Recently, while talking with a friend, the topic of ‘sheet forts’ came up for playing with grandkids. A common way to build a sheet fort is to take 4 or 6 kitchen chairs [or folding one work too] and place them back to back far enough apart that you can sit or lay between them. After arranging the chairs, drape bed sheets over them to form a tent going clear to the floor. Then play whatever game you want to.

First off, it is a lot of fun to play with the kids that way. On a deeper note, sheet forts are a great way to stay warm this time of year during a power outage or if you want to cut down on power usage for monetary reasons. For this application you will need to place a mattress on the floor in your ‘fort’ to lie on. This will insulate you from the floor to prevent heat loss due to conduction. The sheets or blankets will help to hold your body heat in and cut down on drafts so that you don’t lose the heat by convection. A variation of this would be a freestanding backpacking tent set up on the mattress. There is also a thing called a ‘bed tent’ that you can buy for the kids that goes on their bed or you could build it for a queen or king sized bed too. Going back in time there are the 4 posters or canopy beds.

If the power is still on and you are just trying to save on the power bill you can use an electric blanket placed UNDER you as heat rises, this will keep you very toasty. If on the other hand the power is out, you will have to rely on conserving your body heat of course this is a good opportunity to snuggle with a friend;]   do NOT use any type of open flame such as candles to warm this ‘fort’. Open flames are a fire hazard and depletes the oxygen in the enclosed space, either of which could kill you OR worse.

If you are doing this to conserve energy you can set the house thermostat to about 45 degrees which will keep the pipes from freezing and you will still stay comfortable in your fort. If, however the power is out you will have to drain your pipes to prevent freezing damage or at least let the faucets drip to maintain water flow to at least try to prevent frozen pipes. Here in Wyoming it sometimes gets cold enough that we have to run the water to keep the pipes leading into the house from freezing in the ground.