Lighting
Lighting is an easy thing to skip over when planning your camping trip. For the beginner camper this may not be something that springs to mind unless you spend a lot of time in nature in the evening. But, without it nights either become very long or very difficult.
If you are glamping in an RV it is common to get some stringed lights outside the RV. It kind of pulls in the whole porch with a set of dim lights similar to Christmas lights. You can get these in all kinds of varieties. I’ve seen patriotic lights, paw print lights, flamingo lights, to little retro travel trailers. These are almost a necessity to show your personality each evening while glamping.
For basic tent camping there are a couple of types of lights you will want. A free standing light source like a lantern and portable light sources like flashlights or headlamps. Lanterns have evolved over the years where getting a kerosene lantern is pretty much a thing of the past. Instead lanterns are essentially big flashlights that run off of batteries. Of course you want to consider the brightness, the weight, the length of the battery when choosing a lantern. There isn’t a ton of difference between the options, some are brighter than others, but generally unless you want to drop a lot of money on a name brand most lanterns will do nowadays. Click the link above for the Vont lantern from Amazon.
The most important light source is the portable one. The one that will help you get to the restroom at night or find your way back from the trail you accidently stayed on past dark. The portable lights is what keeps a camping trip from turning into a nightmare.
As a child we used to always use flashlights which work fine, but eat up batteries and weigh quite a bit. I understand the weight isn’t an issue while car camping or glamping, but if you catch the hiking bug and decide to try backpacking then the weight of your flashlight will be killer. I would suggest getting used to the headlamp to begin with. It not only weighs less, but also gives you light right where you need it without taking up the use of your hands.
They range about $7 to $35 depending on how durable and how bright you need them. For camping, hiking, and general outdoorsiness, you will stick with the lightweight ones like Energizer or Gearlight. The more expensive ones are more for nighttime construction.