Have you been camping with 6 month old and 2 year old (or similar)? Madness? Any tips?

[AppleAndBlackberry]

We are thinking of a camping holiday next August. Not really seasoned campers - we have been a couple of times before children but have never taken DD.

I was thinking of getting a large tent and taking two travel cots for sleeping but wondering what other people do. Also what do they sleep in? Would you use a Grobag with something like an extra sleepsuit underneath or two Grobags, or will that still be too cold? What else will we need?

We did it around the same time as that.

We took 2 travel cots, and warm winter weight all in one pjs. They both had heavy weight Grobags, but didn't really settle until they had a warm duvet over the top of that.

It's fun! Hope it goes smoothly for you.

We only went with the one, but I would also recommend the travel cot. Originally we didn't take cot (just sleeping bag on self inflating mat), but ds rolled around quite a lot - often ending up on our "bed" (two self-inflating together), with either dh or myself on his mini-one! After the switch, considerably easier! Make sure you have good insulation in bottom of cot though, as cold coming from the ground. We use either the s-i or a sheepskin, with a sleeping bag for warmth. Take extra blankets and hat though, he seemed more affected by cold than we were.

I love camping with him, it's a very close, relaxing time together.

I would recommend a large plastic bucket thing, like you get in garden centres for collecting weeds. As well as being great for washing up and laundry transportation it makes a great outdoor bath/paddling pool. Failing that a small blow up paddling pool gives hours of fun and clean children.

Thanks everyone, that's good to hear. Will definitely take the travel cots and lots of blankets and a tub trug!

If you have space in the car, we found that our playroom playmats (we have those foam jigsaw square things) were really good for ground insulation inside the tent.