? HaHa!
My goal is to make our food last four days and we will need to go pick up more items on the 5th day. Im attempting to fit as much dry food items I can into our food box to cut down on what we will need to buy while camping. Space and keeping food fresh are big issues.
I let my kids each pick out a cereal, and I picked up a can of corned beef hash. We like this for breakfast while we are camping/ I am really hoping this brand is ok.
The Net is actually a food tent. It folds up like an umbrella. I thought this would be perfect for camping. I plan to have a birthday cake and with this, I can display it without worrying.
The foil sheets are great to have and come in handy. The to go containers are for egg plant parmesan that I plan to make, freeze, and pack to go with us.
These boards are for our new pool that I just set up for the kids.
To read my review on the H2o Go! Pool click here.
I also picked up a huge pack of combs. I am hoping to find a good one to part and section my daughter's hair. It is much easier to take care of while camping if we section it.
The Excedrin Tension Headache is great to have and was actually free. I had a coupon for $1.00 off. This 24 count bottle costs around $4 at Walgreens or Fred Meyer. I plan to do a post on my recent attempts at couponing. I am totally new to this.
When we got married two years ago, I got a lot of items for our wedding at the Dollar Tree. On this haul, I was able to get some items for my birthday that actually match our wedding colors. My decorations for the whole week will also match our wedding colors, being we will also have our anniversary while we are camping. These colors really our my go-to colors for everything and my husband says he thinks of me when he sees them so he likes that I use them as well. He is so sweet!
I am planning a small party for my birthday. The kids will really enjoy it and I guess you only turn 40 once so why not!
I ended up picking up three tablecloths and three battery operated hanging lanterns that match. We will use these as part of the decorations for the week. On my birthday, we get the birthday necklaces and glasses.Super fun times!
I let the kids each pick two items. My daughter chose giant chalk and a bracelet and necklace set that glows. My son got a slinky and a suction cup ball. Entertaining children is so cheap if you go to the Dollar tree!
I also picked up to more bags for my collection of bags. Mom's bags of tricks always needs new bags! These are a great deal for $1 and adds more variety to my life.
I love bags!
I also got some dragon fly fairy lights for my tent and a new clothesline. Having lights in the tent is not only stylish, and adds comfort, it also adds light which is super practical. I love to be "Practically Cozy" while camping. That is what this trip and all the other trips is all about.
Especially this one.
I want my family to have a great time and really feel like they are on a special vacation.
The clothesline is a great way to quickly dry towels and other items and can provide privacy if you position things on the line strategically to keep passer-by campers from seeing too much.
My favorite items from this Dollar Tree haul?
The Excedrin was FREE! That was awesome/
I love the bags but my favorite items are the light up lanterns and dragon fly lights.
They will add so much special charm to our space.
Target
At Target, I got some much-needed supplies.
Hubby and I need water shoes to go rafting. It is also hard to keep the kids safe without them while they are playing on the river bank. Water shoes will make it much easier to navigate around in the water while they are playing. I looked at several places and finally found some at Target. I did pay full price though. Considering most of the summer items are on clearance right now, this was a disappointment but a much needed purchase, so I paid $40 total for both pairs. Atleast Hubby's are Speedo.
I also got a waterproof disposable camera so we can take pics while rafting and possibly get some shots underwater. We will see. It will be fun to play around with it. The camera is safe up to 50 feet of water.
I got 2 Off candles. This will last the full trip. I have tried other brands of Citronella candles and these work the best. I paid $8 each because we trust them. We also needed a good bug repellant. I got 2 cans of the Target brand with 25% Deet. The Off brand with this much deet is super effective. The store brand was a lot cheaper.
For dishes while camping, we only use Dawn. It just works so well.
I got a big pack of glow sticks for $5. This will last several nights and has several different types of glow sticks in it
I like the Archer Farms Fire Roasted Pizza Crusts. These cook up so well on the grill. When I go to Target, I usually grab one of these.
I got some more Scotch laminating sheets. I am making a banner for my birthday. I made one for my Mom's birthday in colors she likes and now I am making one in my colors. To read my post on how to make your own pennant banner, click here.
These Mini Reese's Peanut Butter cups will be going in the cooler so they dont melt!
I got the kids each a toy. My daughter's came from Target. She got a Bratz doll and some shoes and accessories/ I want to make sure they have things they like so they arent bored and start fighting!
This will help.
My son's toy will be in part 2 of this haul.
The last thing I got at Target was a hammock. I want to provide a really nice camping experience and I thought a hammock would really play a crucial role in that. We lucked out with this one. It was originally $40, but I found the last one in the store for $12 on clearance. It holds up to 400 pounds so we can all enjoy the hammock.
My favorite item in this haul?
I'm happy I wont break my neck in the water anymore now that I have the water shoes. I am excited to use the camera, and the hammock.
I think the hammock wins this one.
Ace Hardware
For the hammock, we got 20 feet of weight approved rope, cut in 2 sections to tie it to trees at our campsite.
We also got 2 pounds of assorted nails. For some reason, we have no nails when we need nails so now we have 2 pounds.
No one is falling off this hammock!
I dont have a favorite at Ace, but I'm sure out of all the stores we shopped at, this haul was my Hubby's favorite.
Haha!
That was a lot and we are only half done!
Read part 2 for the rest of this haul.
No comments:
Post a Comment