Camping basics please.

[creamcheeseandlox]

So we have just bought a tent as are booked to go camping twice next summer (2/3 nights each time) With friends. Never been before so not got any gear. Friends are all more experienced campers so have a lot more equipment. What are the basics we need for a comfortable trip but don't want to spend loads on luxury's or things that aren't essential.
So far my list is:
Beds
Lamp
Hook up
Table
Chairs
Some sort of storage
Small stove
Etc

Please can someone give me a good basic but essentials list and also places to get good value bits and bobs.

One last thing what's Beter for sleeping on airbeds or campbeds? There's me, DH and DD (9) and DS (7).

Thanks in advance.

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Plates bowls mugs cups cutlery etc. Plus washing up bowl is really handy to carry all the stuff over to washing up area.
Some sort of water carrier and/or a water bottle each.
Camping kettle!! Tea coffee and hot chocolate. Marshmallows essential.
Cool bag/box and ice blocks.
Pegs are surprisingly handy.
You can get thin bed rolls that inflate, not a traditional air bed, these are good for kids and dont take up too much space. We also have army style camp beds. You can spend a lot on a decent air bed for camping, cheaper ones tend to deflate. I've ended up using a cheap camp bed with a cheap bed roll on top which is pretty comfy and insulating.

Will you have electric hookup or not? Sometimes we do sometimes we dont. A hook up costs about £50.

We had camp beds to start but dp found them uncomfortable. We now have self inflating mattresses and they are great. However they are neither compact or cheap. I sleep better camping than in my own bed. Dd sleeps on a camp bed.

We bought 3x fold up tables from the range. One to eat off, one to cook on and one to store food off the ground. They were £10 each so you dont need to spend a fortune here.

Lights - buy the best you can afford. I actually dont find the rechargable/wind up lamps especially bright. A decent battery lamp lasts us over a week. I also have solar fairy lights so i can find the tent in the dark.

We actually have given up on sleeping bags in favour of our own duvet. Unless its freezing cold that is plenty warm enough. Dd feels the cold and has a three season sleeping bag and fleece covers - still complains!

We bought a couple of portable stove things. Cheap at £15 each. With the intention of updating but they do the job so no need to spend more.

We just leave clothes in bags/cases.

We bought expensive chairs from ebay . They are nice but take up alot of space in car so i just bought cheapo ones from tesco. They are fine.

You could spend a small fortune on gear. We have been camping for about 5 years now and we are trying to reduce the amount of stuff we take.

Comfy beds are essential as is somewhere to cook. We also bought a firepit which is amazing to cook on. Many sites hire them out but are quite expensive and outwell do a brilliant one for £40. It will pay for itself on one trip.

Absolutely love camping. It is as economical as you want it to be. We have spent a fortune on gear over the years but we dont holiday anywhere other than camping.

We do have a double camp bed for sale for £25 if you in the south east. Paid £60 new. See them similarly priced on ebay so do look on there.

Oh and a washing up bowl!! We also take a clothes horse for towels

We sleep on camp beds with a SIM (self inflating mattress). Inflatable beds on the ground need insulation underneath otherwise you'll freeze as cold comes from the ground up. Someone like The Range does good value camping gear. We take loads of stuff but essentials are kettle, 2 x table, stove and gas bottle, washing up bowl, pegs to dry your towels on the guy ropes, loo roll, blankets as it gets chilly at night sat outside your tent, chairs, water holder, torches or head torch, hanging lamp for inside the tent. We also get glow sticks which act as a night light for the dc's. We bought an amazon basics fire pit which is great. If you have hook up, consider a small camping kettle to make your tea faster in the morning 😀. If funds stretch to it, an electric cool box which doubles as s fridge because it's plugged in to the hook up. Box with a tight fitting lid for food stuffs. Could go on and on!

A large picnic blanket to use as the tent carpet. It really does make a difference and its only £20 for a huge one!

We went once before with borrows stuff and I hated it because I was cold and uncomfortable at night.

Even if you go in summer it can get cold. In the evening BEFORE you get cold, put on your PJs (or thermal stuff, I wear my thermal running gear as PJs when camping) and then keep layering on jumpers etc when you go to bed. Thick socks, hat and big shawl or scarf. Sleeping bag and blankets.

