What are your must have items to take camping with children?

[SquirtleSquad]

We are planning our first time camping with kids, aged 4, 4 & 1.

I wondered what your absolute must haves are for camping (with or without children)?

I haven't been for about 10 years.

Wellington boots and a sense of humour.

Hand sanitiser, our two are incapable of washing their hands properly and always get a bad stomach.

Hire a fridge

Top trumps / Dobble / travel games.

Jumpers. It can still get cold at night.
Gas stove.
Decent pac-a-macs
Reading materials, colouring books, plenty of paper, travel games for rainy day. (Uno!)
Biodegradable wipes.
Beans.

A potty for when they need a wee in the night.
A battery or solar operated night light or fairy lights.
Stuff to keep them busy on site while you cook / wash up etc.
For the 4-year olds, their own little back packs with some of their things, they'll love 'packing'.
Some way of keeping your 1-year old in check while you're busy, depending on how mobile s/he is; an Ergo sling, for instance, or a separate compartment in the tent.

Vodka

One of those bendy bucket/trug things - Carries washing up / doubles as a bath - stand child in and rinse down. Great to pack stuff in and wedge in car. Use as a carrying medium for all sorts of things. 101 uses tgh

Glow sticks for when it starts to get dark. Makes it impossible to lose them too!

Wine and a wee bucket

Lots of torches, waterproof overtrousers or splash suits- even in sunny weather there will be due on the grass in the morning, their own little canvas chair and colouring book. Make the bedtime cocoa at teatime in daylight, and keep it in a flask for later. A bucket for night wees!

Dew

Changing robes for everyone (Decathlon do them cheaply) so you aren't getting undressed and dressed in the showers
Crocs so you can shove your feet straight in and it doesn't matter about wet grass
Hammam towels - dry much quicker than normal ones

Easy to dispense food for breakfast so you can keep smallies quiet in the morning - those individually wrapped choc chip brioche are ideal

Portapotty (even if its the seat on a bucket sort with crystal cat litter in a bag) so you don't have to take them across the site for a wee

Pack their clothes in outfits in a plastic bag a day so you can find things and keep them dry

Big blue ikea bags. Can be used for all sorts.

one chopping board for veg and bread , another for meat etc. It's just easier when the sinks are a trudge away. Bring solid bottomed pans from.home - lightweight camping pans/mess tins are hopeless for burning and sticking

clothes pegs and a bit of washing line for your towels- powder too

Something for under your bedding, even blow up mattresses get cold. A picnic blanket or rugs will do

Thermals and a duvet to go over sleeping bags - it gets really cold at night (assuming you’re in the UK)

hot water bottles - always good
medical kit with antihistamine, plasters, calpol etc
bin bags - very useful if DC throw up all over the tent on the first night and you need to pack up all the bedding and find an all night launderette.....

Hot water bottles
Gas stove and camping kettle
Candles in ikea lanterns
'S' hooks to hang all sorts (but we have a canvas frame tent so very sturdy)
Extra blankets
Camping toilet (but NO POO OR TISSUE! There's nothing worse than splash back when you empty it. Separate bin bag for loo roll and pops in the composite toilets only)
Comfy chairs
A campsite with laundry so you don't have to take dirty clothes home.

I bought cheap thermals for DS that he wears under his pyjamas, he is always toastie warm with them on. Agree with potty in the tent (although it's me that's used it rather than him!!).

Potty for night wees.
Fleece pyjamas.
Head torches for night walks
A bucket for shoes in the porch (keeps tent clean)
Quiet toys/books for early mornings. They will be up with the dawn, unless you have a tent with black out lined inners.

An inflatable paddling pool for the 1 year old as it's a clean space to play during set up and take down. It also doubles up as a toy pen in a large tent. (Give them a few interesting things to open - raisin boxes with some new inside works well - as a way to keep them in the same spot whilst you are pegging out.)

For you:

• Thermal cup for morning tea/coffee. An absolute sanity saver as I guarantee one of them will need a wee, just as you take the first sip.
• Premade pancakes. Takes 30 seconds in the pan and team with fresh fruit/Nutella. Almost no washing as kids can roll them up and eat with hands.
• Frozen wine box. Keeps everything else chilled and you can drink it when thawed.

Welly boots for the dewy grass in the morning.
Lots of blankets and extra clothes so no-one gets cold.
Big bags for dirty washing. A box for shoes at the tent door.
Easy hot breakfast foods (as pp said we also take shop bought pancakes). And a china mug for tea.
I always take a couple precooked meals frozen in tupperware, which keep the coolbox cold and make a couple evening meals easy.

That age, all in one waterproofs, plus wellies. If not, double the clothes you take!

Plastic backed picnic blanket for kids to sit on outside. Bucket for shoes.

Travel cot for 1yo if bolter/prone to putting things in their mouth. Handy for containment!

When mine were little, little they slept in snow suits when we camped - it can still get very chilly at night. As they got older fleece onesies.

Torches. Potty for night wees.

Plenty of booze!

Woolly hats to sleep.in if it's cold.

Thank you all so so much some really excellent ideas we hadn't thought of!

We have a pop up summer infant play pen we will take for the youngest I think.

We've decided to book a weekend locally-ish for our first venture so we can do a bit of trial and error before venturing out for longer / further away!!

Plastic storage boxes with clip on lifs, really usefull for anything that will get damaged if it gets wet. Also good for stopping mice/squirrels getting into your food.

We found non see through ones useful when ours were small, to keep the cereal bars/crisps/treats out of sight.

A small tool box with a lock is useful for keeping sharp knives and things away from little fingers too. We also keep medication in there.