Camping for beginners

[Shivs1974]

I know this has probably been done a million times before so apologies before I begin....Is there a list of things that camping virgins should take?

I just bought a solar powered meerkat light to annoy DH amuse and entertain the DC's at night.

HTH!

If you have a look for previous threads I'm sure you'll find lots of lists of essentials.

For us its
inflatable mattresses,
plenty of blankets/picnic rugs etc,
a big cool box with frozen bottles of water that defrost over the course of a few days to give you cool water while keeping the food fresh,
plenty of bin bags/carrier bags to prevent piles of crap gathering in the corner of the tent (dirty clothes, rubbish etc),
lamps/torches
and most importantly don't forget a sense of humour.

Especially if it rains!

Have a great time.

I got this link in a MN newsletter recently, not sure how good the list is, it seems a bit sparse - but a good place to start! :)

Thank you both...I guess I was hoping that there'd be a "master" list of what to bring, rather than scrolling through all of the threads....but not to worry...I will do that - and then post on a separate thread.

the thing is, the master lists can be enormous, to the point where you would need a lorry, listing every last teaspoon and plastic bag. Are you going for 2 nights or 2 weeks? What facilities and are you with anyone else (the well equipped friend can save your packing!).

The bare minimum is tent, mats, sleeping bags, torch. If you are going to cook and eat, you need stove and gas, kettle, cooking/frying pots , stuff to eat from, few utensils. Cold box for anything needs keeping cold. Sitting down can be anything from your roll mat to tables chairs throws and cushions.

Do not forget: mallet, matches, loo roll. Waterproof jacket and wellies.

My top tip is to take a big shopping bag-for-life, if you take one to the shower with one puny coathook you can put all your clothes in it safely rather than trying to keep 8 pieces of clothing off the floor. Especially if you are taking 2 DC's to the shower as well.

Better to go with less stuff and see how you get on and what other people have. I am a terrible overpacker, I love it when we just go for a weekend and travel light.

Thank you all...we've been talking about going camping for ages now and still haven't been....so I guess it's those things that I wouldn't think of or that don't spring to mind...

and I've just found a whole load of stuff on MN that I didn't know existed....which has loads of helpful tips....should have done my hunting first before posting!

Can you link?!

Fancy, nobody has mentioned yet!! :o

There are various master lists somewhere....

But people have different camping styles - different list depending on whether you are a cook-over-the-campfire type camper, and 'all mod cons and electric hook up' camper, bunting / no bunting....

I always remember the Wine, Wellies and Winegums from an old camping thread!

shivs1974 if you want to email me I can send you my exhaustive list

delyth dot wolfram at blueyonder dot co dot uk

I need a master list tbh. I always forget something important.

For newbie camping, I'd broadly look at Sleeping Arrangements and Refreshments never underestimate how cold it can get at night, even in the height of summer.

If you have never ever been camping before then I'd plan to go for ONE night, somewhere reasonably close to home.

Practice putting the tent up in the back garden before you go.

Take extra blankets / fleeces to sleep in, it gets cold at night even if the weather is good and there is nothing worse than being too cold to sleep!

Minimise the cooking / cooling gubbins. Take sandwiches for lunch. Disposable BBQ, packet of sausages in an insulated bag with frozen bottles of water & milk. Apples, nanas, biscuits etc for snacks. Croissants or cake for breakfast. Or even a chippy dinner

If you enjoy yourselves you can then start building up to the full coolbox / stoves / plates etc but tbh that is the most complicated bit IMO!

I now do things like make and freeze bolognese to heat up, with fresh pasta that means you're not crouched over a gas stove for ages.

I also have a picnic hamper with a full set of plates, knives, forks, bowls, tin opener, pans, teapot, kettle etc all packed in it - so we just have to pick that up rather than remember to pack a massive long list every time. I've collected all the bits over the years but it would be a big outlay all at once - not worth doing unless you fall in love with life under canvas!

Loads of spare plastic bags. Always useful for rubbish, wet clothes etc.

Good luck!

Oh I am worried about my sleeping arrangements now. Have borrowed kit etc off friends and could only lay my hands on a 2 to 3 season sleeping bag. Was planning on taking a duvet too, plus things to go underneath (namely, picnic blanket, cheap (like £1 cheap) foam camping mat, fleece blanket and silver blanket thing) - would that stuff be better under the airbed, or on top of the airbed but still under me?

Do you think I'll be warm enough? I feel the cold easily! Thinking of forking out for a 3 season sleeping bag but am very tight for money at the mo so would really rather not. Am going next week to northern lakes.

I think you'll be warm enough well. Some PJ's as well? I'd put the foam under the airbed

We put those foil/plastic backed picnic rugs on the floor to help insulate, then airbed, then sleeping bag - never need any additional blankets TBH and we've only ever camped in UK so not really warm weather most of the time. I'd put the mat under the airbed too so that the cold from the ground doesn't come upwards, the tent itself will be reasonably warm with all the bodies breathing in there!

I find air beds hold the cold air which in turn make you cold. It took me a longgggggggg time to consider the camping foam mats, that just unroll and you lie on. Costco seem to provide the best, that I've seen. We camped beginning of May when it reached zero degs at night, and... with thermals\hot water bottles, we did ok. Certainly now, a few weeks on... it is much much warmer.

Agree to put down anything foil backed, to help retain heat, picnic blankets, or those foil things you put in front of the car. Every little helps. First night is always the worst for some reason.

Grumpla That is a fantastic idea re the picnic basket. Wonder if I can convince dh on that .

wellthatsdoneit We bought cheap 3 season bags from Go Outdoors for under £10 each recently. Can't comment on how well they work as we let the kids use them the other night. Dh & I only had the cheapy sleeping bags that came with our cheapy "see if the kids like camping" tent and had them directly on the groundsheet. We were cold but only because it was a rather windy site and we'd pitched the tent such that we got the full whack of the wind (so it didn't scare the kids)

bumping for a link from OP

I had a double 'sheep' fleece fitted sheet type thing to put over the airbed, as I hated that rubbery cold feeling

We just went for the first time this weekend and loved it. Airbeds were pretty cold with just sheets on so added an extra blanket below us and then double duvet on top. Kids were in sleeping bags and duvet. Great tip to insulate under mattresses.

Apparently Argos have season 3 sleeping bags on offer.