Disclosure: This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of The J.M Smucker Company . The opinions and text are all mine.

It’s ALMOST HERE!!! My FAVORITE thing in March – SPRING BREAK!!! Can I hear a WOOOOT?! Whether you are a homeschooler, teacher, parent or kid spring break is a time of the year many people look forward to! Our family has been bitten hard by the travel bug and our newest adventures include a LOT of camping! It’s SO cheap to camp which means we can afford more adventures. Whether you travel to camp, stay in a tent, build a fort indoors, or just sleep in the backyard the adventure of camping for kids is a memory they won’t forget! I‘m going to show you how we are doing a week of Spring Break (well, 5 days!) of CAMP-cation for $50 or LESS per day! That INCLUDES food, lodging, AND activities for our family of 5. Can’t be done you say?! Let’s see! Here are some fun snack ideas to get you started!

First – the food. For those of you who don’t have all the camping cookware, grill, portable stovetops, etc. I wanted to plan 5 days of meals that did not need to be cooked or refrigerated. Less cookware = less junk to haul! One of my GO TO meals for the kids an ANY road trip we go on are the frozen  Smucker’s® Uncrustables®. My kids LOVE them. They are easy to buy frozen at Walmart, and throw in your backpack. – For us they have always been thawed out by lunchtime which makes it ideal for travel on the road or hanging out at an amusement park for the day. If we are on the road for an extended time we make a stop into a grocery store to pick these up for an inexpensive meal too. I also bought Smuckers® Squeeze™ Fruit Spread to make sandwiches with on our last day of camping as well as plenty of other supplies and fresh produce that didn’t need to be refrigerated (apples, bananas, etc.). The last of my must have items was a pack (or 2!) of Jif® to Go™ Peanut Butter. They are individual sized cups of peanut butter to go which means you don’t have to worry about toting a jar of PB everywhere with you or worry about how much dirt the kids will get inside the jar! Snack prices in the itinerary were broken down by estimate for the amount our family needed.

Second – the ACTIVITIES. Of course you can adjust locations, activities, and meals based on your own family preferences and needs but I wanted to break down how I set everything up for our family. I don’t like to have to do extensive cooking or planning so everything took extremely minimal time to put together, plan, and execute. If you’re near a city utilize free museums and outings. Whether it’s a city museum, science center, zoo, etc. – research free attractions nearby! If you’re staying at a campground they may have parks, fishing, geocaching, nature trails, swimming, and other outdoor activities to fill up your time. I also come fully prepared though and set aside a list of items I wanted to purchase and take along with us for the kids to enjoy – but still stay within our budget. These items will be listed in our itinerary below.

Third – the GEAR. Our $50 per day for 5 days Camp-cation itinerary does NOT include basic camp gear (tent and sleeping bags) or any additional state park pass prices. Prices of lodging of course vary depending in your location and comfort needs – or of course if you’re just camping out at home in a fort or backyard! It also does not include fishing gear or a state fishing license. (although it does include bait!) And because of such a variety in possibilities I also did not include gas for the car.

Included in each day is an estimated cost breakdown for our expenses.

Day 1

WOOT! It’s the FIRST day of your Spring Break Camp-cation! If you’re staying home you may want to start it off with a dance party or special pancake breakfast, but for us we’ll be busy loading up the car and hitting the road! We’re choosing to stay at a campgrounds a few hours away in a tent which will cost us $25 a night.

Lodging: $25 tent camp with no electric hook-up
Food:
(breakfast at home)
Lunch: $5 -Smucker’s® Uncrustables®
Dinner: $3 – Hot Dogs on a Stick, bananas
Snacks & Drinks: $8 – Apples, Powdered Drink Flavors (to add to our water), Granola bars, S’mores
Extras:
Glow Sticks – $1
Hiking Nature Trails  & Scavenger Hunt – $0
Geocaching – $0
Wood for Campfire + Matches – $6
Mystical Camp Fire Flames Color Changers- $2
TOTAL COST = $50

Day 2

Lodging: $25 tent camp with no electric hook-up
Food:
Breakfast: $4 – Banana Boats (Bananas with Jif® to Go™ Peanut Butter “sandwiches” or over campfire)
Lunch: $5 – Canned chicken & alfredo sauce sandwiches, carrots
Dinner: $4 – Canned beef Stew (open and sit on hot fire), can of mandarin oranges
Snacks & Drinks: $3 – juice pouches, pretzels with Jif® to Go™ Peanut Butter, pears
Extras:
Swimming – $0
Fishing – $3 (for bait)
Silly String – $6 ($3 x 2 cans)
Campfire Wood – $5 (1 bundle)
TOTAL COST = $55

Day 3

Lodging: $25 tent camp with no electric hook-up
Food:
Breakfast: $4 Breakfast shakes ($1/person)
Lunch: $3 Canned Chili w/crackers
Dinner: $9 – Nachos Supreme (tortilla chips, canned cheese, canned beans, canned meat, canned veggies)
Snacks & Drinks: $4 juice pouches, fruit snacks, granola bars
Extras:
Local City Museum – $0 
Local Historical Museum – $0
Games – $5 Travel Battleship and/or other travel/card game(s); also consider balls/frisbees
Campfire Wood – $0 (leftover from first 2 days)
TOTAL COST = $50

Day 4

Lodging: $25 tent camp with no electric hook-up
Food:
Breakfast: $4 – Dry Cereal and leftover fruit
Lunch: $6 – Pita bread, canned chicken, spaghetti sauce
Dinner: $4 – Canned Soup with leftover pita bread
Snacks & Drinks: $5 – S’mores, leftover juice pouches, bagged popcorn
Extras:
Fly Kites – $2 (2 kites x $1/each)
Exploding Soda Rockets (Diet soda + Mentos) – $3
Campfire Wood – $5
TOTAL COST = $50

Day 5

Lodging: NONE – headed home!
Food:
Breakfast: $4 Breakfast shakes ($1/person)
Lunch:$7 -Smuckers® Squeeze™ Fruit Spread, white bread, Jif® to Go™ Peanut Butter
Dinner: (at home or splurge on the road with extra budget)
Snacks & Drinks: $0 – leftover fruit, pretzels & Jif® to Go™ Peanut Butter, water/leftover juice pouch
Extras:
Geocaching on the way home – $0
Swimming / Nature Trails – $0
Bug Nets – $2 ($1 x 2 nets)
TOTAL COST = $38

There you have a general break down of our 5 day Camp-cation! We spend a lot of time outdoors getting creative with campfire stories (spooky ones are fun!), lots of scavenger hunts (for birds, fossils, squirrels, animal tracks, etc.), games brought from home or printed out online, etc to help keep activity costs down. And as you can see by our menu sometimes we get a little creative since we’re only away from home for a few days! I choose a few staple items like our peanut butter and build snacks and meals around that and canned food. If you have camping gear, pots and other equipment you have SO many more options for cheap meals like pastas, scrambled eggs, etc. This is laid out to show you the absolute most basic camping and food needs with NO cooking or special equipment needed! So pack up the car, grab some snacks and gear, and start planning your Camp-cation!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of The J.M Smucker Company . The opinions and text are all mine.

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