10 Essential Questions To Ask Before Buying Outdoor Party Tents

Planning a backyard barbecue, graduation party, or outdoor wedding? An outdoor party tent can elevate your event and provide much-needed shade or shelter from the elements.

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You can step up from the traditional garden get-togethers and put up a better show with an outdoor party tent. Enjoy the big outdoors with your family and friends without worrying about the weather and the safety of your event.

In this article, we will help you make an informed decision before choosing a party tent. We’ll answer some crucial questions you have before getting your party tent.

You should know by now the type of tent party you’re having. Additional questions you may ask here are:

• What is the occasion?
• How many guests do you expect?
• Would they be sitting or standing?
• What type of program will you be having?

Your tent size and features will depend on your event type and the expected number of guests. Here’s our party tent size guide:

A party tent can protect you from sun, rain, and wind. Party tents provide temporary shelter to keep the party going regardless of the weather.

Still, if you want to prepare for all the unexpected turbulence the weather might give, getting a party tent is the best option to keep your party vibing.

SHELTER offers different types of party tents with various degrees of protection, perfect for all your party needs. Check them out and choose the right one for your event!

Always factor in space for your guests, furniture, and space for comfortable movement. Depending on the type of event you’re having, your party tent size would vary. Is it a cocktail party with standing guests? Or a more formal event with a sit-down setup?

Think about the number of guests and the kind of furniture you need to assemble. Will there be a catering table? Perhaps a DJ? Will you serve cocktails on the side?

Always be flexible. That way, you can troubleshoot when you need to move around seats or dance floors before the party.

Creating and sticking to the budget might be one of the hardest things to secure in holding a party. That’s why you need to pick the right tent for a party.

Small tents are more budget-friendly and have limited types of parties they can cater to. Large tents cost more but can give you the versatility and space that every party needs.

Set a realistic budget and explore various party tent options that fit your needs and financial limitations. Shelter Structures offers competitive pricing for their party tents.

When choosing the right tent for your party, you should also factor in the necessary materials in your investment. Consider durability, weather resistance, and fire safety when choosing the tent material.

Aluminum and steel are the usual materials used as supporting frames for an outdoor tent for your party. The first one is lighter, easier to transport, and prevents further corrosion, while the latter is heavier but more durable.

SHELTER uses a galvanized aluminum alloy to increase its corrosion resistance and durability for outdoor use. Having a long-lasting material saves costs, especially when you plan to use the tent for your future parties.

A secure anchor is the foundation of a secure tent. You should always ensure your tent is securely anchored to the ground to keep your guests safe. Consider your event venue, terrain, and weather conditions. Will you need anchoring or weighting options for your party tent?

In case you do, getting an additional ballast is good for withstanding strong winds during your event. Ballasts might be sandbags, boulders, or specifically engineered weights put strategically around the tent to guarantee its security and stability.

Meanwhile, you can also use the stake and ratchet method to secure your tent. They can prevent your tent from lifting and pulling the stakes from the ground.

Sidewalls can give you protection, privacy, and luxury in your event space. Depending on the type of party you’re having, different types of sidewalls are available for you.

They are optional but you can choose from opaque, clear, mesh, and faux windows. The most popular sidewall options are opaque and windowed styles.

If you want your party to be more formal or intimate, you should get a party tent with sidewalls. Sidewalls not only keep the party private, but they also protect electrical fixtures, lights, sound equipment, and other electronics from the elements. They are useful for outdoor events where unexpected weather conditions can arise.

Consider if you need sidewalls for additional weather protection or privacy. Optional as they can be, it sure is a great addition to your outdoor party tent.

If your event extends into nighttime, you might need to consider your lighting option. Ask your provider if they can help you with the electrical setup for your event. Know where the energy source is so you can set up lighting accordingly.

Consider which time of day your outdoor party is happening. A daytime party extending into nighttime might have different lighting needs than an evening event. Typically, night parties require more light fixtures to illuminate the tent.

You should equip your party tent with the appropriate lighting, set the right brightness, and create a great ambiance through different types of lighting–LED lamp string, ground lights, and more.

