Keep Your Tent Safe While Camping With This Easy Pool Noodle Hack
We're a fan of hacks. Small hacks, big hacks, and weird hacks, but the absolute glory of this simple hack can't be minimized, as it blends safety, practicality, and simplicity. Music festival camping and other group camping adventures can be awesome experiences. Camping with a bunch of other campers is just fun. However, there's one thing about group camping that presents an unclear and ever-present danger — everyone's tent lines. This is especially true in the cramped confines of music festival campgrounds.
No matter where you turn, "Hey neighbor," tent line. "Well, gonna use the bathroom." Tent line. "Dang, we're missing Stephen Marley." Tent line. In the midst of camping and festival fun, boom ... tent line. It's not only annoying; it can be pretty dangerous. This is especially true if you're camping with little ones, as tent strings turn into clotheslines.
To protect our shins and composure, as well as keep younger campers happy (and safe), one TikTok user introduced an incredibly helpful hack: Wrapping pool noodles around tent strings. While there are plenty of inventive hacks out there, this hack hits the trifecta of being helpful, easy, and cheap.
Use your pool noodle appropriately with tent lines
Shared via TikTok, the hack is incredibly easy. Again, it's simply wrapping pool noodles around your tent strings. When you pitch a tent, you pull your string away from your tent and stake them to stretch out your rain flap, directing moisture away from your tent's vents. When you're camping around others, shin-shaming cobwebs start to form as these strings intermix from tent to tent.
It's hard enough to hopscotch over everyone's tent strings during the day, but it's nearly impossible at night, especially at music festivals. So, whatever your personal color may be, we'd vote for anything fluorescent for added visibility. You could wrap an entire noodle on the tent line or simply place a half-foot of noodle around the stakes. Either way, it's a big 'ole sign saying, "Strings, watch it." Again, beautiful.
If you're camping with small children on a family vacation, then maybe consider adding enough pool-noodle length for the camper scamp to bounce off with no hard feelings. Again, depending on the size of your tent, these tent lines are like clotheslines for small children. If they're playing around camp, running into a tent line chest, neck, or face first wouldn't be fun. Pool noodles. Tent strings. Best hack of 2023.