Are YOU a performance beach goer?

[keiratwiceknightly]

At the beach yesterday. So many families arrived with bags and bags of stuff - some even with festival trolleys. Shelter up, double rugs on sand, windbreak, chairs, elaborate picnic. Kids into sun suits, then sun cream rubbed into all exposed bits approx every 10 mins.

40 min set up. Sit for an hour. Then dismantle and clear off.

Great spectator sport.

Off to Google what a festival trolley is........

I don’t see why putting sun cream on is something to be laughed at ??

We do a couple of big lidl shopping bags cba spending money on fancy beach bags, with sun cream, microfiber camping towels, a folding rug the type that Velcro’s into a little roll, chilly bottle per person with water or juice, a few bags of crisps, baby wipes, also we do a pop up shelter takes literally 5 seconds (decathlon - amazing buy) plus folding bowl, long lead and bottle of water for the dog.

Everyone has swim stuff on already - child wears a long sleeved Roxy swim top thing and bikini bottoms, legs and face sun creamed , but we will go down to the beach with shorts on over our swimsuits or for me an oversized t shirt dress thing and then I just chuck that back on over my costume when it’s time to go.

We were at the beach today with friends. I remembered the picnic but forgot the bottle opener. Had no towels or change of clothes for anyone. Realised teenage ds really hadn’t grown out of going in the sea fully clothed! It was fun though 🤷‍♀️

I use a festival trolley, for 3 kids it's invaluable.

We pack 2 chairs, a parasol, a picnic blanket, a large cool bag for food and drinks, a change of clothes, towels, buckets and spades, and probably more. I love it, I just need a bigger one now

Nope, I hate the beach and avoid it. When I do go (for ds sake) I crouch awkwardly on the sand wondering how the hell other people manage to be so organised when I've somehow turned up with nothing of any use ...... again!!

I love spectating at the beach but also take part with a little collapsible plant trolley wheely thing and many bags. For a full day you need camping chairs, body boards and picnic etc.
I don’t tend to do the over obsessive sun cream and full cover as they are usually in wet suits but they would get some slapped on the face.
I also love watching others set up at camping trying not to row with each other (usually after my own performance) the beach comes second to this pleasure

Sometimes we take a bucket and a couple of spades but we never take a full on picnic - we will eat before going and then eat in a nice pub or cafe after as a way to round the day off. Obviously ice creams and cans of pop are purchased from the obligatory kiosk or ice cream van throughout the stay!

Oh how I love the beach! I don't think OP was sneering/judging either. Our trek has increased exponentially, we have a tent and umbrella, picnic blanket, cool bag, towels and toys. I pack it all in bags kept in a large ikea plastic container to put in the boot of the car on beach day. I wonder how a trolley does on sand? I really want one now.

Imagine spending your day at the beach with your family judging others. Hope you enjoyed it OP

You would love us op. We take a beach tent, chairs, windbreak, blow up dingy and pump, barbecue, condiments, 2 changes of clothes just in case, towels, sun cream, toys. Its lovely, we spend the day on the beach I comfort. Just a point we do tend to go to beaches with easy access so it’s not far to lug all the stuff.

Oh we don’t hang around at the beach really. Either go in the morning and leave to find lunch at a pub or have lunch somewhere and then go to the beach for a couple of hours. Just never more than a couple of hours!
Take one sports bag with towels, maybe a few bottles of water and a bottle of suncream aswell as my book.
That’s literally it!
Sometimes ds will carry down a bucket and spade or a ball but usually we have a paddle, go and lie on our towels, ds has a play, the dds might entertain him for a bit or Dh might play some football with him, maybe another paddle/swim and then dry off and leave.
I love being at the beach but I’d rather go on my own! Peace
I do look on in awe at the families trundling down with wagons etc, they must really enjoy it but I can’t imagine wanting to tuck into sandwiches on a beach with my ds, the sand flicker and can’t face the hassle of packing up stuff for any eventuality so we pack light and get in and out.

I am staying in a ‘naice house’ on the beach. I can carry my wine the 10m to the sea. I feel posh every time I leave the house! I’ll never be able to afford it again! We went to a different beach today, had a windbreak(wouldn’t be without it, wind/people-keeps them away!, a 16 year old £10 tent and a Tesco picnic. We can’t afford to eat out (fucking expensive holiday home!). Had a fab week!

I do super prepared and also just turn up with a towel depending on how organised I feel and how long we are staying. Don’t bother with chairs or a windbreak or a gazebo but a changing pop up tent is handy. My essentials are frozen bottles of water/juice (Keeps everything else cold and still nice and cold to drink half way through the day). And a couple of big bottles of water to wash the sea and sand off. And buckets and spades of course 😊

I can't stand carrying bags of stuff, packing etc
On the odd occasion we do. It's a towel each for kids. Snacks and suncream and sun suit.
Plonk our asses on the floor and that's it.
Maybe I remeber buckets etc of not buy them which get used at home in the tuff tray anyway.
We take 1 drink each and then buy them again. We hate carrying stuff about.

@CoronaPeroni

I didn't think op was being nasty, just musing that the setting up and dismantling was out of proportion to the time actually spent on the beach.

But if there are small children involved, that’s quite likely to involve one of them throwing a tantrum because she no longer likes sand or something, or someone else having an exploding nappy, or some other child-related disaster — it might well have been intended to be a longer stay until a parent flipped.

Yes, we take all this. We spend the full day there and have a great time.

The key thing is to be able to park close to the beach.

There's a lot of kit that is handy with little kids.

If your car is next to the beach, you can leave games etc in there till you want them.

Now I want a trolley...

Newborough beach is a nightmare for having to park miles away. Now for that one it’s a small backpack each with drink, snack, sun cream cream and a towel. That’s it! Or your spending half your day traipsing to the car and back

Abso fucking lutely!
I take everything when my kids come with me. We're lucky to live right near an AONB and there's a lot of beaches around me.
I take all the crap you mentioned plus various wetsuits, dry robes, wet boots, inflatable water toys and body boards plus the paddle board. I park in the car park right near the beach and lug it all down.
Plus I love a massive windbreak as I'm an anti social twat. I don't want to see anyone else on the beach so I literally have a little "door"
We also have a separate small windbreak to go inside one corner of our main one which acts as a loo with a bucket in it where people can't see!

I live in Australia right by the beach and you just don't see this at all. Kids turn up in their wetsuits if they're surfing or swimming etc, zinc on, parents in suits too...towel left on beach and that's it.

Hats are usual mind you but nobody brings a picnic. Teens or twenties will come with a cooler of beers sometimes and sit on the sand.

Only me and DS. But I take.

Picnic rug and picnic hamper (this is in rucksack form)

Then in a large bag for life

Towels
Toys
Sunscreen
Pop up Beach shelter
Change of clothes for DS

Arrive in swimsuits under loose clothes.

We stay the whole day though, we live in a coastal town so beach trips are often and frequent. Cheap as chips.

I wish I had the motivation to set up beach camp. But the truth is I'm just too lazy to pack it all in the car, get it out, set it up, take it back to the car abs then put it away.
So Beach Equipment in our house consists of a rucksack, body boards and maybe a packed lunch. It has to be movable in one trip !

I don't think this is performance.. it's being prepared for yourself and your kids!

I do like a decent amount of stuff to be comfy at the beach but last week I was sat next to the ultimate beach family of all time.
They had a massive set up. Seriously impressive although it looked exhausting work setting up.
They had a little boy of around 3/4 who was complaining of being uncomfortable in his wetsuit and they offered him THREE wetsuit alternatives. I thought that impressive!