People often ask, "How long does it take to put up a tipi (tepee, teepee)?" The answer we give is, "It depends."

The first time we attempted to put up a tipi (tepee, teepee), it took us more than five hours before we were satisfied. We had no instructions - Just the limited information from the Laubins' book "The Indian Tipi" (for which we were very grateful). Finally, after numerous changes in our basic measurements, we came up with a combination that seemed to work. We had to go through this same trial and error procedure every time we made a tipi in a new size. This led us to develop a step-by-step set of instructions with basic measurements for each size tipi that we offer for sale. These instructions along with a wealth of additional information is available in my Father's book, "The 20th Century Indian Tipi"

The first step in setting up a tipi is selecting the proper site. We recommend you read our section on "Site Selection" first.

The step-by-step instructions for setting up a Tipi are covered under "Setup Instructions".
If you have a Reese Tipi, follow the links under "Setting Up a Reese Tipi". In this section, exact measurements will be given simplifying the tipi setup process considerably.