is buying all the stuff for camping worth it

[Sarah510]

soooo, am thinking about holidays, kids are 12 and 16, and I'm wondering would camping be a good 'bonding' experience for us. I just feel we are becoming a bit isolated - I know this happens as they get older, but it feels like it's gone by so fast, so quick! It's just me and the kids, and since lockdown we've spent a lot of time separate in our rooms with our different screens, it's hard to get them to come on days out. But the initial outlay for camping seems quite a lot - is it worth it. Also, I've turned 50 and need to pee a lot in the night... Also should I get 2 tents - a separate one for me as I snore..... Grateful for helpful hints on camping for beginners....

Campsites aren't full by the way so don't give up, esp for Sept and often have last minute cancellations... there are lots that offer 'glamping' which can be a basic hut or just a bell tent already put up so you donlt need a tent. Others have a shop, pizza van on a friday etc. for less seasoned campers.
Can you borrow a tent to try it out? We have all the stuff now but camp 3-4 times a year as DC love it. But started off in borrowed gear. If we had to choose our essentials it would be

tent
mats and bedding ( the warmer the better)
little one ring gas stove
some basic cooking stuff
fold down chairs - even in on the hottest day the ground can be wet with dew in mornings and at night
water carrier ( you can get cheap fold down ones)

the rest - table, airbeds, barbie, fairy lights, fold away wash basin etc are all luxuries

Start as a glamper so you and your children are not put off.
No peeing in a bucket or finding a place behind a bush at night.
No hard cold ground to sleep on.
Pitch in a location where there's something everyone can do even on a rainy day.
If your children have been brought up on gadgets, make sure you have lots of solar etc batteries to bring a bit of home comforts.
Eat out every day as cooking on an empty tummy with starving children just makes bad memories for first time campers.
Best tip, you can't turn the light on to get into bed. Make sure everything you need for bed is ready before dark. Twelve year old may need reminding of this at every evening meal.

I have to agree with posters who’ve said”borrow”. If you buy cheap stuff (particularly sleeping bags and mats).,they won’t be as comfortable as they could be and you won’t have as good an experience as you could.

As a PP suggested, try a ready errected or mobile home camping holiday first.

Needing to go to the loo in the night means getting up, finding/putting on clothes/shoes, finding a torch, finding toilet paper & handwash. Walking over to the toilet block.

I love campsites (especially in France and Spain) for the space and facilities (swimming pool, shop, restaurant, bar) but hate sleeping in a tent.

Also, I've turned 50 and need to pee a lot in the night.

Take a wide-mouthed empty bottle (eg Oasis) and pee in that in the night, then empty it in the morning. Obviously practise first.

Don't get me wrong, camping can be wonderful if you have really nice weather and a site with excellent facilities and quiet neighbours. Bad weather and inconsiderate fellow campers and it's pretty miserable! I wouldn't buy the cheapest tent going unless you can guarantee it will always be good weather. Everything takes twice as long and can start to feel like an effort......cup of tea, that'll be a trek across the field to refill the water that someone else emptied, 80 matches to try and light the stove in the wind, and 15 minutes for the kettle to boil. Oh, and then you have to clean and dry everything when you get home before you pack it in the loft for the next 2 years. Also, can your teens potentially cope without technology when batteries die?
Premier inn do king sized beds with an en suite from £29, a campsite pitch costs almost that and you still have to hike across a wet field for a wee in the night!! (Take wellies for that bit)

From experience, half the stuff you might think you need you really don’t. My camping trips are far more scaled down then they once were in terms of taking stuff.

If it is your first time, I would borrow a tent from someone or buy two cheap igloo tents which will no doubt get used by teens for festivals etc. in the future. Get three camping chairs with backs (Aldi have a lot of great camping stuff usually). Take a power bank for the mobile phones if you have one. If you are going for a week, it is probably worth buying a camping stove, and just take a frying pan and tools from home. Nothing beats camping bacon and eggs! Two igloo tents and three foldable chairs that will always be useful is not a huge outlay for a holiday. Oh, and two airbeds if you want to actually sleep. Take your sheets and pillow and duvet from your bed at home if you don't have sleeping bags.

