The Mumsnet Guide to Camping

[GloGirl]

Help a woman out, we've decided to be campers. We've got two young boys and a short August weekend booked nearby as our first trip.

We. Own. Nothing! To camp with so want to start building our kit up from scratch and figured we'd probably spend around £1000 on tent and sleeping bags etc.

Any recommendations of what we need or top camping tips would be really appreciated

Don't want to spend a fortune on things we don't know will be good long term but similarly I don't want to underdo it and have an uncomfortable trip and never go back, or waste money buying cheaper items only to immediately replace them after 2 nights.

The baby blue is also gorgeous. I'm convincing myself they'd also be good for house parties...

these are a good thing for a pop up loo. They have a biodegradable gel in, which soaks up stuff. and can compost. we used them for our forest school - just double loaded the bags and worked for a bunch of kids for a 3 hr session, so should be fine for a night time
www.popaloo.co.uk/

Glad it went well and you weren't put off trying it again!

Food. We go non-EHU and just use an ordinary picnic-type coolbox. We have loads of those freezer blocks. Water bottles are a good alternative to freezer blocks. Many sites have a freezer you can use and it becomes part of your routine to change them regularly. I pop ours into an old carrier bag with our name on before putting them in the freezer. So far we've never had any stolen.
(wonders how many people forget to pick up their spares at the end of their stay?)