Luxury Camping Saves The Day!
A significant milestone creates some great memories as glamping experts, Pitch Luxury Camping swing into action as perfect party partners. Words by John Caruso.
The month of May is a super crazy month for the Carusos. Four family birthdays, Mother’s Day and Noosa Food & Wine Festival crammed into 31 days when the turning of the seasons is really felt. We say goodbye to long hot summer days and occasional late afternoon thunderstorms, and we start to welcome shorter days with longer shadows over our backyard. The floorboards are colder, the trackpants smell of mothballs and the location of the Ugg boots you wore last winter is a mystery.
For us as a family, it means careful consideration as to what we’re going to gift each other, and when you’re turning double-digits for the first time, the celebration must be memorable! Adding to the levity of the situation was the fact that Max’s birthday was the same night we were hosting a Noosa Food & Wine event. So my wife Deb went into ‘guilty mum’ overdrive to compensate for her double booking dilemma.
Dinnertime, like most households I’m sure, is when the family ‘board meeting’ is conducted. A debrief of the day’s events, work in progress and future plans, and I’m sure it was during one of these high-level exchanges that the seed was planted for Max’s tenth birthday celebrations.
“A sleepover. A fire! Marshmallows! Storytelling. Swim in the pool. Games in the yard,” Max suggested excitedly.
“A working bee. Gardening, weeding and leaves removed from the gutters,” I chimed enthusiastically.
My proposal was met with silence.
Like a defeated political party following an election, I ‘canned’ what I thought was excellent policy and ran with the groundswell of feel-good propositions being bandied across the dinner table.
We’d used Pitch Luxury Camping a couple of times in the past for magazine photo shoots and a hen’s night, and we knew that the finished product, aesthetically, always looked stunning.
Tim and his team never disappoint and if, like me, the thought of setting your own tent up sends you into a downward spiral filled with traumatic memories of past family get-togethers, frayed tempers, missing equipment and wet bedding, then having someone like Pitch Luxury Camping doing all of the leg work, will literally save your marriage and your marbles.
A decision was made. Maxie’s tenth birthday celebrations would be an outdoor affair with seven of his best mates from school, hot dogs, party pies, a never-ending supply of lemon cordial and marshmallows to toast on an open fire.
While Deb strung party lights over our backyard, Tim and his crew from Pitch Luxury Camping expertly went about setting up the magnificent looking tipi tent in our yard complete with bedding, towels, camp lighting, cushions, mats and wooden stools. The only thing left for me to do was collect some kindling and strike a match – and a pose – as photographer Dave Gleeson tried to instruct amped-up boys to cooperate.
“This is the best party ever,” echoed a couple of kids while toasting marshmallows and chugging cordial in between swimming and warming up by the fire.
Night fell and two semi-exhausted parents patiently waited for the cackle to get tired. And we waited. And waited.
It was almost midnight by the time we had ‘em snuggly tucked into their camp beds, gentle rain produced a soothing rhythm above their heads, and I’d love to tell you that it was lights out and a peaceful night until sunrise.
It wasn’t. Excited kids in super cool surrounds and fuelled by sugar meant that tongues wagged for most of the night all within earshot of our bedroom. And that was fine with us. After all, it’s not every day you celebrate turning double-digits and it’s not often you get to share the experience with your best mates in a luxury tent under the stars.
The next day, Tim and his crew from Pitch Luxury Camping arrived to pack up. In and out in about 30 minutes. On reflection, it was one of the easiest, stress-free set-ups and pack-ups we’ve ever experienced and certainly an approach we’d take again in the future. The only exception? A little less lemon cordial and marshmallows next time. And Deb reckons the kids should sleep in the house and we sleep in the luxury of the tent! I second that.
Pitch Luxury Camping
Specialising in weddings, corporate events, hen’s nights, kids’ parties, family groups, romantic getaways
& weekend escapes.
Ph 0468 737 370
www.pitchluxurycamping.com.au