I always take a bundle of throws/blankets for under the airbeds/as a carpet. And a windbreaker but we're in Scotland! Always take my own pillows too and a duvet for on top of the sleeping bags. Some fun stuff for the kids, card games/frisbees/footballs and the likes. You can never have enough lights. Decathlon are good for reasonably priced camping gear.

Lots of fleece blankets - you can wrap them round you in the evenings so you don't get cold, have them over and under you when sleeping, or use on the picnic blanket for the kids to sit on.
Hot water bottles - again, use in evenings to keep warm as well as at night.
Flask - it saves boiling the kettle again to refill hot water bottle last thing, and lets you have another cuppa quickly.
Fleece onesie. We shower and put on pjs in the early evening, then layer onesie and then coat/bobble hat/fluffy socks on top. That seems to keep you really warm to get into bed. The onesie is also good for going to the showers in, rather than getting dressed there.
Hammam towels and microfibre hair turbans for those with long hair. Dry much faster than normal towels

Check with your friends what you need to take, and what they can lend. You probably don’t all need stoves, for example.

Cold at night is as much from underneath as in top. Air beds are cold. Lots of people like self inflating mats (SIMS). 5Cm thick is good. The kids should be OK on the foil backed foam mats.

3 season sleeping bags and a fleece blanket. Sleeping bags should be a reputable make. Vango, Outwell, Decathlon, Berghaus, Coleman, Gelert, Mountain Warehouse would all be OK. Tesco own brand, Argos, Halfords etc, nasty nylon bags: no!

Millets have a good sale on at present.

We don’t bother with hook up. But we have lots of torches and lanterns.

SIMS, by the way, are mostly foam so well insulated and warm to sleep on. Air beds are all air and conduct the cold from the ground.
You can actually put sheets of cardboard under your mat to create further insulation. Or if you have a foam play mat, the type that come in big coloured jigsaw tiles.

Just been through our kit list...

Sleeping... we take SIMs now but started out with airbeds which were fine for a few nights and come in handy for sleepovers etc. as DC get older. Sleeping bags - the best you can afford (and again, used for school trips, sleepovers). We take our own pillows and a couple of fleecy blankets just in case. Picnic rugs are great to go under the airbeds and provide some insulation (www.gooutdoors.co.uk/freedom-trail-fleece-picnic-rug-p362064). They also make a good carpet and make the tent feel warmer for sitting in the evenings.

Sitting... a couple of tables and, if you can, get some better quality chairs than the £5 ones that you find in Tesco.

Cooking... we've experimented with lots of stoves but keep coming back to the briefcase style ones. Don't forget spare gas canisters. Pans from home will be fine, don't forget a frying pan for breakfasts. If you have EHU then a cheap kettle is worth taking. Check whether the campsite has facilities for freezing ice packs for a cool box- if so, take spares so that some can be freezing overnight while the others are in the cool box. Freeze milk before for go (and wine bags) as they will defrost gently.

Think about what you might cook. For a long weekend we might take a chilli that just needs heating (and have with crusty bread, tortilla chips etc rather than cooking rice). A disposable barbecue might be an option for one night to do burgers/sausages and then sandwiches/pub lunch means that you only need cooking stuff for breakfast.

We buy one of the big 5l bottles of water to take with us and then refill as needed.

Plates, cutlery, mugs, plastic glasses. A wooden spoon, tongs for bacon etc, fish slice if you might do fried eggs, big plastic spoon.

Pack a sharp knife, scissors, matches, baby wipes. Washing up bowl and 'washing up kit', 'Dettol wipes' or equivalent for tables. Kitchen roll, tea towels, pegs, spare toilet roll, citronella candles for sitting outside.

I have a list of all of the essential kitchen stuff that I know we take every time - teabags, coffee, hot chocolate sachets, salt/pepper, cooking oil, brown sauce, butter, milk etc.

Lights, torches, headlamps for DC are popular.

'Travel Johns' are handy to avoid having to go to the toilet block in the night but let the DC practice at home first...

First aid kit, chargers, spare batteries. Flip flops for the shower. Microfibre towels are also handy. A washbag with a hook is good to hang on the door for showers and stops everything getting wet. We take stuff to the shower in the big supermarket bags, again so that you can hang them up and keep things dry.

Sorry this is so long, hope it helps a bit. Have fun!