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.

No. I hate the beach. We take a couple of towels and a bucket and spade if we're lucky. Kids have a paddle, moan about the sand sticking to them. We last about an hour.

I'm not but for the first couple of days at the seaside people think i am.

We go to a place that is known for its attacking and food stealing sea gulls. So I always take one of those pop up festival tents. Works in two ways, your stuff is safer and less likely to get pinched by opportunists, and secondly you eat your picnic in the tent. Ex was very dismissive until his sausage roll was taken out of his hand by a gull.

We get there on Saturday and by Tuesday you cant see the beach for shelter's/tents! I think that the local Millets owes me commission :o

We love the beach. I've a bag which packs up small that I put all wet stuff in and then can shove contents in washing machine when I get home. We have a paddle board and the children are in the sea all day.

No fancy picnic though

Ha, we have a public beach here with cabanas you can hire.
For one party, the group that had hired the cabana hitched up a 65” TV, had a generator on the back of a truck and catered an entire Super Bowl party on the beach. Now that looked like way too much effort!

We (when we go) generally spend most of the day at the beach unless it starts raining or gets too cold. I couldn’t be arsed with all that for just an hour.

@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.

I read this phenomenon described in a book as "the nomads of summer." Read the book decades ago, and it has stuck with me all that time.

Heh. I am Australian, I live next to a beach.

Sometimes we don't even take towels, just let the kid air dry.

I’d rather see this than the six month olds in nappies and in full sunlight at midday OP… made me cringe when we went during the heatwave.

Nothing wrong with a good UV umbrella or tent to protect the little ones and provide a place for a nap.

We tend to pack up and head back during the hot part of the day and come back in the evening so the toddler is out of the sun, but not everyone has that convenience

I don’t have kids but can remember being a child at the beach and now realise what a faff it must have been for our poor parents! I am one of three and we had long uk based beach days every summer. I distinctly remember the rugs, windbreaker, chairs, cool boxes of lunch stuff, toys, towels, etc. etc. Plus because UK we always had to have sun protection and be ready to get rained on!

But mainly what I remember is how much I loved those beach days. We’d be there for hours and it was so much fun spending lovely long days playing in the sand, going swimming, climbing in the rock pools, eating lunch after running around all morning. So to all the poor ‘performance parents’... it is worth it!

@Strokethefurrywall

Ha, we have a public beach here with cabanas you can hire. For one party, the group that had hired the cabana hitched up a 65” TV, had a generator on the back of a truck and catered an entire Super Bowl party on the beach. Now that looked like way too much effort!

All beaches are public aren't they?

Last time I checked there wasn't a medal for minimalism at the beach. Why does less equipment make you a better person OP? Also "performance" would imply that they care what you think - I can assure you nobody does.

We take as little as possible to the beach too, just a picnic blanket, some towels and clean clothes, suncream, some talc, a few sandwiches and a drink each. The dc bring their bucket and spade. That's all you need isn't it? How do you wheel a trolley down a load of steps and then over soft sand? Doesn't it just sink in and refuse to move?

@FortunesFave here in Caribbean, all the beach is public up to certain waterlines, then hotel/condo access takes over.
Public beaches are government stretches of land that is maintained by the government and has rentable cabanas and public washrooms. Hence public beach.

If we're only going for a little while I'll just take things we'll actually use on the beach like bucket and spade. Snacks, suncream and towel stay in the car. We live in a hot country though so if DD gets her clothes wet paddling it doesn't matter.

If we're on holiday and planning to stay longer then I'll bring more stuff - picnic rug, snacks and drinks, suncream, floaties, ball, swim suit etc. Love the look of the wagons.

For those people saying about the beach mat, I purchased this in Aldi the other week- it works!! www.aldi.co.uk/adventuridge-sand-free-mat/p/710549445269800
Now off to look for the trolley!!

We have 2 beach boxes and turn up with ALL the gear. But we usually stay from 1st thing until last thing! Love the beach & it’s definitely more fun when you have shade, windbreakers, the kids have toys & us adults have paddle boards & body boards!

The extra bits and pieces make the uk beach experience bearable imo. We usually walk though so are limited to what we carry (no very young children). I saw someone with one of those trolleys yesterday and said to DH we should get one. It would make life a lot easier!

I just looked up the trolley and they're so expensive! Think I'll stick to a beach bag/backpack.

I hate beaches. Don't like swimming in the sea, or getting sand everywhere, or not having a toilet nearby, or people trying to sell me a massage/fruit/"designer" goods every 5 minutes.

I must admit I clicked on this thread just to find out what performance beach going is.
I'd love to be that organised for the beach but yes, I'd be rubbing sun cream into exposed bits frequently, or as frequently as 3.5 year old and 16 month old will allow. They're pale as anything and I don't want them burning.
We end up taking loads of stuff - two blankets, drinks, snacks (because, well, toddlers), buckets and spades, changing bag with spare clothes because that's just the stuff we'd end up needing anyway.
Plus we'd only stay an hour or two because it's not a day out for us, we'd go to the beach for a play after a day out somewhere else.

equally i often see in Europe people come to the beach with nothing, often no towel. Go for a swim & then they lie on the sand or shingle whilst wet & just relax until their dry. The idea of lying down wet without a towel freaks me out!

I love those trollies and would love one myself! I’m trying to think what else I could use it for though as we only go to the beach once or twice a year and I only like to stay for a short time.

I would love to have seen that beach ballerina.

www.amazon.co.uk/s?hvlocphy=1007053&hvnetw=g&hvadid=259136623426&k=festival+trolley&gclid=CjwKCAjw9aiIBhA1EiwAJ_GTSgjtu2S1b-KPoTs_G582vcjFHQGh9696PJLNvm6XI-SWnI7GC7YAhRoC56QQAvD_BwE&ref=pd_sl_3m8nstlzrl_e&hydadcr=14404_1827479&hvdev=m&hvqmt=e&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&hvtargid=kwd-300610576205&adgrpid=54724445218&hvrand=8389924675996166255

Just my lay bag and a cool box full of beer. What else do you need?

Disclaimer, I don’t have young kids.

I'm going to save my beach rage for:

• people who set up their shelter or chairs directly in front of people who are sitting on the sand watching the waves
• people who play their music loud enough for everyone to hear - I want to close my eyes and listen to waves, gulls, children laughing... not your shit tunes
• people who smoke on the beach. and leave the butts in the sand.