We took our boys camping every holiday we could! Happily, most of the campers we met along the way weren't "allergic" to children! We met many couples, some who were parents, some who had never been, and they were always friendly and helped our sons learn how to associate with a wide variety of individuals. We camped on holidays for the obvious reason, as stated by everyone, that it gave us more time to do so. Another reason is that we then did not have to do the "holiday merry go round" between households, dealing with who went where which holiday and who was cooking what and what to wear and the whole hassle of it all. The Easter Bunny always found our camper, as did the Thanksgiving Turkey, the flag on the 4th of July, even Santa at Christmas a few times! We camped then because it was fun - probably the same reasons you like to camp!! As for state parks - they're almost always CHEAPER than those privately owned!! REally, a no-brainer for us! We still choose them whenever possible!!