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.

Well it's not very rock n roll being all organised op but when you have kids it's time to embrace the ugly carrier bags, trolleys, crocs etc for your own sanity. A part of me died when I bought my first assortment of plastic food containers

@FortunesFave

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.

But you live right by the beach somewhere with a beach-friendly climate, so beachgoing is a casual, regular thing. Elsewhere, a day at the beach might involve driving for two hours or more and be much rarer, hence food, preparations, stuff.

@SmallChairs no, people do drive here from other areas. Not everyone lives by the beach here.

They just don't do the whole home from home on the beach thing.

I assume they get chips or something for lunch because there aren't a lot of cafes or anything in this area.

haha
I live near a beach.
only tourists spend more than an hour there. with shelters, coolbox, seats etc.
the locals just cycle there in their swimwear or wetsuit often even without towel and go for their (quick because cold) swim or surf.

@SmallChairs I think you are very right there. The beach is a short drive fir us so I don't care much if we leave after half an hour. If I'd driven 2 hrs I'm pretty sure I'd be making sure I had everything i might ever need

Best thing ever, one seaside week with dd, SiL and very little Gdcs, was the beach hut we rented. We weren’t staying far from the beach, but it was still heaven not to have to cart all that paraphernalia back and forth. Not to mention somewhere to shelter when the odd shower descended.

On seaside holidays as kids my folks used to hire a beach hut. Even had a little paraffin camping stove for making a nice hot drink when we came out of the sea blue and shivering - no neoprene wetsuits in those very olden days. I still adored those beach hols though.

I recently saw a group who had in effect built themselves a little square room with windbreaks. I really couldn't understand the point of it, as they couldn't see the sea and the children couldn't do things like building sandcastles - more materially, they couldn't effectively supervise the children if they went outside their little zone. Also, for what it's worth, they got relatively little benefit from the sun except when it was directly overhead.

I agree! I live near several beaches, I’d take the kids down to play, no toys - not needed, they can build sandcastles with their hands, find shells, paddle and eat ice cream with out all the faff!

I did keep a change of clothes in the boot and a few beach towel, but nothing compare to the serious effort others go too.

bonus points for performance beach goers if they set up their village right by the tide line where everything will be flooded shortly and the coolbox floats away whilst they try to rescue most possessions from the incoming water.

@Sillysuzie, guilty of the same! We call it a wagon.

We use a trolley, much easier. Sun shade, chairs, picnic blanket, toys, the works.

Unless we’re going to the beach where we can drive down it, reverse park and just open the boot. Still put up the shade and chairs but everything else is just accessed from the cat.

We either bring nothing because it's a bad day, or we turn up laden with towels, sun cream, toys, buckets/spades/diggers, bags, books, a metal detector, and last time a marshmallow toasting kit.

It's definitely not performing though - I'm usually hoping no one will look so I can have a wee!

Festival trolleys are like buggies though - they don’t move through sand very well !

You need a plastic sledge - with cup holders - that converts to a kayak - with a tent on top.

I have a couple of these magic beach chairs that have a built in cool bag, large pockets to hold a beer and your mobile phone , fit towels swimsuits and a picnic in and have straps to carry on your back so your hands are free . I go to the beach for a full afternoon and the chair fully reclines for a nap.

https://www.tommybahama.com/en/c/home-chairsandd_umbrellas?q=:relevance

I'm just gobsmacked by the effort I see sometimes. Seeing people bringing BBQs etc
Last summer I felt very smug had big blanket, swim gear, pop up tent to snack away from the seagulls, buckets & spades. Family turned up with chairs, tents, inflatable paddle boards, wetsuits but they were only there a few hours & used the boards maybe for 10 mins & some not at all. I'm just lazy!

I actually bought a trolley to carry all the shit we take with us.

But, I want comfort, so that's why the chairs are there. DH likes to use his Kelly kettle, so that's why we take that, obviously that needs water to make tea with so that gets packed.

Wet suits for the kids to let them swim in the sea.

We do stay for over 6 hours though - does that make it better?

I saw people at the car park near the beach set up their stuff & never even go to the beach & there's no view from the car park, thought that was a bit odd

@Carriemac

I have a couple of these magic beach chairs that have a built in cool bag, large pockets to hold a beer and your mobile phone , fit towels swimsuits and a picnic in and have straps to carry on your back so your hands are free . I go to the beach for a full afternoon and the chair fully reclines for a nap.

[[https://www.tommybahama.com/en/c/home-chairs]]andd_umbrellas?q=:relevance

I need new chairs, left a couple Somewhere, these look good, will see if the outlet nearby has some

This is me literally anywhere though.
At the park I take a picnic, picnic blanket, a potty and a tiny pop up tent to put it in (dd won't go if anyone can see her), hats, sun creams and spf scalp spray, amongst many many other things (that are needed) And all of it fits in the basket under the pram.
Why would anyone want to have a day out with kids and be unprepared?

I got a beach trolley, it’s got wide wheels so it goes over sand dead easy. When youngest was 2-3, we took the base of her plastic turtle sand pit with us. We had it in front of our tent, wind break around the side and a parasol for shade. It was 35 degrees C that day. We filled her plastic sandpit up with sea water, and we sat with our feet in it, keeping us cool. Kids could sit in the tent to eat without getting attacked by seagulls. Little one even had a nap. She mostly played with her makeshift paddling pool and built sandcastles in our small square of the beach.

We got some strange looks carrying her sandpit to the beach but was totally worth it.

I chuck a bottle of suntan lotion into my bag, does that count?

As an aside I live on the coast yet have never ever sat on the beach. We walk and look at stuff then leave. Clocked up six miles today. The dc are also incapable of sitting on the beach. At the most we'll paddle in the little rivers that crop up or at the very edge but having been woken up by search and rescue and seeing bodies being recovered too many times we've never actually swam in the sea. Am I unusual? 🤔

@HerRoyalNotness I want a cat like that. I had a 'festival trolley' it was called a buggy. It was a bit of a shock when the Dcs got a bit older and we would carry stuff down to the beach. Not much and we would have chips on the way home. I now just go down for a swim or a float with a swimming costume under a shift dress.

It's a bit sad if you are at the beach and can't find better to do than watch other people.

We live opposite the beach so have our beach trolly packed and ready in the garage ready for sunny days. Keep the windbreaks and rugs and supply of sunscreen in it so just need to thrown in towels snack water and a book.
And as it’s right on our doorstep yes we may only go for an hour because the sneery tourists who descend once a year can get a bit much sometimes

I hardly ever go to the beach. We live too far away for a day trip, and our holidays have always been to the US, inland.
I do like the beach, but carting all the stuff about seemed a pain in the arse, but I (stupidly) read this thread and now I want a festival trolley and day at the beach.