Never been camping. Advice and recommendations please.

[johngrady]

It's DH's 40th birthday this year. He has happy memories of camping as a child and he'd love to start taking the DC's (5 & 3.5) and me.
I've always resisted as I like my home comforts but it's just occurred to me that I could kit us out for his birthday gift.
So I am literally starting from scratch. I have no idea where to begin. Tent? Then what?
TIA

Soulpad bell tent.......or a caravan.

Electric hook up...means you can have fridges, heaters, kettles, toasters, lights...hair straighteners...all essentials for camping!

And after the tent you'd need. Sleeping bags, SIMs, stove, ehu cable possibly, icytek box, chairs, table, camping kitchen, plates, cutlery, kettle, pans, water container.

Don't go out ans buy lots of stuff before you have ever been camping. You could spend a fortune and hate it. Why not book two nights in a nice campsite and just get the basics. If you can borrow stuff do. If not look on Gumtree there's always loads of camping stuff. All you really need for a weekend is tent, sleeping bags and mats and minimal cooking stuff. If Gumtree is no good yry Go Outdoors.

Or alternatively book a camping pod for the weekend to see if you like camping. Don't spend a fortune on stuff you might never use again. Also think about the kind of camping your dh likes. If it's wild camping you won't need loads of gear.

IMO, if you have a good airbed (wish I could love mats or sims, but sleep on my side and can't get comfy, unlike my beloved aerobed), mattress topper and down duvet, plus something to boil water on, then everything else is additional.

But if you are cold and uncomfortable at night, nothing makes up for that!

Can you borrow a tent?
Sleeping kit is vv important. Don't buy cheap and thin sleeping bags. Ensure a decent layer between you and the ground.
Layers of clothing.
Light.
Makings of tea for the morning!
FWIW. I don't do camping without a hot shower and electric hook up! I thought I'd hate camping but we love it. The DC's love the freedom and damn it's cheap!!

Things you really need to get started. .. tent. Good deals available in Go Outdoors. Watch an internet video of how to put it up. Airbeds- take your own duvets and extra blankets. Camping chairs. Cool box/bag. Stove. Torches/lantern. Go somewhere beautiful for a couple of days in nice weather. You can add anything else later if you like it!

If you are camping in the UK (or anywhere wet), get a tent you can stand up in for when it pisses with rain. Means you can move about without getting soaked, and will also mean you have the space to eat out of the weather.

I thought I'd hate camping, having had miserable experiences as a teenager, but I really enjoy it. Those folding tables with integral seats are pretty good. We also take all our saucepans, mugs, plates etc in one of the huge clip-lid plastic boxes you can get in Staples. Once camped, the kitchen stuff is unloaded into a folding cupboard, and the clip-lidded box is used for food the wildlife might nick and to keep things like matches, teabags and other essentials dry. Once we're back at home, and all the camping stuff is washed, it all goes back into said box in the shed till next time - tea towels, the lot.

Don't do it (buy all the kit, that is). If you hate it, you'll be compelled to go again because 'we have all the kit to use and the kids love it'.

Buy a weekend glamping trip instead.

Try a night glamping/in a yurt? You get the great outdoors & sleeping under canvas without the faff or outlay. If you then hate it (dh does, & does a couple of nights a year on sufferance to keep the rest of us happy) you haven't spent £££s on gear.

Having said that, dh & I now own 3 tents - a family size one with 2 bedrooms, a sturdy 2 person dome tent, & a cheap 3 person dome. None of them cost more than £70, so after a couple of nights they've paid their way by comparison with even a cheap Travelodge family room.

If camping by car, it's perfectly OK to take piles of tatty old duvets to supplement sleeping bags.

Start on a weekend with forecast glorious weather. Camping in the pissing rain can be great fun, but why make life difficult unnecessarily?

Go for one or two nights, to a nice campsite attached to a pub that does decent food. Restrict cooking to morning fry up over cheap camping stove. Ensure a fair amount of time spent away from campsite doing fun stuff.