Part of the job is to clean up afterward. Choosing a tent made from easy-to-clean materials will save you a lot of trouble after the event.

Canopy materials like vinyl and polyester are easy to wipe down and repel dirt. Polyester, the most commonly used one, is durable and water-resistant. Meanwhile, vinyl is waterproof and blocks fires. Invest in low-maintenance outdoor party tents for a stress-free experience—from setup to cleanup.

Aside from choosing the size of your outdoor party tent, deciding whether to rent or buy is another dilemma. Consider your budget and frequency of use. Will you use it for more parties moving forward, or is it an occasional thing?

If you need shelter for more outdoor parties, it would save you money if you buy a party tent. Plus, you can add branding elements and choose your color when you own it.

Remember, the price varies depending on size, type, and location. Ensure your plans before you lock in to renting or buying your next outdoor party tent.

When I first started camping in my teens, I was using no-brand camping gear.

As I got older, I decided to buy my first few ‘branded’ camping tents from Coleman and Decathlon.

After that, I upgraded to REI and The North Face for my camping trips.

And with all those years of experience, here are my thoughts on why tents are so expensive, and whether they’re worth it.

Key Takeaways

Here’s everything that an expensive tent has, that a cheaper tent doesn’t:

• Thicker fabric with higher denier ratings

• Lifetime warranties

• Higher quality tent poles (not fiberglass)

• More guylines

• Thorough seam taping

• Higher waterproof HH ratings

• Branded zippers

• Way more storage options

• More user-friendly doors

• At least 2 doors

• Large vestibules

• Better room dividers

• Lightweight materials for backpacking

• Resale value

• Much longer shelf life

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RELATED: Best Tents Under $100

Why Are Tents so Expensive? – Contributing Factors

What makes a tent so expensive? Well, there are a few factors, and I’ll go through the 5 most important ones with you:

1. More durable tent fabric;

2. Higher quality tent poles;

3. Better waterproofing;

4. Feature-richness; and

5. Lightweighted-ness and portability

Let’s go through each one in depth now.

1. Are Expensive Tents More Durable?

First up, more expensive tents always have much thicker and more durable materials and tent fabrics than cheaper tents.

Tent Fabric Denier Rating

A simple way of checking how thick a fabric is to look at the denier-rating of the fabric. Tent manufacturers will often give you this information. The higher the denier-rating, the thicker the tent fabric, and the more durable it will be.

Now, take a look at how a cheap $100 Coleman Sundome 6 compares to a much more expensive The North Face Wawona 6, with a $500 hefty price tag. Both are 6-person car camping tents, but with very different tent prices.

Notice how the Wawona has flooring made of thick polyester, while the Sundome’s is just polyethylene (this is a cheap tarp material)?

And also, the tent body of the Wawona is also a little thicker than the Sundome.

Warranty Length

The durability of each of these car camping tents is also reflected in the warranties provided by the brand:

• Coleman Sundome: 1 year warranty

• The North Face Wawona: Lifetime warranty

This shows how much each brand is willing to stand behind their product, which speaks volumes about how durable each one is.

2. Are Expensive Tents More Windproof?

I’ve also noticed that more expensive tents tend to have more guylines and higher quality tent poles, which leads to expensive tents being able to take strong winds better.

Again, here’s a table summarizing some features of a $100 Coleman Sundome 6 and a $100 The North Face Wawona 6:

Pole Materials

The Sundome has only thinner fiberglass poles, which are usually not able to withstand more than 20 to 30 mile-per-hour winds.

Fiberglass poles are also the weakest when compared to steel and aluminum, and fracture the most easily.

On the other hand, my Wawona has beefier DAC MX aluminum poles. These DAC tent poles are some of the highest quality poles in the world.

Number of Guylines

On top of that, it also has a whopping 11 guylines around the entire tent. Because of this, I was able to use my Wawona in 50 mile-per-hour winds without a single hitch.

In contrast, the Sundome has only 6 guylines around the entire tent.

