A lot of people swear by Skinsosoft lotion.
Some people say drinking a shot glass of vinegar a day
keeps them off.
I personally always used the WW II jungle juice that was
100% DEET but you can't hardly find it any more.
Now the best you can get is Army Surplus "ARTHROPOD" repellent. Not messy and seems to work, fairly inexpensive
too.
Try baking soda on those bites, wet it and cake a little on
each one.
What I hate worse than mozzies is CHIGGERS!!!
There is modern stuff you can spray yourself with but
tucking your pants in your socks and dusting yourself at the ankles and belt line, cuffs with powdered sulfur works
as good. you can get it at any pharmacy.
I used to have a 18' teepee and it was lots of fun too,
harder to put up but very comfortable.
You can also consume sulfur tablets over the course of a few days before you go into the woods to ward off bugs. Pretty effective but has an anti-social side effect.
The best thing for CHIGGERS is a red hot needle stuck
right in the center of the bite....
Well at least that what you would put up with if it would
make the itching stop.
Usually a drop of clear nail polish on the bite will smother
the little buggers after a bit.
Don't scratch, it only irritates them and makes them frisky.
As to the baking soda - when I was a kid, I was always coming down with hives in the summer. My late Mam remedied the itch by making a paste of bread-soda and water (until it became the consistency of icing/cake frosting). The itch went almost immediately.