Camping for newbies

[squammy84]

We’ve recently bought a tent ! Can you hit me with camping essentials for family’s ... we’ve 3 kids (9,6 & 3) and a dog ! Any tips and essential or luxury items we can start looking out for over winter .. I like to be prepared ☺️

Mats... not the roll up yoga type but ones which inflate a tiny bit - will absolutely make it more comfortable! They still fold down/roll down tiny. And take a pillow if you have the space!

An extra tarpaulin for underneath the sleeping area where you pitch the tent, acts as extra insulation.

Sleeping bags - mummy ones are much better than square, it's amazing how chilly it gets around the shoulders! My DH is the warmest person ever and he still uses a 2 season one. 1 season ones are crazy thin.

Rubber mallet for all the pegs.

Treat the tent with water repellant stuff, especially the seams to keep it in tip top condition and air it out after each camping use.

If you're cooking/taking a stove - light weight pots & sporks.

Towels - thin micro fibre things take very little room and are light so can be hung on a guy rope to dry

I'll keep thinking! (Seasoned camper but currently with baby brain!)

Towels - we favour cotton hamman style.For some reason the microfibre ones make my teeth itch and give me goosebumps! Ask they're rarely big enough. Hammans pack down small, cover you up and dry quickly!

Not ask - and they're rarely big enough! Fat thumbs!

A bog in a bag, a dustpan and brush, a collapsible washing bin, lanterns, wind up torches

Alcohol. Whiskey /brandy best as it is warming. Lots of it.

Wow thank you all ... I’ve copied all these on to my notes ! I haven’t been camping for 20 years and just want the kids to remember it like I did ! ...

Fluffy onesies, Glo sticks and stuff to make s'mores are my kids favourite bits

We ditched the sleeping bags (for DH & I) a few years ago. We now have a teddybear fleece fitted sheet on a 4" thick self-inflating mat with our super king duvet over the top of us. It's really cozy and no more problems with a cold column of air between us like we used to get with our double sleeping bag. The kids have oval shaped sleeping bags.
Personally I never got on with mummy bags as I need to be able to spread out a bit (they feel very restrictive) but agree the rectangular ones can be chilly. A sleeping bag liner fixes that though.
We also put cheap fleece blankets or picnic blankets down in the sleeping pods like a carpet for extra insulation.

My other favourite addition has been 2 cheap ikea storage boxes (the ones that go in the Kallax units). They take up very little space in the car as pack flat, and we use one for coats and one for shoes kept just inside the tent. I got fed up of a messy tent with outerwear flung everywhere and never being able to locate the kids' shoes. These have solved the problem.

Lidded storage boxes for the stuff you always take - camping stove, gas, plates etc. Store it all as a set at home and just pick it all up and stash in the car so you're not always hunting for bits and bobs. Be disciplined about that essential
Kit. And find a stove you live. We have a lovely Primus with a wooden lid and two burners. Always draws compliments! And allied to that, finesse your camping pantry. Ready cooked pasta is more expensive but saves waiting hours for a pan of water to boil, and you can just reheat it in the sauce. For our first night we always pre cook a big pot of chilli at home so we're not bothered with complicated camp cooking the same night as setting up camp