Sometimes we all need a break from our normal routine, especially in the middle of winter. Themed family nights are an easy way to change things up for an evening without too much work.

Last Friday, we had a camping night. I had a pretty good idea of what my plan was, but I asked my kids what kind of dinner we should have for camping. Of course, they said hot dogs.

We had our hot dogs for dinner in front of a “fire” — I streamed a video called “Fireplace for Your Home” from Amazon Instant Play. I overheard Judah say that this was the best night of his life, and that was before he even had a s’more!

One of the best parts of the evening was the s’mores!

After a few test marshmallows, I figured out that it took 1 minute and 30 seconds on the middle rack for the perfectly toasted marshmallow (on broil). I lined my cookie sheet with foil so there would be no dishes.

After s’mores, the kids crawled into their tent and we watched “The Parent Trap,” the 1961 version. It is the only movie I could think of that had a camping theme and I love that movie. Judah spent the first hour and a half of the movie asking when the trap was going to happen, and it took us that long to convince him the parents were not going to fall into an actual trap. It was such a fun night.

We wrapped up the night by letting the kids sleep in their sleeping bags on their beds. I thought about letting them sleep downstairs in the tent, but we all got much better sleep with them in their beds! Adding a sleeping bag to their normal routine made it exciting enough.

There is a great blog post with some creative ideas for indoor camping at EDventures with Kids.