Once we're back at home, and all the camping stuff is washed, it all goes back into said box in the shed till next time - tea towels, the lot.

^ this
If sharing skanky showers isn't bad enough, you then have to pack up (in the rain, quite possibly) and unpack, clean, dry, fold and find somewhere to store the whole bloody lot once you get home bedraggled, sleep deprived and needing a holiday to recover.

Thank you. I am making a list!

I had thought about booking a glamping trip as a hoax present then produce all the kit on his actual birthday (which is August so hopefully still in with a chance of decent weather)
Tbh I'm not worried about wasting money. Even if I hate it, he'll still go and take one or both of the dcs on his own. But will trawl gumtree (great suggestion) for stuff.
So questions so far are:
What is/are SIMS?
If we have an electric hook up can I take an electric blanket ?
Any recs for glamping in Scotland/North of England?

Comrie Croft is a fantastic site for camping or glamping. But definitely agree with borrowing stuff for your first trip. You can have a good nosey at other people's set ups and see what would suit you. Lots of fleece blankets, booze and snacks always feature highly on our trips.

Camping is brilliant. We love it.
We got our first tent second hand. Everyone said get the biggest tent you can afford, and it was great advice.
Being warm and dry is v v important. So comfy airbed/rollmat plus sleeping bags plus blankets (more than you think, for underneath you as well as on top). Warm and dry boots. Extra clothes for the evening. Lamps/torches. Something to cook on.
Completely agree with the plastic box of kitchen stuff.

Some great advice here. I am personally wedded to my 5m bell tent, but they are not for the faint hearted .

Would it be worth buying a load of Go Camping vouchers and then taking him out shopping on his birthday weekend. That way, you both get to choose and feel excited.

My tips:
-Get a tent you can stand up in. My formula is 2x the recommended size. So a four-man tent for a couple, an eight-man tent for a family, etc.This allows you enough space for separate living and sleeping areas.

• You need to be warm and dry. Get a small electric heater for the tent and pay extra for hook-up. It's worth it, especially at night (yes, even in summer unless it's a heatwave). I also swear by fleece blankets. You can buy them by the metre, they are quick to dry and wonderfully warm. I throw them over chairs and use them as a bottom layer on the bed instead of cotton sheets.
• You also need to sleep well. I use a memory foam rolled up mattress, but we are fairly frequent campers that go 8-10 times a year. A standard blow-up bed is fine, especially if equipped with duvet, pillows and extra blankets. If you are going down the it-must-be minimal route, take a look at alpkit sleeping mats. I have been using mine for over five years at festivals (when "roughing" it) without a single stiff back.
• For your first time away, chart out your meals and take only what you need from your kitchen, along with some cheap paper or plastic cups & plates. You can always buy dedicated camping cookware later. For example, if you are planning pancakes for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and a hotpot tea, you would need cutlery, cups, plastic plates, a saucepan, frying pan spatula, wooden spoon and corkscrew/ bottle opener. Make up the pancake mix at home and put in a screw cap bottle than can be poured out. Buy or prepare the hotpot at home so you are not hunched over a chopping board on your lap.
• Essentials: Large tent light, smaller torches, wet wipes, camp chairs, washing up bowl, first aid kit corkscrew, scissors. I would also recommend a potty or emergency bucket for the middle of the night, with the kids.

Good luck!

I think SIM stands for self-inflating mat. You unscrew the toggle, leave the thing to it, and 20 mins later you come back and it will have inflated itself an flattened out and you screw the toggle up again. When you come to pack up, undo the toggle again and roll them up tightly. At least, the DC have to do this; we have an airbed

Oh, and get a tent with an awning/lobby at the front (unless camping somewhere reliably bone dry) so that you have somewhere you can leave your shoes where they won't be totally soaked by morning, and which also acts a kind of airlock when it's pissing with rain: that way there's always a closed zip between the dry bit of the tent and the downpour.

If you do get an airbed, cough up the extra to get a pump which can be plugged into your car's fag lighter. That lives in our huge plastic box between camping trips as well. DH's genius contribution to the box was a thermos jug which we use as a teapot.