The Best Family Camping hardware and furniture
Fall 2022
To be clear here, when we talk about the best hardware for family camping, we’re not talking about tents, sleeping bags, air mats, or chaise lounges. (Though if you can find a folding, portable chaise and you want to bring it along, hey, go for it.) We’re talking here about camping chairs, folding campsite tables, gear storage solutions, and hardware like that.
The best camping furniture and hardware is compact, lightweight, and portable enough that bringing it along and setting it up isn’t a hassle and having it is a welcome relief. Do you need a folding camp chair? No, because you can sit on a rock. Do you need a collapsible table? No, because you can eat off your lap or use a log as your workspace. Do you need a camping hammock? No, because you can lie on the ground, twigs poking you in the back and bugs clambering over your legs and whatnot.
Now, does having a few great pieces of campsite furniture make your campout more relaxing and enjoyable and is it 100% worth it? Yes. Especially when your kids curl up on a folding loveseat and read for a half hour or nod off in the hammock for even longer, leaving you to briefly do – what’s that called again? ah, right — whatever you want.
Here’s the Dad Gear Review rundown on some of the best family camping hardware you can get for fall of 2022, stuff that sets up fast for maximum comfort and convenience and then folds, collapses, and packs away just as quick later.
The Best campsite Furniture
The Helinox Chair One is one of the best camping purchases you’ll ever make
This chair packs down into a bag that’s about the size of a loaf of bread and weighs about that much, too. Yet set up, which takes all of a minute once you have practiced it a time or three, it can easily accommodate up to 320 pounds. And more to the point, it does so comfortably. Our kids can all but curl up in the thing, adults can lounge in it, and the chair works whether you’re kicked back with feet up, sitting up to eat or read, and whether it’s perched on sand, stone, grass, or gravel. While hardly a cheap piece of gear, it’s a lifetime purchase of quality such that you might as well just buy one for everyone in the gang and call your campsite seating complete.
THE HELINOX TABLE ONE IS COMPACT ENOUGH THAT YOU COULD BRING IT WITH YOU ON A HIKE
Packed down, a Table One Hardtop from Helinox is about the same size as a loaf of bread. And at just 2 pounds, 2 ounces, it weighs roughly as much as a standard loaf of bread, too. But unpacked and set up, a process which takes about a minute, this table creates a sturdy, flat surface that measures 15.5" by 23.5", creating ample space for several people to dine or for you to lay out all the gear and equipment you'll need for photography, fishing, or even to set up an impromptu writer's table or painter's workspace. Simply put, once you add a Helinox Table One to your kit, you will never want to be without it again.
The GCI Outdoor Freestyle Rocker is so comfortable you’ll use it at home as often as you do camping
This folding camp chair is legitimately as comfortable as most of the seating you’ll find in the home. It’s not exactly small when folded, still taking up a good two-by-three feet and about a half foot thick, but if you have an SUV, truck, or car with a trunk large enough to accommodate the thing, you’ll be providing yourself a gently rocking, large, supportive chair you can comfortably sit in for hours on end, as you might while fishing, birding, or regaling those gathered around the fire with tales of yore. Any time we have the space to bring this chair, we bring this chair. And any time we need an extra seat in the backyard, this is the first one I grab.
A Kelty Low Loveseat provides you a comfy little couch any time, anywhere
Sure, this collapsible camping couch is designed to be shared by two adults, but it’s arguably at its best when one adult uses it for curling up or three kids clamber on together. Whether we’re headed to the beach, to the campgrounds, to a park, or even just to a friend’s house where extra outdoor seating will be a plus, this thing is almost always in tow. By which I mean slung over my shoulder until it’s set up, which involves nothing more than pulling it open and plopping it down. It’s a lot bigger than a Helinox chair, sure, but one of the best things about the Kelty loveseat is the stability of this camp couch. Even with kids jumping about on it, it’s not going to tip over or collapse – a serious plus when you have a beverage tucked into the armrest cupholders.
