Back when I was a kid, and went camping with my folks; we used to sleep out under the stars. I thought that this was the only way to camp out, and lived watching the stars move across the snight sky, and always watching for the occasional shooting star to go blazing across the sky. Sometimes, if we though it might rain, we did take along the old tent. It was made from one of those old military surplus canvas tarps, ugly and brown, and probably a remnant from the second world war.
First they tied a sturdy rope to a couple of trees, and then they would wrestle that big canvas tarp until it was over top of the rope. Lastly, was tying the sides of the tent apart at the bottom, and then we had a place to put our sleeping bags and keep out of the rain. If it happened to rain and catch us by surprise when we didn't have the tent along, then we all just grabbed our sleeping bags and ran for the car.