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So you wanna go camping but it’s getting too cold at night… here are 5 ways to stay warm on the chilly nights.
Camping in fall means beautiful colors, scenic drives, and perfect day time temperatures. But it also means brisk early mornings, chilly evenings, and cold nights.
In over a decade of travel, living in a van for over five years, and tent camping more times than we can count, these are our top five ways to stay warm at night!
Warmth While Camping Without A Heater At A Glance
- Reflectix in your windows
- Candle burning
- Heated jacked
- Down blanket under a wool blanket
- Loved one or furry friend
Reflectix In Your Windows / Under Your Sleeping Pads
Whether you’re in a camper van or making a makeshift sleeping arrangement in the back of a car, Reflectix is a great way to add both privacy and warmth to your night.
Reflectix is a radiant heat barrier that doubles as a cold barrier too. By cutting your Reflectixs to the exact size of your windows, you can create the perfect layer of insulation on each of your windows.
This insulation works in multiple ways. It not only allows the heat coming off your body to bounce around the inside of the vehicle creating more warmth, it also reflects the cold air away from your vehicle, preventing it from penetrating the inside of your rig.
READ MORE | How to Create Your Own Window Insulation, A Step by Step Guide
If you’re tent camping, Reflectix is a great added barrier for under your sleeping pads. It’s not recommended to use in place of a sleeping pad, as it actually needs space to breathe and “reflect” the hot/cold.
We used it as an extra layer in our tent setup. By cutting a Reflectix piece to the exact size of your tent footprint, you can block a significant amount of cold transferring through the ground.
Burn A Candle Inside
This one comes with a fair warning that you need to make sure the place you’re camping allows open flames. In some places, like the Mount Hood National Forest, during fire season, candles aren’t even allowed.
As a secondary warning, you should have some small amount of ventilation when burning a candle and try and find a non-toxic candle to keep your lungs safe!
In a van? Check out these other 9 reasons you should have proper ventilation in your van.
All that to say, a candle, even a small one, can really heat up a room — whether that room be a van, car, or tent! We’re always surprised just how much heat a candle produces.
It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise though, as it makes total sense that fire creates warmth, but it’s an easy one to overlook! Be sure to have a clear, safe space to burn your candle, as camping gear isn’t the more fire friendly!
I’ve found that burning a candle next to Reflectix creates even more warmth, as the heat from the candle reflects off the Reflectix and warms up a space quicker and better too!
Thinking you want a rig instead of a tent… rent one below!
Don’t Have An RV? Don’t Worry, You Can Rent One On RVShare!
Use Heated Jackets
Heated jackets are a luxury when camping in the cooler seasons. Not only will they keep you warm outdoors on brisk days, but they’re fantastic to use as a makeshift heated blanket inside too.
Our heated jackets come with a rechargeable battery brick that lasts up to eight hours. And while we love to use them when we’re shooting night photography or for sunrise photography, we also sit on them to keep our bums warm in chairs, throw them over top of us as blankets, and tuck them in under layers to really crank up the heat.
In fact, our heated jackets have gotten us so warm we start to sweat and have to turn them off and take a break!
We love using them on the cold evenings in the van when the sun sets early, and we’re tucked in for the night, but still awake and need to work or want to hang out without being tucked into bed.
READ MORE | Our Full Heated Women’s + Men’s Jacket Reviews
Use A Down Blanket Under A Wool Blanket
While I’m all about a good backpacking sleeping bag, used with fewer clothes and nothing extra on the inside for optimal heat, there’s nothing I love more than snuggling under a big cozy blanket while camping.
Using two blankets can really help keep you warm on the colder nights.
We both have individual down blankets that we pull out when it gets really cold. These are also the blankets we use during the early mornings and late evenings before getting fully tucked into bed. In fact, we’re both currently using our down blankets with our computers sitting on top as I’m writing this.
Anyways, that’s besides the point.
Individual down blankets allow you to tuck into your own blankets without pulling the covers off whoever you’re sharing the bed with. They don’t have to be expensive down blankets either. I got mine for 20 USD at Costco a few years back.