Virgin camper here!
We’re going for the first time next weekend. We’re going with friends who camp loads, so it should be fun.
We’re borrowing an adult tent, we bought dds one for them, we bought sleeping bags and blow up mattresses (some of these we already had but not enough).
There’s loads of camping gear out there. If you want basic stuff go to the Range, B&M, Argos. That’s where we got our stuff. We’re only going two nights.
Our pitch was booked yesterday by our friend, so there are pitches available.

I have a (just lost the proper word) a bottle with a funnel and a screw top for in the night. I see in there and then empty it in the morning. No way I’m walking around the site for a nighttime wee.

Cooking wise, I would get a single gas burner to boil a kettle, have porridge in those jars, pot noodles and take aways for dinner.

We camp a lot. We budget £500 a week for everything from the pitch to food to laundry to slot machines!

Have just returned from camping and also weak bladdered. I bought a toilet bucket and tent from Amazon (£50 for both). It transformed the trip. No more nightly dashes in the pitch black through marauders field avoiding imaginary rapists at every turn. Best investment ever!! Tent had toilet paper hanger, towel hanger and then I had hand sanitizer in it. Also used it as a changing tent. Oh yes,I bought some of that blue loo stuff to keep it clean. We also bought a table with adjustable legs so that we could sit around it without chairs. We didn't really need it and could have done without it. We also took loads of torches, but didn't need those either. So, in essence in terms of surviving : tent, decent air bed, car attachment for electronic air bed pump, a hanging washbag with compartments, a gas stove, bottle of gas, pipe and clips to connect gas to stove, bedding, pillows, pots pans, plates, cutlery, chopping board, cups and bowls, bottles of water. Oh yes, we also bought a roof storage bag for the car (£50) to put all the camping stuff in so that the car wasn't packed to the rafters.

If you haven't bonded with your 12 and 16 year kids by now, what on earth do you expect from a camping holiday? If you feel you need more time together what about a movie night, cooking night, (let them decide), eating together night, even if it is a take away. Time is what is important, not tents and sleeping bags younger kids yes, lots of fun, but 12 and 16 !!!

Re snoring - a separate tent is no use as the sound travels a long way. Being pitched anywhere near a snorer is no fun for a light sleeper. Not helpful to you, I know.

Top of the list is a good nights sleep, we've always camped I use a camp bed with a sim on top and normal bedding, if you want to use an air bed put a rug or blanket or emergency foil wraps underneath as the cold comes up from the ground.
We have cheapo gas cartridge cooker but a jet boil cup )cup of tea in 60 seconds!.
We use a bell tent as it's so easy to put up and you can get inners for them (we don't bother). Canvas is heavier but keeps the temperature better, poly is much lighter and easier to dry.
we also take a portaloo and little tent. We're off tomorrow for a long weekend and I can't bloody wait!

OP I wonder if you're displacing your feelings about lockdown and especially lockdown with teens while a lone parent. It sounds like you feel that the only way to get past these difficulties is to do something radically different, perhaps because you think you're "doing things wrong". Although actually from this angle you're doing fine if the only"negative" aspect of your parenting is that your kids spend a lot of time in their rooms and on screens.

It might be worth figuring out what is making you uncomfortable in the (by the sounds of it) perfectly normal set up you have already and what tweaks you could make to your existing situation - which seems to work, roughly, for you all - rather than introduce something entirely new that no one has hitherto been interested in.

16 is a tricky age for camping.

Some love it, but for many families this is the age they start to refuse to go.

We go with friends and ours now have their own tents and share with their friends, and often have their own camp fire too.

