13 Ways to Convince Your Indoorsy Friends to Go Camping - Panergy

PITCH IT AS A PARTY

If your friends have never been camping, they may be imagining the experience as something akin to a survival-based reality show, but with no cash prize at the end. Explain to them that you can still do everything you do at home?talk, eat good food you've cooked together, enjoy drinks, play games?just in a new setting. Plus, you don't have to worry about stains in the carpet. Assure them that camping can be casual. It's not all lighting fires by rubbing two sticks together.

SHOW THEM THE MENU

Speaking of communal dining, you may be able to tempt some of your takeout-loving friends with the menu alone. List for them some of the dishes that make for standard camping fare, including Dutch oven-cooked meals, flame-kissed meats, and sweet desserts.

If you need some recipes to wow your friend, then we have you covered. Check out our easy camp stove recipes. 

PROMISE THEM BOOZE

Food not enough to pry them out of their armchair? The woods are an excellent setting for some camping sangrias or a cocktail. Camping doesn't have to mean tepid water swigged from a canteen.

TEMPT THEM WITH A HAMMOCK

There is little in this world as comfortable as a hammock. Beds and couches come close, but as a connoisseur of places to sleep, I can say that a hammock surpasses them all, especially when it's gently swaying between two trees. You will sleep like a baby who performed hard manual labor all day.

MAKE THE PREPARATIONS FOR THEM

It's no fun to handle all of the planning yourself (unless you're into that sort of thing), but if you really want to get your friends away from the computers and into the mountains, give them no opportunities for excuses. Schedule it, buy the food, and gas up the truck.

LEND THEM YOUR GEAR

A big impediment to camping, especially to someone who's never been before, is not having a good tent or sleeping bag or camping stove. A lack of shelter alone is enough to dissuade someone from heading for the hills, so share your gear if you have it. If you don't have any to spare, borrow some from someone else.

START WITH A CAMPGROUND WITH FLUSH TOILETS

Some of your more squeamish indoorsy friends may balk at a camping trip merely at the thought of taking care of business with nothing more than a hole in the ground and some leaves from nearby. Make their first steps into the world of camping easy ones by ensuring some of the comforts of home exist at the campsite.

TAKE THEM OUT FOR A DAY HIKE

Give your friends a small taste of the great outdoors 'like an appetizer' before inviting them to the all-you-can-eat buffet of a weekend trip. Once they get some clear, fresh air in their lungs and spot their first wildlife, they may develop a taste for it and want more.

CHOOSE A DATE IN SPRING OR FALL

The weather will be more mild and less intimidating in the transitional seasons, making an outing away from heating in the winter and air condition in the summer a more pleasant prospect. You're more likely to convince your friends if their teeth aren't chattering or their armpits aren't streaming sweat when they step outside their front door.

WOW THEM WITH NATURAL BEAUTY

If you're a photo taker, make a slideshow of the most jaw-dropping vistas and enchanting natural spots you can find. If you're not, enter 'camping' into Pinterest.

KEEP THEM AWAY FROM THE REVENANT

Leo may have won the Oscar for his stunning performance in this gritty film, but between the bear attack and the harsh, frozen landscape, this movie isn't exactly selling the wild to audiences more comfortable parked in front of a Blu-ray player. 

INTRODUCE THEM TO GLAMPING

The closest thing to having the indoors outdoors, glamping just might win over even the most reluctant camper with its fresh linens, cushy pillows, and stylish air.

DON'T CALL IT 'KIDNAPPING,' BUT?

Ambush them as they're leaving work on a Friday afternoon. A spontaneous effort may surprise a yes out of them before they've had time to mentally shift out of the work week. Show up, hurry them into your waiting vehicle, and drive until you see nothing but trees.