The Kootek Camping Hammock may be the best dollar-for-dollar camping furniture you can buy
A diehard camping friend of ours (yes, a dad, for the record) once called his family’s camp hammock “the first thing we set up at the site and the last thing we take down.” Why? Because kids love hammocks. And you’ll love that it’s virtually impossible to tip over in this particular hammock. You’ll also love that setting it up takes about a minute provided you have trees (or some other stout anchors) at the right separation from one another. And once you manage to get a turn in this lightweight, packable hammock that happens to be able to support a stunning 500 pounds (in the two-person option), you’ll see that the kids were onto something. It’s so comfortable, you might just skip that afternoon hike. I mean, probably don’t do that, the hammock will be waiting for you after, but no judgment, either way.
A Stoic Collapsible Aluminum Camping Table makes mealtime easier, game time more fun, and campsite life all around better
Even when we’re headed to a campsite with a picnic table I still always toss this folding camp table in with our gear. Why? Because it’s sturdy and handy. I’ve used the thing enough times to know it’s solid enough for any use, from piling gear on top of it as we prep for a day hike to chopping, peeling, and prepping a campsite meal. The aluminum slats form a nearly flat surface (we like to throw a tablecloth, blanket, or tarp over it when it serves as our camping mealtime table) and they resist scratches and corrosion while wiping clean easily. Popping it up takes me less than two minutes and breaking it down is easy too. Packed away, it slips into the trunk with the rest of the gear and it doesn’t take up much shelf space in the garage.
The Best campsite Hardware
THE CHARLOTTE’S WEBBING CAMP ORGANIZER GEAR HANGING SYSTEM CAN BE A LAUNDRY LINE, DISH RACK, LANTERN HANGER, AND SO MUCH MORE
When you’re camping, one of the constant concerns is, simply put, where to put stuff. That can mean wondering where to put things that need to drip dry, be they pots and pans or towels and swimsuits. That can mean wondering how to keep foodstuffs up out of the dirt and away from bugs or chipmunks or such. That can mean wondering how to properly suspend a lantern for decent campsite lighting. And on it goes. With the highly versatile Charlotte’s Webbing Camp Organizer from Outdoor Element, you can clip or drape just about anything you need up off the ground, and you can mount this customizable gear line between trees, hung from a vehicle, tacked to posts, or to myriad other types of stable objects.
THE COMPACT PORTABLE CAMPING SHOWER FROM GEYSER SYSTEMS LETS YOU HAVE A LONG, HOT SHOWER ANYWHERE
With a portable camp shower from Geyser Systems, one of the largest pain points of campers everywhere is washed away. Literally. Whether topped off with warm water from your camp stove for the OG version or warmed up with a built-in heater for the heated system, a Geyser camp shower is perfect for family camping, for overlanders, for vanlifers, and so forth. With just 0.8 gallons of water, you can use this camping shower to thoroughly clean yourself from head to toe. And it’s easy to clean the kids, too – and with warm water, so no complaints! Also, you can swap out the sponge and use a Geyser shower for cleaning dishes or rinsing down gear, too.
THE DECATHLON QUECHUA OUTDOOR CAMPING RUG CREATES A LARGE, CLEAN OUTDOOR SPACE FOR DINING, PLAYTIME, OR FOR LEAVING MUDDY GEAR OUTSIDE THE TENT
With its large 67” by 83” surface, this camping carpet has ample room for picnicking, playing, gear staging, and more. And because it’s waterproof, you can unroll it on sodden grass, wet sand, or right on the mud. When rolled out under a tent, it can add a bit of insulation against cold ground or help ensure no water finds its way up into your tent from damp earth. In a pinch, you could also use the Quechua camp rug as a blanket for some added warmth or as an impromptu rain shelter. And you can unroll it anywhere you want, by the way, from the backyard to the basement to the park – no campsite is actually required.
THIS COMPACT KIT CONTAINS EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO COMFORTABLY AND RESPONSIBLY GO TO THE BATHROOM OUTDOORS
The need to poop while you hike, camp, or climb is traditionally one of the least pleasant parts of an outdoor adventure. When you bring a PACT Outdoors Bathroom Kit, you can have the most pleasant possible outdoor bathroom experience, though. That's because these compact kits include a little shovel to dig your latrine, wipes that come compacted into little discs that expand with a few drops of water, mycelium tablets you drop onto your waste before covering it with dirt, said tabs helping the waste rapidly biodegrade, and with hand sanitizer for when you're done. In other words, a PACT bathroom kit has everything you need to poop outdoors, all you need to do is find your way a few feet off trail.