What do your kids like doing? Would they pitch in and help with everything, seeing it as an adventure?

I would not buy a second hand tent as you have no idea how it has been cared for / how many weeks it has been up in the sun. So many people get sold leaky or mouldy tents.

And cheap air beds and basic sleeping bags lead to being cold at night. Though you can take fleeces and duvets too.

Are you all fairly hardy outdoor types?

I'm a lifelong camper. I just nip round the back of the tent in the night for a wee. ( As do most other campers )
I use fishermen's beds to sleep on, they're very very comfortable and versatile, you can use them as a chair or drop the back down to form a bed.
There's plenty of cheap camping gear around at the moment due to people giving it a go for the first time this year and not taking to it.
Try your local FB selling groups.
One thing I will say is to get everyone a cheap pair of flip flops and wear them in the shower whilst showering.
When you get your tent, practice putting it up in your garden first until you feel confident with it.
If you're going for an EHU pitch, remember that you will need extensions.
Basics you will need are.
Water carrier.
Gas or petrol stove.
Folding BBQ ( mine folds completely flat )
Coals.
Firelighters.
Matches or lighter.
Washing up bowl. I have two, one I drilled holes in the bottom to make a drainer. I use it to store the plates etc in during transit.
Top tip. If you're having a BBQ, once the food is cooked, place a pan of water on your BBQ to be heating up while you're eating. Don't waste your gas doing it. Even if you're using plastic plates etc you will still need to wash your BBQ racks down.
Torch and spare batteries.
Loo roll.
That's it really apart from the necessaries of course.
Have fun.

I’d borrow or go on to a pre set up place first. You may love it or you may hate it.
My BIL spent £800 on a tent and never went a second time!

You've been given good advice. My kids stopped wanting to come around the the your youngest is. I even started a thread on here asking if I should force my younger teen, or let her stay with my Mum.

Are they outdoorsy? Happy not to get a phone signal, so go out of the loop? Are they the same sex? Do they cope with adverse weather well? Bringing a mate along didn't help mine much.

We started basic in our kit and added to it. The combined ovens that Aldi/Lidl sell, means that you can cook anything. Later we bought an electric frying pan and television, stuck to places with good wifi coverage, but my teens still didn't want to know. So don't plan around them.

I also wee outside.

@IgiveupallthenamesIwantedareg0

If you haven't bonded with your 12 and 16 year kids by now, what on earth do you expect from a camping holiday? If you feel you need more time together what about a movie night, cooking night, (let them decide), eating together night, even if it is a take away. Time is what is important, not tents and sleeping bags younger kids yes, lots of fun, but 12 and 16 !!!

good point, camping is far better with younger kids.

Go to London The city is deserted and great deals on hotels- cheapest I have seen in 20 years. Look at ihg and Hilton- many of those are cheaper than your budget brands at the moment. You can pre book museums and dine out on rishi

Phew @SummerPoppies, I though I was the only one peeing behind the tent at night! Except that I know my friends do as well

I can't imagine walking across an entire campsite at night just for a quick wee. Pitch near a hedge and pee there!

What makes camping comfortable for me: a blow up bed with a thick fitted sheet on it, pillows and duvets and extra blankets, a canvas tent with room to put chairs inside if it rains, fairy lights, a small gas canister stove, a fire at night, bacon baps in the morning. I think its great although I can fully understand why people would hate it!!

Borrow if you can. Dont skimp on sleeping bags/mats.

But, we did the calculation and realised if we left out the sleeping bags and kids mats (which they use for scouts anyway) we only had to take 1 holidays with the remainder to break even (compared to self catering).

@CaptainMyCaptain

Re snoring - a separate tent is no use as the sound travels a long way. Being pitched anywhere near a snorer is no fun for a light sleeper. Not helpful to you, I know.

That would be a major issue for me if in the unlikelihood I were ever to go camping again - the noise from other campers.

How do you deal with It? Ear plugs?