Staycation In Style

While 2020 is the Summer many of us had planned for, the weather has been suprisingly cooperative here in Calgary…I say this as it’s raining after a week of extreme heat but aside from that it’s been oddly consistent.

As I was planning my local summer bucket list and exploring alternatives to travel I came across Lavish Canvas. I am not one for camping…sure I can’t be bribed into anything that includes marshmallows but if it was up to me camping would include a matress and wifi. Bibidi Bobidi Boo! My prayers have been answered. Meet Annabelle a 13ft. weatherproof Canvas Tent. I came across this beautiful tent during my daily scrolls on Instagram. Me being the nosey person I am I wanted to know more, so I had the pleasure of speaking with Natalie, the owner of Lavish Canvas.

Fellow British expat, Natalie was inspired to create Lavish Canvas based on her own experience spending summers growing up camping in caravans across europe and spending time in festival tents. With being unable to host guests and have people book out the tents for festivals for this season Natalie decided to pivot her business to families and those (like me) who wanted to find a way to make staying home special.

Just this past weekend I spent a night is this gorgeous tent, now there was only two of us so we decided to go with the smaller option however they do have larger tents for larger parties along with tents with stargazer rooves, for those with explorer hearts.

Then there’s Boho - To - Go, this option is for those who want to keep the budget that much smaller and have a built in DIY spirit and something I lack…patience. If you’re like me when you hear camping you’re eyes roll to the back of your head not because you don’t like being outdoors (just ask my sunburn) but because of the effort it takes to set things up only to tear it down a day or two later. Well Lavish Canvas comes and takes care of all that work for you. They even included little goodies! All you need to do is provide the linens and any food you plan on eating during the course of your stay, and as it’s only in my backyard this year food resources are pretty easy to come by.

All the cute stuff you see in the pictures - they bring it and set it up for you, talk about Pinterest Ready! If you couldn't tell by the Glamping…I like to be a little extra, so of course I made a charcuterie board, had cocktails and of course s’mores. Not any kind of s’mores waffle ones with marshmallow whipped cream and chocolate peanut butter. Talk about Lux!

I have shared before that I work hard to share from personal experiences and a spend my time scrolling and researching business I believe would fit into your lifestyle. It gets me that much more excited to build relationships with businesses that have big hearts!

Natalie’s wish for this summer season was to be able to pitch a tent just outside city limits for parents and families who have children in the Alberta Children’s Hospital, to have a worry-free getaway, without being too far from home. With COVID precautions in place this was unable to happen so instead each booking for the rest of the summer Lavish Canvas will be donating $10 to the Ronald McDonald House.

Another way to level up your camping experience is to make s’mores with the heart shaped cookies from McDonalds not only is a chocolate chip cookie an amazing way to sandwich a squishy marshmallow, a portion of funds from those cookies go towards the Ronald McDonald House too!

Even though we were only a 10 step walk to my back door, it felt like an escape and a lovely one at that!