Camping virgin

[Pinkpeanut27]

Ok I have never been camping I don’t really see the point !
As a kid we had lots of caravan holidays so I’ve got a sort of idea about that type of holiday .
I’ve got 2x 15 yr olds who love camping with scouts and an 8 yr old who would love it , all his friends parents camp and school do a family camp every year . So I’m thinking that we should give it a go , just locally and for weekends rather than long stays !
We have a tiny 3 man tent and 3 sleeping bags !

So where do I start , what do I need to get . I’m hoping to be able to pick up something second hand maybe to begin with as it looks super expensive otherwise .

Is the 3 man tent for all 4 of you OP? If so, I’d start by getting a bigger tent

You need something to cook with, something to eat with, cups or plastic glasses. Something to sleep on, we use self inflating mats with sleeping bags. A torch and somewhere to sit. Almost everything else is optional. We had a cheap picnic box and some ice packs to keep things cool too.

The 8 year old might like a football too

The 3 man tent was actually for dh and 2 of the kids ! Specifically so I didn’t have to camp ! It’s pretty basic but fine fir a night in the garden .

What are good makes of tent ? And things to look for ?

We have tons of plastic plates etc and out door toys , a few blow up beds and roll mats again things the kids have used for camping .

If you look on eBay or your local FB selling sites, you may be able to get some bargains. There’s 4 of us and we have a 6 mon tent, but I like having the room.

Solar charger for your phone, seating for all and a table, some sort of gazebo type cover in case of inclement weather, some method of playing music, and a large bottle of wine

If the weather in not lovely I’m coming home ! I won’t be going very far. In fact I might come home anyway and leave them to it turning up with bacon sarnies in the morning

Our first camping with 3x dc (4,6+7) the tents flooded every night, every day we had to put the heaters on in the car to dry the sleeping bags.
5 years on and many camping trips later they declare the first trip the best!