3. Are Expensive Tents More Waterproof?

In my past 4 years of testing camping gear, I’ve also noticed that expensive tents tend to be a lot more waterproof than cheaper tents. This is because they tend to be better seam taped, and have higher hydrostatic head ratings.

Here’s another quick table summarizing some key points of my tents’ water resistance:

Seam Taping

I’ve found that cheaper tents like Coleman and Ozark Trail tend to use inverted seams, instead of taped seams, because they’re cheaper to manufacture. The holes of the stitching are not sealed, and water can still seep in.

Here’s what one of them (leaking in the rain) looks like:

On the other hand, my more expensive tents tend to have thorough seam taping on every single seam.

You will get efficient and thoughtful service from Spark Glamping.

There’s a plastic layer of tape on every single seam in the tent, and this prevents water from leaking in through the holes of the stitching.

I was able to take my Wawona through 3 days of heavy pouring rain, and none of my seams leaked.

Waterproof Ratings

On top of that, my Wawona has a very respectable hydrostatic head rating of 1,500mm, well my Coleman Sundome had none. A higher hydrostatic head rating means a thicker waterproof coating, and therefore better waterproofed-ness.

Here’s how long each tent survived in heavy rain:

• Coleman Sundome 6: 30 minutes of heavy rain

• The North Face Wawona 6: 3 days of heavy rain

4. Do Expensive Tents Have Extra Features?

Now, how do the features of a cheap tent compare to that of an expensive tent? Here are a few differentiating factors that come to mind:

• Zipper branding

• More storage options

• Better doors

• Vestibules

• Better room dividers

Again, here’s a table of info comparing the Sundome against the Wawona:

Zipper Branding

The zippers of the Wawona are branded SBS (one grade lower than YKK), while the Sundome has no zipper branding at all.

Storage Options

The Wawona also has a whopping 9 pockets and 8 loops around the tent.

And what does the Coleman have? 2 pockets and 1 loop. That’s a huge difference.

Door Quality

The Wawona also has 2 doors (1 big one at the front, and a small one at the back).

The door at the front is amazing, because:

• It’s huge (measuring 60 by 58 inches).

• I didn’t have to duck when getting in and out of the tent, because it’s super tall (70 inches).

• I could use only one hand to unzip and zip it up.

On the other hand, the Sundome has only 1 door. It’s a lot smaller, I had to duck when going through the door, and the storm flap on the outside would sometimes get caught in the zipper track.

Vestibules

The Wawona also has a super huge vestibule at the front of the tent, which measured 51.0 square feet. It had enough space to fit 2 large camping chairs, with enough leftover floor space for even a super large camping table.

On the other hand, the Sundome has no vestibule at all, so there’s no space to fit any wet gear in rainy weather.

Room Dividers

Both my Wawona and Sundome didn’t come with room dividers (6-person tents usually don’t have dividers), so I’ll have to use a different example here.

Here’s what a high quality room divider from REI Co-Op (my Wonderland tent) looks like:

It’s not transparent or translucent at all, and nicely separates the tent into two separate rooms.

On the other hand, here’s what a room divider from Coleman looks like:

Notice that it’s semi-transparent, and you can see through to the other room? That’s the difference between a room divider from a cheap vs expensive tent.

5. Why are Backpacking Tents so Expensive?

Car camping tents aside, backpacking tents are another category of tents that can burn a hole in your pocket.

And while I’m no expert in backpacking (I go car camping way more often than backpacking), I know that it’s because backpacking tent fabrics need to be made extremely lightweight, yet extremely strong at the same time.

On top of that, the poles need to be made from lighter weight, high quality aluminum too (think DAC MX aluminum poles), which will also drive up the price of a tent.

The Benefits of Buying Expensive Tents

In my personal opinion, I do believe that expensive tents are worth it, as there are many benefits to doing so. These include:

• Having a resale value;

• Being longer lasting;

• Reducing waste;

• Lifetime warranties; and

• Peace of mind.

