What unusual things do you take camping?

[GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat]

We are a family of 5 (kids are 9-15) and proficient campers and enjoy going as part of a larger group.

Everything goes very well but I’m always looking to improve the experience, space save and make things easier.

We don’t have electricity hook up and enjoy cooking at the site as opposed to eating out. The kids are helping and generally we share larger things with the other families.

What unusual things do you take that work?

I don't travel light any more. I take a cafetiere and a proper mug for coffee, a slow cooker for evening meals and an induction hob... I am no longer allowed down the Aisle of Dreams unsupervised!

My mum used to insist on taking a bathmat camping - one of the shaggy ones. She used to hate the feeling of the tarp material on her bare feet when she woke up!

Non-electric stuff that makes a camping trip better for us:
Dobble - better than traditional playing cards.
Glowsticks
Pipe cleaners for modelling when it's wet
Emergency ponchos for dashing to the toilet when it's wet.

Tent carpet in the living room area! We also put that foil-covered bubble wrap on the floor of the bedrooms, under the beds to keep it warmer.
When we go camping (just a few nights every year) there are no toilet blocks, just portaloos with cold water, and there's no electric hook-up.
We found the slip-on gardening shoes easier than wellies, and we take wetwipes to get around the no shower facilities.
Don't do "camping light" though so it's duvets, pillows and as much else for comfort as possible.

Oh I do love camping and only just found this topic apologies now for flooding threads everywhere..!

We have EHU as I can't be without electric blankets and a mini fridge for all combos of weather we have had.

Quick dry towels are so good for obvious reasons and take up less space.

We have a trolley on wheels that came from a garden show, is brilliant for taking the washing up to the sink and back.

Rechargeable headtorches as I get through so many batteries (only for EHU).

Agree croc/garden shoes are much better than wellies.

I have a hanger by front of tent with kagouls for the night.

Onesies!

Lots of wooden skewers for marshmallows/kebab cooking.

I could go on for hours here...

We take a Stanley thermos and put any unused boiled water in there as we go along, so good for quick cups of tea, hot water bottles etc. Have bought these as well for this year, for maximum sleeping bag warming-upping. www.amazon.co.uk/Bottle-Water-Revolutionary-Pocket-Fleece/dp/B07MHD1WMV/ref=sr_1_5_a_it?keywords=long+hot+water+bottles+with+cover&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1553007358&sr=8-5
(did not pay that amount, though, they were on special offer)

also decathlon do quick dry towels that are altogether less creepy than the usual microfibre ones. bit bulkier tho.

DS when little used to take his euphonium.

God, we were popular.

More practically, I can say that the army do jolly good large green microfibre towels. Get a few from the army surplus shop.

Aldi had some blankets for the dc last year with sleeves in! Bought them all one - £5 each!

We take S hooks to hook onto our horizontal poles inside for towels and coats. The poles will hold 5 x waterproofs and 5 x towels without giving way.

We've also done a few long holidays with a couple of 1x1m squares of artificial grass to lay at the entrance to our tent which acted as a brilliant de-sander/grasser mat. They roll up v easily or can lay flat at the base of your boot/trailer.

Dustpan & Brush for the sand & grass that still gets in!

One for the pros, as many here seem far more competent than me: our tent has no exposed poles internally, so we cannot string things horizontally to create hanging space. We currently use collapsible storage but is there anything else?
We've taken a small gazebo in the past but that's not always practical.

Hanu...have you got internal bedrooms you could use karabiners to hang those hanging cupboards. Ours is part of the tent, but I reckon you could try that?

Alternatively there is a lady in Pontefract who does tent repairs, and I am sure you could send her one of the internal bedrooms to firmly machine sew on a couple of hooks to the side so you could hang something? Pm me and I'll send you details if you like.

Trying to work out because our poles are also external only but we seem to have bits to hang things from 🤔

Electric hookup and a kettle. Then only have food that you can prepare using kettle and bbq. I hate the stupid gas - we've stopped taking it.

Hot water bottles, genius idea!

Wow tons more replies! Thank you, going to have a good read through.

Thank backin tent current needs repair after being pulled at seams on our last outing with high winds.
Yes we have bedroom spaces, with hook & hole type fittings (like toggles, I'm not describing it well)
We put the hanging storage thing on the floor, laid on its back. That fits in the main area
The bedrooms aren't terribly spacious.
I'll pm you to discuss!

i use one of those hanging storage things under the camping table as well, fwiw (the lower shelves sit on the ground). handy storage for sealed stuff, althogh you do have to make sure it's velcroed in hanging a little bit backwards or your tins slide out.

have also hung them from a branch of a tree, never thought of lying them on their backs. they're basically a concertina-ed wonder for camping purposes.

Lots of things of mine are weird for camping.
What I wouldn’t be without is my outdoor carpet though. It looks pretty - saves the grass turning into a mud bath at the entrance to tent and is somewhere to take off and store shoes before going in tent. Saves getting grass on the indoor carpet

Outdoor carpet? Tell me more

Girlinstripedpyjamas
2 of my tents - same carpet.
Roll up waterproof. Mine is from Tiger but lots of places sell them - invaluable and small to pack

We take our nespresso machine!

A chandelier and a padded toilet seat.

Chandelier
Wooden wine boxes- hold a lot of stuff in the car and then we flip them and have them as little tables in the (bell) tent
Sheepskin rug- it’s only a small one but keeps me very warm in the night