Top tips for happy campers

[Funtimewincies]

What are your 'I wish I'd known this sooner' tips for happy camping.

Mine are...

1. Always take 2 mallets. Either one will get lost or playing 'chuck us the mallet for a moment, love' will end in tears and recriminations. 2 mallets = 2 people putting up a tent in a spirit of (mostly) peace and harmony.

2. Never put the peg bag in the middle of the flysheet/inner tent/poles bundle. When you've fought and tamed the beast and imprisoned it back into its bag you will ALWAYS find a missed peg still in the ground. Words will be said and the journey home will be frosty . And another tent peg will be lost somewhere in the car.

Anyone else want to play?

Spare batteries for everything. Wet wipes for grubby kids.

Remember that things slide off tables that are not level. Pack a spirit level.

I read this on MN several years ago and it has stayed with me; the three essentials of camping

Wine
Wellies
Winegums

And a very warm sleeping bag. And a headtorch.

Be warm, drink wine.

It works for me

Tent-peg pullers really do work better than just using another tent peg.

Don't go camping with judgey friends. Go with nice friends.

and especially not with the 'judgey friends with one perfectly behaved child' types.

Always make sure your mobile and car keys are safely in your pocket when you pack away and not left in the inner storage pocket of tent ( learnt the hard way)

If thinking of buying a trailer, check that your car can tow. (I found out just in time that mine can't).

Liking these !

I think in your situation Lilyloo my language would have got me thrown off the site. Or I'd just have cried!

I always try to air the tent before going away, plus we hopefully remember how to put it together in the relative harmony of our back garden and not in a stress at the campsite :)

Have a nice cool beer/glass of wine ready as soon as you arrive as it takes the edge off the tent erecting. Have the second one as soon as the tent is up FULLY and Completely.

leave ear plugs and pain killers in the tent for next time as you will probably forget them and curse the fucking birds with their charming dawn chorus making your winey hangover all the worse.

Loving the ear plugs idea - I always take them and always fret about forgetting them!

Lakeland Scrudles are ideal for baling out flooded tents.

Leave a change of clothes out for after you have packed away. Driving for hours caked in mud after wrestling soggy groundsheets is not good.

Waterproof trousers for small people, so they're not plastered in mud as soon as they leave the tent.

(I do a lot of my camping in the Lakes - can you tell? )

Just be aware that you will argue unpacking and packing up, impossible not to but it's all part of the holiday!

Just remembered another one. Children's wellies should always go at the top of the pile in the boot of the car, unless you want a growing pile of muddy equipment as you dismantle everything looking for wellies so that they can get out of said car.