10 Best Family Tents 2024 in the United States

When school is finally out at the end of June, you finally have an opportunity for a vacation idea that involves the entire family. If you want to try going camping, you’ll need a family tent that’s large enough to accommodate everyone. We don’t just mean that the tent has to be big enough for your whole family. Other factors include whether the tent can handle radical changes in the weather. You want a tent that will hold up to the wind and rain. Also, on hot days, you’d like the tent to have some cross-ventilation. And there are other small features and “creature comforts” worth examining.

We’ll examine some of the offerings in the MSN list of the best family tents. We’ll look at some tips in deciding the size of tent that’ll fit your family, as well as what to look for in terms of tent materials. You’ll see how to balance the factors of tents that are affordable and easy to set up, and those that are sturdy that can survive even under rugged conditions. Hopefully, with these pointers, you’ll be able to get exactly what you need to ensure a great camping experience for everyone!

(You can also check out other camping and backpacking products among the MSN buying guides.)

A family tent is designed to hold 4 people or more. But they can vary greatly in terms of their weight and size. We can distinguish between tents that you’ll preferably transport by car, and those light enough that you can stuff them in your backpack:

• Car camping tents: These will be larger tents that can only be transported in the trunk of your car, or tied down to the roof of your car. An example is the Ozark Trail 16-Person 3-Room Family Cabin Tent. When fully constructed, it occupies an area of 230 square feet. It’s a bit heavy to carry in a backpack, weighing 43.7 pounds. But you can provide you with shelter for spring, summer, and fall use.

Ozark Trail 16-Person 3-Room Family Cabin Tent

• Backpacking tents: These are smaller tents, made from more lightweight materials. They’ll typically be half the weight of a car-camping tent. Instead of transporting them by car, you can park your car and walk to your campsite with the tent in your backpack. An example is the Moon Lence 8-Person Family Camping Tent.

Moon Lence 8-Person Family Camping Tent

• Crossover tents: A crossover tent allows for both car camping and backpacking. It will be less spacious than a tent that is solely for car camping. An example is the Marmot Tungsten 4-Person Tent. It weighs around 9.25 pounds and takes up an area of 52.7 square feet.

Marmot Tungsten 4-Person Tent

What Are Some Features of the Best Family Tent?

• Easy to construct: There are pop-up tents that are about as difficult to set up as opening an umbrella! But, if you choose to construct a tent, there are models that use color-coding to simplify constructing the tent’s frame. Experts recommend constructing the tent in your yard first, to make sure you have mastered planting stakes, setting up poles, tying guy lines, and creating a working family tent.

• Height of the tent: Manufacturers will give a number for the maximum height of the tent. You probably want that to be around 72” or more, so that an adult male can stand in the tent without crouching down. (The Ozark Trail 14-person tent has a whopping height of 93 inches--tall enough for Shaquille O’Neal!) But, that number may be misleading if the tent’s roof slopes to the sides, or if the sides themselves are not perpendicular to the ground. Thus, the Ozark Trail Cabin Tent is a big favorite in this regard, since it maintains an adequate height throughout the tent.

• Pole material: You’ll find that tent poles can be fashioned from fiberglass, aluminum, or stainless steel. Experts recommend aluminum poles since it is a lighter material and tends to fit together easily. Steel and fiberglass can be stronger, but the parts may not mate exactly. Fiberglass can also tend to fray with time.

What are Some Tips for Selecting a Family Tent?

There are some tips and features that are worth investing in when buying a family tent:

• Size: Experts say that manufacturers advertise the size of their tent with the intention that it’s the maximum number of people that the tent will allow. It’s wise to buy a tent that is larger than the number of people you’ll put inside. Therefore, if you have a family of four, a 6-person tent should be a prudent choice. It will allow you some extra room for moving around when some family members are sleeping.

• Waterproofing: Depending on where and when you pitch your tent, you may have to contend with rainy weather as well. The hydrostatic head rating of a tent tells you how much water the fabric can hold before it starts to leak due to saturation. For example, a fabric with a waterproof rating of 1000 means that it can hold up to the pressure of 1000 mm of water without leaking. The Moon Lence 8-Person Tent has a tent fabric that is 150 deniers thick and has a waterproof rating of 2000. Also, in addition to a good hydrostatic head rating, you want to get a seam-sealed tent, so that rain will not penetrate through the seams in the tent. There is also a sealant that you can apply yourself to your tent along its seams. It can take as little as 20 minutes to seal up your tent. It may require repeating the process every two years or so.

• Rainfly and floor: It is recommended to purchase a tent with a complete rainfly, an extra piece of fabric that you suspend over your tent, to deflect rain away from your tent. Also, it’s best to use a tarp or some sort of ground cloth to serve as flooring for your tent.

• Bedding: As for setting up the beds in your tent, it’s recommended to use sleeping pads that cover the entire floor of the tent. This way, the beds will not move around when people toss and turn in their sleep. Another option is to use sleeping bags. A queen-size air mattress will be the equivalent of 4 sleeping bags.

• Screens: Make sure that your tent has screens in the windows. This is very important if you don’t want to be feasted on by mosquitoes and other biting insects! There are also “no-see-ums”, who are as small as 0.7 mm! Check that the mesh on your tent windows will block these pests as well.

• Cross ventilation: When it gets hot, you’ll be desperate for air circulation. It’s best to get a tent with 2 doors, since this allows for airflow, besides another option of getting in and out of the tent. The Ozark Trail 14-Person Family Tent has 3 external doors and 2 internal doors. It can be arranged to have either 2 or 3 rooms.

Ozark Trail 14-Person Family Tent

On the other hand, a tent with only one door can make up for it by having windows. The Ozark Trail 14-person Two-Room Tent has only a single large door. But it allows for lots of ventilation with 4 windows and two ceiling vents.

Ozark Trail 14-person Two-Room Tent

• Additional features: There are a number of tents available nowadays that provide additional features if you prefer the comforts of civilization over “roughing it” in the wild. There are tents, like the Ozark Trail 16-Person Cabin Tent, that include a screen to watch movies, as well as storage space for your phone, keys, and other valuables. You can play content from your phone or tablet onto the screen! These tents also provide electrical cord access near the entrance of the tent.

Wrap Up

We went through some of the selections in the MSN list of the top 10 family tents. There are spacious tents that can fit as many as 16 people (although it’s understood that children take up less space than adults), and smaller tents that fit only 4-6 people. With the pointers in this guide, you should be able to select a family tent that will allow you and your loved ones to enjoy the great outdoors!