AIBU to have put a tent up in the garden just because I WANT TO?

[WeBuiltCisCityOnSeeingSouls]

I am bored out of my fucking skull (on the shielding list plus nocturnal teenagers and cats who aren't about in daylight to provide company and entertainment for me, the selfish little fuckers )

It's warm and sunny here. AIBU to have erected a tent in my garden (not one of my big ones, just a little four person one, no separate bedroom pods). It has fairy lights, a big shaggy rug and beanbag chairs etc. I can drag an extension cord out too.

My reasoning is that my DCs who share a room and moan about it, can use it as an extra bedroom, or they can just chill out in it in the day. It can be a change of scenery for me. Plus I just fucking love tents

But this morning I saw my neighbour (big garden, so tent not blocking their light or anything) look at it and laugh while exchanging a comment with their DS.

That's OK. They don't feel the tent love, fair enough although wrong. I know MN loves a tent thread, AIBU to have my tent up?

(DH has "helpfully" suggested I live in it in my own for 12 weeks as an isolation pod . He also doesn't like tents but I love him so much I married him anyway )

Can we see a pic of your little haven?

For tentspiration?

We have had a tent up for 2 weeks and my boys 10 and 13 have slept in it for 4 or 5 nights already. I am waiting for them to tell me they are doing it tonight because it's Friday. Go for it

I put mine up last week. To hell with them you’ve got your tent and they’re just jealous!

We have a 2 person tent up in our garden. My son likes to go in it during the day for some chill time. He also loves to build dens all over the house.

Enjoy your tent

This is a fantastic idea op I am going to do this on Monday - I had not thought of running a power cable out there but it will be easy as I already have one I use for the guinea pigs heating in the winter - how exciting I am really looking forward to it! Thanks so much for sharing x

We are going to put all of our tents up in turn to check that they have all their poles/pegs and give them a coat of reproofer. Ds will probably choose to sleep in all of them

DH and DD put up 'ours' last weekend. I say 'ours' because I hate tents. DH married me anyway too. "I don't understand camping, we're voluntarily living like dogs"

We've had our small pre-kids tent up for the last 2 weeks. We haven't slept out in it as it's a bit small to fit us all in, but the DCs have been using it as a playroom every day. In a few weeks if it has warmed up a bit more we'll swap it for the bigger 'family' tent and have a night or two out there.

Yours sounds lovely OP. Your neighbour doesn't know what they're missing!

My husband and children have slept out in the teepee tent and it's wonderful fun in the garden! I am a key worker still going out to work and we are going to supermarkets and walks as allowed. I became concerned about the environment in the tent and air conditions/viral load should my husband fall ill the next day etc and the children had spent all night previously breathing his breath in a small tent which our teepee one is. We don't have room for the pod one in our garden. We have taken it down and I feel very sad about it! I am being extra cautious I guess as I am still going to work and could bring illness home.possibly without realising.
I was considering the trampoline tent idea though if it warms up a little though!

I'm so jealous. My garden isn't suitable for a tent (no grass) but if it was I'd have mine up! Nocturnal teens are ruining my sleep.

I put up my small tent yesterday.
It's 20 years old and in perfect nick. And took 5 minutes to put up, unlike the beast we normally have to take.

I lined it with a slanket, two self inflating ground mats, three sleeping bags and six pillows. It's lovely!

Me and the DC slept in it last night, it was very cosy and comfy. We all had woolly hats, torches and books. I told them a story, then pulled my hat over my eyes and went to sleep, letting them get on with it!

At 6am I got a cuppa, sat outside and read in the garden. Bliss.

DH, meanwhile, had the whole house to himself and no doubt enjoyed it!

I'm imagining all the MNer tents mushrooming and showing up on satellite photos like the Great Wall of China visible from space (I don't use Facebook so didn't know it already was a Thing )

No photos sorry as my garden looks horrific as it's a bit outing! We have fairy lights (wire twisty ones) wrapped around the guy lines (I take them off at night as I worry about inadvertently setting fire to said tent ) plus lights in jam jars inside too. Inside there is a camping lantern thing hanging from the ceiling which has dim/high settings (and a flash setting which is terrifying, and quite reminiscent of festival camping!) of course whenever I turn the light on the fucking flash mode starts straightaway and no one can see anything for about five minutes afterwards

(In case you're imagining us all sitting round singing Kumbaya and smiling in our gorgeous tent, one of the DC has just refused to go in the tent as "the WiFi is shit in there" and now I'm not speaking to them...)

We have ours up - it’s small but using it like another room

Might have to get the fairy lights out too - good idea!

It sounds amazing, @WeBuiltCisCityOnSeeingSouls! I’d love to do something like this - apart from the fact that there is no way I’d get out of a beanbag chair, once in it - so I’d be stuck there until the end of lockdown.

@GetOffTheTableMabel
I would probably laugh if my neighbours did this but it wouldn’t be in a negative, judgemental way. It would be in a “Ha, ha next-door have got the right idea” kind of way.

Me too

Yanbu! Enjoy it, it sounds cosy. Ignore your neighbours!

We used to put the beach tent thing up in our garden for a few weeks in the summer until it tore. My dc (who are much younger than yours I think) loved it. No-one ever commented even when we had it in the front garden!

We've gone all posh now and bought a glorified shed summerhouse for the garden. In it we've got a comfy settee, a coffee table, some soft flooring, cushions and a large quilted blanket. We've decorated it with pictures and fairy lights. The dc want to spend the night in there but I'm not sure if we should let them.

We had our holiday cancelled over Easter so put the tent up in garden for a week. Kids loved it and we slept out a few nights. The rest of time they played ‘holiday’.

That sounds lovely. I've got a tiny little courtyard garden with no room for a tent. I'm jealous!

I put our tent up in the garden last week decorated it in bunting and put comfy cushions and blankets inside just so we can use it as a place to relax and be alone (me and 2 teens in the house).

I wish we had a tent to put up in the garden. Would love to camp out with DS.

We were meant to go glamping last August bank holiday for the first time but the site cancelled on us at the last minute and we couldn’t get anywhere else. We were due to borrow one later this year to try camping but now that’s looking very unlikely.

I don’t think we’re destined to camp.

Sounds like a great idea too me!

Thinking of spending the next sunny weekend in our caravan parked next to the house....stock the fridge with loads of tonic and sip G&T on the lawn...

It's a great idea! My ds has erected our 3 man tent and fitted it with cushions, snacks and books/drawing stuff, Minecraft figures and his tablet.

I absolutely needed this bit of peace today. Even the cat has gone in it and left me blissfully alone for an hour now.

I don’t do camping. But I think it’s a great idea. Was trying to persuade dh to do it with dd. Answer - no... Would have to buy a tent first!

We've already had ours up and kids have slept out there. If the sun comes back we'll do it again!