single parent camping with 4dc and a vectra. no roofbox. madness?

[bemusedisnottheword]

may already have a tent but it's only a cheap tesco one thats never been out the bag. Only to see if I like it or not

Am I mad to consider it? childrens ages are 14 down to 3.

I won't be going far at first in case its horrible. and I have very little money

Not mad no, it's a great cheap holiday, but I'm not sure if it will be possible to fit everything you need, plus the five of you, into the car. I find airbeds and sleeping bags take up loads of room, then there's the cool box, food, clothes, towels.

If you're not going far from home then would it be possible to get a friend to drop off some of the stuff at the site and then collect it again? Or could you borrow a roof box from someone?

Borrow as much as you can for a first trip, just in case you hate it. Choose a nice site where the children can run about safely and remember to pack wine. Hopefully you'll all have a great time.

My two friends that I have don't drive either so that's a no no unfortunately. We are only going about 15 miles away so I suppose it's possible to do two trips to get all the stuff there.

I've already got some stuff such as sleeping bags and a camping light. I've been meaning to do this for years but it's always been money and having a dodgy car that's stopped me but this year I'm hoping will be different.

It is possible. Just make sure you keep clothes to a minimum. Use packet food as its easier to store. If kids are young/short then use the footwells for storage during travelling. If you're just going for a weekend, one washbag with soap, flannel, toothpaste and brushes will be plenty. You can shower when you get home

Camping is great fun, as long as the DC are willing to pitch in. You could end up resenting the trip if you have to do everything yourself

Do a test run. Somewhere very local.

We camped 5 miles away last year, it had a pool, everything - we came back home on the second day to exchange some of our useless equipment for stuff we actually needed!

I did it on my own with three children (10yo down to 6mo). It was great.

And we fitted almost everything into a fiesta, but it was a bit of a squeeze. Ok it was a nightmare and the children had stuff on top of them. But still...

would suggest a roofbox, in all honesty.

Oh and airbeds. I cannot, cannot sleep on a roll up mat thing even if it is meant to self inflate. It was diabolical.

We went home for the giant blow up double airbed which stands the same height as a low divan.

Between that and the 4 metre bell tent you can imagine there wasn't much room for anything else in the car. And you need a pump that works, not the electric one you got months before that won't connect to your car. And I wouldn't recommend trying to blow up a full size airbed using only your mouth.

We went last year in our Insignia, so I suppose a similar size? We have 3 DC but 2 of them are the size of adults.

I'd say don't be tempted to put things into boxes or cases to pack. It's a pain to unpack when you get there, but keep towels out to shove in spare spaces. Socks inside shoes. Use the doors and clear out the glove box to use. We use the space under the front seats, under the smallest DC feet, under my feet in the passenger seat!

We sit on throws as we like to take some, but make sure you can get to the seat belts.

We also lift up the boot and put things around the spare wheel. Woe betide us if we ever get a puncture!

Also, if you have back seats that fold down, once you have packed the boot, if you fold down the seats you usually find some additional space to pack things before you put the seats back up again.

You will need airbeds - they take up less space than rolled up self-inflating or foam mats. A large picnic blanket will avoid the need to take a table and chairs, although we found something like this a revelation in terms of making sitting on the ground more comfortable: www.amazon.co.uk/Highlander-Outdoor-Seat-Blue/dp/B002WUJC5U/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1390412891&sr=8-4&keywords=lightweight+chair. If you want to sit up in the evenings drinking wine and reading, you might want to get one .

If you go to a site which allows fires, you might be able to rent a grill so you can cook over a fire but, even then, you will need some sort of lightweight gas stove for boiling water and pasta and rice maybe.

Bring pillow cases and then you can all use clothes stuffed inside them as pillows.

Bring the minimum of utensils and crockery - lightweight mug, bowl and maybe a spork or a knife, fork and spoon for each person - cooking-wise most things can be done with a set of thongs and a fish slice or slotted spoon.

Don't forget lights - a head torch for each person is probably the most practical and most light-weight way of dealing with it, and maybe some sort of camping lamp for the tent if you can squeeze it in.

Some sites have fridges and freezers but, if not, a cool bag will be easier to pack than a cool box, through not as good. Freeze milk, bottles of water, bags of wine etc. before you go and these will defrost slowly and act as ice packs while you are away. Do as much of your food shopping as possible after you have arrived and unpacked - head off to a local supermarket and stock up there if possible - that will avoid packing too much food.

Other than that, clothes are going to be your biggest issue probably and you can avoid too many changes for the little ones by putting them in wellies and waterproof trousers (unless it is shorts weather obv) so it doesn't matter when they (invariably) fall over in mud/puddles.

Mind you, if you are only going 15 miles, your children can have lots of stuff packed beneath and around them which will hopefully provide a bit more space.

Tongs not thongs

most things can be done with a set of thongs

It depends on how your children feel about camping and whether they are enthusiastic or not, when I took my 13year old camping he didn't enjoy it and complained about being hungry, tired and bored the whole time.My two year old however absolutely loved it. A camping holiday can be hell when you have an unhappy teen and not much equipment. I took a land rover and a good tent but it still wasn't great :)

Choose a local site with an Asda etc near by set up camp, go to Asda etc every day for food, barbeque all you can.
Teens are a bit more difficult to entertain, one site we went to had a fishing lake two of the kids spent all day fishing
Plan well pick the weather and just go

As lisad123 said, we did it last summer. We had my 6 children, her 2 children and dh, a large dog, and 2 lots of camping equipment. We took 2 tents, air beds and sleeping bags, solar and wind up torches, picnic blankets, change of pj's each, small amount of toiletries, BBQ, food, crockery, portable stove, kettle. And I don't think much else.

Later in the year when I got my car, we pitched up again locally. I went to the site when my bigger kids were at school on the Friday. The two small ones napped in the car. whilet they slept, I set up the tent, beds, tables etc. then when the kids came home, I got our clothes and other small items, plus the dog, and drove back to the site. We stayed through till Sunday, dh was home from work, so I took the children and dog back, then went and packed up.. I would do it again. It's a site only 10miles away, and is lovely.

As my dh works weekends, I've yet to get him camping with us. But he as agreed to going this year :)