Tell me everything about camping...

[MrsPiddlewink]

Somehow I have agreed to going camping this year. I've put it off for about 5 years.

We have nothing.

What are the essentials?

There are 5 of us (DH is very tall) + dog. Kids aged 3 - 9. Will a 5 berth tent be big enough? What features should be looking out for? Do we need a carpet?!

Please give me your tried and tested tips to make this experience as bearable as possible!!

Our bed is a sim on the floor, then an air bed, fleece blanket on top, then a flat sheet, then DH and I have a sleeping bag each then a double duvet on top! I hate being cold

Hair is usually no problem. Unless you go for "wild camping" most, if not all, sites will have power points in the shower block. Although depending on how popular the site, you do tend to have to queue up behind desperately bored 13 year olds who didn't want to go camping but do want to charge their mobile phones up in the lavatories. Hence hogging the electricity.

You can get electric hook up for tents though. That way you get your own supply.

Air beds are cold, unless you insulate (with cardboard/carpet) underneath, and have a thick fleecy blanket between you and the mattress.

Wear layers, but the best thing I've slept in is a hoody, with leggings/joggers. Always wear socks, and long sleeved t-shirts too.

If you decide you like it and want to continue the hell camping, it's worth investing in camp beds and/or self inflating mattresses. the SIM on a camp bed is the ultimate comfort combination!

It's fair to say that camping is not all glamour.

We bought all the gear a few years ago and have only been once for one week. Me, dh and 4 dc. It was bloody awful. Weather was quite good. I just didn't sleep - about 3 hours each night. Kids loved it.

Must sell the tent....

It's great fun, the kids all make friends and roam feral like around the site. You get to guard the tent with a glass and a good book people watching. Go for a tent with separate 'rooms' the kids like having their own space and it keeps mess to a minimum. To start with look at cheap brands like hi-gear, they do a lovely 8 berth, four bedroom tent for a reasonable price. Don't worry about carpets to start with. Our best buys are decent airbeds / roll mats, warm sleeping bags, comfy camping chairs and an electric hook up cable!
Choose a family site with a play park etc a natural point for the kids to meet up. Board games for rainy evenings, you'll need a long line and peg for the dog as well. A decent shower block close by perfects the stay :)
Camping and caravanning have provided our kids with a host of friends over the years they love it and don't need entertaining at all. therefore we get to relax. Hope you enjoy it :)

We camp a few times a year and on the whole I love it, we have got old yoga mats perks of working in a sports centre under our blow up mattresses and I agree with other posters take plenty of warm fleeces or blankets for the night time. I think I must have camped the same weekend as Pigley last year, torrential rain and thunderstorms, the water was rising under our tents we had no option but to pack up and go home as soon as it was light.

LOL Kim we aren't that bad - we've camped on foam mats in a metre-high two-man in a puddle with only two dodgy Portaloos for the site. But for a week we want to be able to stand up and stretch out. Eight-man new was £800 ish even in the sale. We didn't dare trust the structural integrity of second-hand.

Most of the expense was DH's requiring or insisting on high-spec. He is v tall so can't have standard sleeping bag / camp bed / camping chair, etc. We laughed at more than half the catalogue. Less wardrobe and more Ikea bag, get me?

Fucking roof box was £400+ although I guess that isn't just for camping.

You need lots of decorations.
Solar fairy lights,windspinners,flags....

Camping is great, but as everyone says, as long as you are warm. Make sure you wear lots of layers for bed, more than you think, it's surprisingly how cold the nights can get, even in warm climates. You'll sleep really well, being out in the fresh air and all that, makes you feel fab!

Also, if you can, make meals at home that can be easily reheated on a camping stove - ie. chilli.

Don't forget torches!!!! Baby wipes are super handy too.

Is that serious about decorations? Because I could be ALL OVER THAT in Poundstretcher.

Take a full change of clothes and towel for everyone and keep it wrapped in a plastic bag/waterproof stuff sack or in your car. Everything gets wet (your breath condenses inside the cold tent at night while you sleep) and being wet makes you (well, me) miserable. If you have emergency clothes you know are warm and dry, it helps.

Camping is great fun but you will need a holiday to get over the holiday.

I was camping on that torrential thunderstormy weekend last year too. At the side of a cricket pitch and without any facilities beyond a grubby lav and a sink with cold water. We were a long way from home and had to do some performing so couldn't actually go home. But it was a challenging weekend. Best thing about it was that it wasn't cold. Although I think I'd have swapped cold for the lightning that threatened to strike us!

Washing up bowls, incidentally, are really useful. For more than just washing up too.

Take a ball of string. It solves a lot of problems.

Wellies. You will probably be up early when the grass is covered in dew. Wellies are the solution. When shoes get wet they'll stay wet.

Don't get undressed between the light and the tent wall. You'll make a strip shadow show that all the campsite will see. I've seen it done !

Why not try spending the night in your garden? You'll practice getting the tent up and down, and you'll see how much you'll need to keep warm.

And dry = warm.

Agree the specified berth is rather exaggerated and doesn't account luggage. I camp solo in a 2-man tent (+porch) and it only just fits me and my backpack. I could really do with a 3-4 man

Definitely get a tent with a porch and central 'living' area (tall enough to stand up in). When it's wet you need the porch to clamber into and take off your wet layers and shoes without introducing water and mud to the rest of your tent

It's also nice to have the porch unzipped if it's warm but raining, at least you get to admire the view

Remember not to use stoves or BBQs inside your porch or tent, no matter how tempting. Aside from the fire risk there have been deaths in recent years caused by the build up of carbon monoxide

Ugh camping is awful

Its cold,it rains.
Other peoples children
No sleep
Its cold
Other peoples children

You will spend the whole time dreaming of your lovely warm, comfy bed and thinking never again !

You need EHU. I'd never camp without it.

Makes camping a lot more pleasant. You can take a heater.

Torches for each of you with lots of spare batteries. It is SO much darker than you think it ever could be!