The Ground Is Your Biggest Enemy

Before you even think about sleeping bags and beanies, sort the floor situation. Cold air rises from the ground faster than it comes through the walls of a tent or canvas cabin, and kids feel it first because they move around so much during the night.

A decent sleeping pad under each sleeping bag is non-negotiable. Foam mats from Bunnings work in a pinch, but if you want something the kids will actually stay on all night, a self-inflating sleeping pad is worth having. We use ours on every trip from May through to August. It’s one of those things that looks unnecessary until you’ve woken up at 2am to find your six-year-old has rolled off his mat and is lying directly on canvas wondering why he’s cold.

For glamping setups with a proper stretcher or camp bed, throw a folded blanket or yoga mat underneath the sleeping bag as well — stretcher frames can get chilly too.

Get the Sleeping Bag Right Before Anything Else

This is the one place I’d always say: spend the money. A good kids’ sleeping bag rated to at least 0°C will do more for your night’s sleep than any other single purchase. I’ve written a full post on our top picks —

Best Sleeping Bags for Kids for Family Camping — but the short version is: mummy-style bags (the ones that zip all the way around the head) keep little ones warmest because they can’t kick them off.

If you already have sleeping bags that aren’t quite warm enough, a fleece sleeping bag liner is a brilliant budget fix. It adds a couple of degrees of warmth without buying a whole new bag, and they pack down tiny. That’s a budget win worth grabbing before your next trip.

Layer the Kids Like a Little Lasagne

The goal at bedtime isn’t to dress them so warmly that they overheat — it’s to give their body enough insulation to hold its own temperature through the night.

A clean, dry thermal base layer (top and pants) is the foundation. I say clean and dry because sweaty clothes from a big day outside will actually make them colder. Get them changed before dinner, not right before bed — it gives the layers time to warm up to body temperature.

Over the thermals, fleece pyjamas if it’s genuinely cold. Wool or merino socks rather than cotton (cotton holds moisture, merino doesn’t). A beanie if they’ll keep it on, though my two will always have it off within ten minutes. Thermal tights for girls are also brilliant layered under pyjama pants.

The key is that everything needs to be dry. Damp fabric is the enemy.

The Hot Water Bottle Trick (Yes, It Really Works)

Fill a hot water bottle — the good sturdy rubber kind, not a flimsy one — with hot water from your camp kettle and tuck it into the foot of each sleeping bag about ten minutes before the kids get in.

By the time they climb in, it’s warm and cosy down there. That warmth radiates up through the bag for hours, and because kids especially lose heat through their feet, it makes a huge difference to how quickly they settle and how comfortably they sleep.

Just make sure the lid is properly on. A leaking hot water bottle at midnight in a glamping tent is not the adventure anyone wanted.

A Warm Dinner Does More Than You Think

Your body generates its own heat by burning calories, and kids’ metabolisms work overtime when they’ve had a big active day. A warm, filling dinner before bed — something with carbs, something hot — gives their bodies fuel to produce heat overnight.

At camp, this looks like a bowl of pasta, baked beans on toast, or a proper cup of soup if it’s a cold one. Nothing fancy. Just something hot that fills them up.

We avoid giving them a big sugary dessert late at night on cold trips. The energy spike doesn’t last and they tend to wake up more.

What About the Tent Itself?

If you’re in a glamping bell tent or a canvas tent, the structure itself holds warmth surprisingly well — much better than a thin nylon hiking tent. But there are a few easy things that help even more.

Shut your vents down for the night once everyone’s inside. Canvas tents usually have adjustable vents at the top — leave them just slightly open for airflow (you don’t want condensation dripping on your kids at 4am) but not wide open to let cold air pour in.

If your glamping setup has a rug or mat on the floor, brilliant. If not, pack a small picnic blanket to lay out around the sleeping area — it just takes some of the cold edge off the floor space.

And keep your gear bags near the walls, not around the beds. Bags act as a bit of extra insulation along the tent edges, which sounds small but helps.

One Last Trick Before Lights Out

Get the kids to do a couple of minutes of movement before they get into their sleeping bags. Jumping jacks, running on the spot, a quick game of charades — anything that gets the blood moving. It sounds a bit mad, but it genuinely raises their core temperature so they start warm rather than trying to warm up from cold.

Then straight into the bag, hot water bottle at the feet, beanie on. They’ll be out within ten minutes.

It’s Really Not That Hard

I’ll be honest — the first time I took my boys on a winter glamping trip to the Scenic Rim, I was more stressed about the cold nights than anything else. I over-packed blankets, I under-packed the right things, and I didn’t sleep great because I kept checking on them.

Now I know what to bring and how to set it up, and those winter trips are genuinely my favourites. The campfire smell, the crisp morning air, the kids absolutely feral with energy before 7am — it’s good chaos. The best kind.

If you’re planning your first QLD winter glamping trip and want to know what else to pack, the DIY Glamping Gear section of this blog is a good place to start. And if you’re taking a really little one, I’ve also written about camping with a baby which has some overlap on the warmth-at-night front.

The hinterland in winter is worth every bit of planning. Don’t let cold nights be the reason you don’t go.