Getting started - Your What to Bring List

[LadyHarrietDeSpook]

I would like to get started with camping but need to figure out what equipment is really essential. We are a family of four - DDs are 7 and nearly 4.

I've been on various websites including Amazon. My head is starting to spin.

When I saw a deep fat fryer for sale in one outdoor shop online I finally thought: WTF???? I'm trying to find out about camping not redo my sodding kitchen.

Would anyone be willing to share their TO BRING lists with me, of everything they make sure they don't forget before setting off so I can get an idea of how to narrow my focus so to speak???

partic interested in the sort of sleeping bags you bought the DCs - can my four year old go in a Youth one (she is little) or more baby?

Thanks for your help....!

We can hear DD unzipping her compartment in our 4.2 tent but the bell idea is a good one if you are a heavy sleeper (and after a day in the outdoors and a few 'gins-in-a-tin' you probably will be). I wouldn't recommend a lock on the zips - too dangerous IMO.

We have a 'notebook' barbecue like this one which folds completely flat for packing in the car but has quite a big cooking surface and can be used as a 'campfire' too with some 'firelogs' like this.

I have this 2 burner plus grill stove and http://www.outdoorworld.co.uk/gelert-portable-gas-cooker this small one for 'camping lite'. my portable BBQ is like this.

With that two ring stove you also need a regulator - the valve that connects it to the gas - it doesn't say on that website whether it is included, and you need a re-fillable gas bottle. These gas bottles are quite heavy and bulky, you pay a considerable deposit, but after that only pay for the gas when you go and swap it for a new one. Hardware and DIY shops sell gas, but it can be inconvenient to find somewhere. However they last ages - I have only ever swapped ours once, I think, in about 5 years! The little ones use gas that comes in a cannister that looks like a big aerosol, available in loads of places and shops on campsites - but the cans don't last long.

My BBQ is ok but I don't tink it will last all that long.

Not sure about our sleeping bags, I think they are 3 season - I am fussy about them being lined with cotton not nylon, and prefer the rectangualr ones, not the mummy style which make your legs squashed. With the big rectangular ones you can zip them together to make a double.

Definitley shop around, look at the big online camping retailers and Amazon.

sorry, small stove link

LadyHarriet, if you're not busy this weekend, why don't you go to the Caravanning & Camping show at Excel to see different sized tents irl? Entry is £10pp which I think is a bit much if you're only going for one thing, but on the other hand, could mean that you don't end up buying something you end up hating. And there is a stall selling fab german sausages.

Yep thought the lock might be OTT.

The EXCEL SHOW.

SOOO excited. Sooo well timed. The DDs and I are SO THERE. (DH golfing...!) Excel is very near. Thanks for heads up. xxx muchly

Ladies
Decathalon supposedly sells the tent I want through Amazon. I wanted to go to the store in London and see it up but it's unavailable there. Okay, I could poke around for another local supplier...

But assuming I CANNOT find one a reasonable distance away, would you risk buying a tent you hadn't seen up before?

As I understand it there isnt another supplier - bar Amazon and eBay - and Decathalin have just put the price up to 229. If its still on Amazon for 159 I would snap it up quick.

Won't the London store have it up soon?
How soon do you need this tent?

Tent, plus poles and pegs
mallet
Sleeping bags x2
Karrimats x2
Water carrier
chairs x2
ehu cable
fan heater?
matches
table x 2
gas hob/grill or electric hob
kettle
plates, mugs, cutlery, bottle opener
saucepans, frying pan
dutch oven
Icey tek with freezer sachet things
lantern x 2.
Torch
batteries
washing up bowl/brush/liquid
kindle. ipad. phone and chargers
box of small games such as uno, ziggerty
dd's nintendo dsi and charger
binoculars
local maps
rucksack
carrier bags
loo paper. baby wipes
toiltery bags, hair brushes
towels
pillows
sandwich bags

Viva thanks for your list.

Blu you've sensed right - I do tend to go ballistic on things. Make a decision to do something, research it, and it's gotta be done within a couple of weeks. You could be right, it might be up soon in the store. The thing to do is to ring Decathalon and find out if it's gone for good or will be coming back.

But it would be annoying to spend £70 more than necessary for no good reason at all so cheerup does have a point.

Which tent is it?

Guessing it's the base seconds 4.2.

I've got the old base seconds tent which is the middle bit without the bedrooms. To be honest I'd have thought the living space is a bit small for a family of four. There won't be much space in the middle bit to put stuff as you have doors on three sides of it.

Even for a long weekend?

Plus I want to be able to take the girls away some weekends on my own.

Maybe ok for a long weekend. But you still have the saem amount of camping stuff, just less clothes. And I always keep clothes in the bedrooms anyway.

You could put a tunnel tent up on your own.

I waited too long now I can't buy that sodding tent for £159. SOD SOD SOD. It's on amazon for £229 now. Bloody cross.