This post is sponsored as part of a series in partnership with Kimberly-Clark and the #CelebrateFamilyValues campaign.
Something you very likely don’t know about me is that my husband and I build forts all the time. Not for the kid. For ourselves. We have been doing this since we were dating and even used to designate every Friday night for blanket fort building. We don’t have “Fort Friday” every week anymore but it’s still really fun when we do and we have really figured out some tricks to building a fort that is both fun and functional!
I’m not here to tell you exactly how to build a fort. We all have different things in our houses that can be used to build a sweet one, I’m just sharing some tidbits I’ve learned to make an average fort AWESOME.
1. Be creative with your materials. Use what you’ve got around the house. Bring out the coat rack, use clamps and duct tape, etc.
2. Use lightweight sheets for the top. The reasons for this are two-fold. The heavier the blankets, the hotter the fort will get, AND the heavier the blankets, the more likely they are to weigh everything down. You do NOT want your awesome fort to cave in. It should be able to last at least through the weekend, right?!
3. Make it comfy. I like to use aforementioned heavy blankets on the floor of the fort. The more you use, the more like a mattress your floor becomes. I like to use two or three heavy quilts on the bottom and then create a sort of nest with lots of pillows.
4. Face the TV and grab a movie. This is just personal preference, but it’s really fun to have a movie night inside your fort. You can either build your fort right up and around the TV or just create an opening in the general direction of it.]
5. Equip yourself with snacks! Is it just me or do snacks make everything more fun? I like to use Viva Vantage paper towels as a little placemat for everyone to keep their popcorn or cookies or whatever on. It keeps the crumbs at bay and keeps your blankets from getting messy! [You can find coupons for Viva Vantage here!]
I do think that this would be really fun to do with kids, ours just isn’t old enough yet. Actually on that note, I have one more tip. If you have a baby that’s crawling and pulling herself up on everything don’t build a blanket fort. It’s just dangerous and you will regret it! Haha… but in any other age or circumstance I think it’s a great family activity!
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