The trick with these under blankets is to make sure they’re some sort of down and the size for just an individual, not overly huge. You want them individual size so that they don’t hang outside your top layer (a wool blanket) and collect the cold air!
Tuck individual down blankets under the covers to warm them up, and then layer on top of them a wool blanket that covers your entire bed. Our’s is actually a king wool blanket for the twin bed that the two of us share with our cat in the van.
And that leads to my final trick for staying warm…
Camp With A Loved One Or A Furry Friend
When people ask us if we have a heater in our van, we always respond by saying Georgie is our heater. And to some extent, it’s not a joke. The amount of warmth a furry friend, whether that’s a cat or a dog, produces is incredible.
Worried about camping with a cat? We were nervous at first too! If you’re worried, check out these top ten tips for making camping with a cat easier!
When Georgie sleeps on me at night, I will often times wake up because I’m too hot — even when the outdoor temps are near freezing — because she’s producing so much heat on my body.
When it gets really cold, she likes to get under the covers with us, providing even more heat in our little insulated bedding layer.
If you don’t have a furry friend, don’t worry, a partner or not-so-furry friend can also provide a lot of extra heat. The human body produces loads of heat, and when two or more people are producing heat in an enclosed space, that space heats up fast.
A Few Extra Tips On Staying Warm
Smaller Is Better
Remember that when trying to heat up an area, a smaller space will actually heat up better. You’ll have to use a lot less energy to heat up less cubic volume of space.
So when deciding what car or camper to bring.. keep in mind that smaller spaces will be warmer. If you have a big rig and no other option, consider hanging a blanket to create a barrier for air. This will obviously not seal out all the air, but it will help you keep the space you’re in warmer!
The same idea goes for tents as well. Yes, it’s super nice to have a lot of extra space, but what’s even nicer is being comfortable at night and not freezing your tooshie off!
Smaller tents = less volume inside to heat up! You’d be surprised how quickly a small tent can warm up just from people being inside it!
Less Is Best
It’s easy to think you should layer your clothes and got to bed with seventeen pairs of socks, four jackets, and all the pants in your bag. However, when doing this, you’ll end up getting too hot, and even start sweating.
When your sweat hits the cold air, it creates a much colder feel on your body, making you want to bundle up even more — which then will lead to more sweat and the cycle continues.
It’s best to stay simple, wear fewer clothes and layers, and prevent yourself from overheating and sweating!
Warm Yourself From The Inside Out
When it’s really cold, there’s nothing better than having a cozy soup for dinner or sipping in a cup of tea. Both of these things will warm your body up from the inside out, allowing you to get warmer even faster!
Don’t have a stove? Find the perfect stove for your set up here.
Just don’t drink too much tea before bed! There’s nothing worse than getting all cozy and warm and then having to get out of bed / the rig / your tent to use the bathroom — making you freezing cold again!
Using a small camp stove, like a JetBoil, is a great way to also warm up the inside of the tent or rig. These are small and okay to use indoors with proper space and ventilation — and it works again like a heater or the candle we mentioned above.
The Water Bottle Trick
I’ve heard people swear by the water bottle trick. Have you heard of it? It’s where you warm up a water bottle and put it inside your blankets to warm up your bed before going to sleep.
I’ve never liked this method because it always would make certain parts of my body too hot, and then I would sweat, and then I would be colder than I was to begin with. Or, I would be warm while the water was warm, but then the water would get cold — making me cold too after a while. I could never get it to work well for me.
However, that may be just a personal thing. You may want to try it and see if you like it yourself, because like I said, loads of people do.
Warm up water, put it in a BPA-free water bottle, and tuck it into your sleeping gear. When you get under covers or inside your sleeping bag, it’s meant to be warm. Try it and let me know if it works out for you!
Camping in the Colder Months Without A Heater — You Can Do It!!
We’ve had a lot of experience camping in both tents, in our car, and in multiple vans across many different countries. We’ve camped in extreme temps on both sides of the spectrum, and these are truly the best ways we’ve found to stay warm on the chilly nights without an actual heater!
Get outside and don’t be afraid of being too cold any more!