Resale Value

An expensive tent will have a much higher resale value than a cheaper tent. For example, you will be able to trade in or sell back some of your used gear with REI, and they usually accept only the more expensive tents from brands like:

• REI Co-Op

• Big Agnes

• MSR

• The North Face, etc.

Longer Lasting

An expensive tent will also last much longer than an inexpensive tent. For example, the seam taping on my Wawona has lasted me for about 2 years now, and is still going strong.

On the other hand, seam taping from my Ozark Trail fell apart in just a few months of storage.

Waste Reduction

Buying an expensive tent and getting to use it for the next 5 years will definitely reduce the amount of waste being produced.

In contrast, buying a cheaper tent and having to replace it every year will result in much more waste, which is terrible for the environment.

Lifetime Warranty

Expensive tents also tend to have lifetime warranties (with the exception of REI, which provides only a 1-year warranty, and this seriously boggles my mind).

Peace of Mind

The better quality, waterproofed-ness, and longer warranties provide me more peace of mind. I can safely sleep in my Wawona knowing it won’t be rained out even in crazy storms.

Are Expensive Tents Worth It?

Overall, expensive tents are worth it, because they tend to have more durability, much higher quality, are much longer lasting, can handle inclement weather much better, and provide much more peace of mind when camping in it.

The math behind an expensive tent also makes sense:

My Wawona 6 is more than 1 year old now, and will last me 5-10 years, easy. It has a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $500 (which is how much I paid for mine).

• Total cost over 10 years: $500

On the other hand, a Coleman Sundome 6 will last perhaps 1-2 years under moderate usage. Every other year, you may have to replace it. It’s now at about $100, and will only increase every year due to inflation.

• Total cost over 10 years? Likely more than $500.

This is why I tend to buy more expensive camping gear (not just tents) nowadays, because the total cost in the long run is lower.

When to Buy an Expensive Tent

Who are expensive tents for, and when should you buy one? I’d highly recommend getting an expensive tent if you:

• Camp frequently (multiple times a year, every year)

• Camp in bad weather

• Plan to go winter camping

• Plan to go on expeditions

• Have the budget for it now (please don’t go in debt for a camping trip)

How to Save Money on Expensive Tents

Expensive tents have price ranges between $500, and $1,000. However, there are ways to save a little more money.

Here are my favorite places and tips for saving money on expensive tents:

• I get a lot of my camping gear on Amazon. I usually wait for a sale (if it’s not an urgent purchase), and the best sales will happen on Prime Day and Black Friday.

• I also get a lot of my gear from REI Co-Op. Join the newsletter and become a member. I regularly get 20% member coupons. REI also has multiple sales every year, and the biggest one is during their Anniversary Sale (usually in May).

• After REI and Amazon, I love to check out Moosejaw. They send out 20% off coupons very frequently, which is great for urgent purchases that I will need soon.

To be honest, I rarely get any of my camping gear full price, and I usually get at least a 20% off. (I buy a lot of gear for my YouTube channel, so this really helps me out.)

When to Buy Cheap Tents Instead

On the other hand, are there any situations where I would recommend cheap tents instead? Yes, of course, and that’s if you are a:

• Casual camper (camp no more than a couple times a year);

• Beginner camper, and don’t know if you want to continue camping in the future;

• Fair weather or backyard summer camper.

Is a Cheap Tent Okay?

In summer, good weather, and fair weather conditions, cheap tents are totally fine.

You may not get a lot of features and quality, but these inexpensive tents will hold up decently well (even Ozark Trail).

Expensive tents are needed only if you’re thinking of going against bad weather conditions (like heavy rains or strong winds).

Can I Find Affordable Tents with Good Quality?

Are there any affordable or inexpensive tents that are good quality? Yes, absolutely, and here are a few of my favorite brands:

• Teton Sports

• Alps Mountaineering

• Eureka!

• Kelty

These tents are quite as budget-friendly or as cheap as brands like Coleman, Core, and of course, Ozark Trail, but they’re also not quite as high-end as brands like REI, The North Face, MSR and Big Agnes.

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