What are the camping luxuries or essentials that make all the difference?

[mamapolenta]

DP has always been anti-camping. He's not the greatest of sleepers and has had a few bad experiences in the past. He does, however, love the thought of a future of cheap holidays and is a very outdoorsy person. I think he wants to love camping but I just need to find the key things that will tip it into a good/great holiday rather than a get-me-out-of-here one. My only experience with camping is festivals but for me a tent with lots of space that I can stand up in is the most important thing. Second is choosing the right campsite (which can be a whole other thread).
What are your recommendations or tips? We will be going with two boys (6&4) and we are essentially starting from scratch with gear!

Alpkit thermal sleepmats, a fitted sheet over the top and a double duvet. Makes sleep comfortable and warm. Eye masks for the morning. Ear plugs.

We always do some snacky/tapas type bits around 5pm with something nice to drink. So loves, pickles, crisps, some cheese etc. This feels quite decadent.

2 tables. One to eat from and sit round, another to cook/prep on.

Electric hook up, so you can take plug in cool box, travel kettle and a cheap toaster makes life so easy

1. Quick way of boiling water in morning even in rain
2. Sleeping arrangement that is comfy and warm (for me that's thick airbed, pillow, thick sleeping bag and blanket on hand if needed)
3. Tent with room to stand up and to have table and chairs
4. clean hot showers if more than 1 night

And a decent campsite depending what you like but good facilities with hot water for washing up and clean showers and toilets.

For me its the bed. Take a duvet and something warm to sleep on, sleeping bags are rubbish.

For me, my luxuries are my merino leggings (I get changed into my warm clothes early in the evening so I am cosy before I get into bed, and wear the merino as a base layer under other trousers or a fleece onsie), my dryrobe (I bought it as I outdoor swim, but it is fabulous for camping as I can throw it on to go to the loo in the night, wear it to and from the showers so no getting dressed there, snuggle up in it during the evening and so on).
For sleeping, I much prefer my down duvet from home, plus a mattress topper and my proper pillow. It makes sleeping so much better than a sleeping bag.
And yes to the quick cup of tea in the morning. We do EHU for various reasons so do have a kettle (no need to leave the tent), but for times that we don't, we have a jetboil which is fantastic for getting to tea much quicker.

We take a double camp bed, it means you are warm as its off the floor, aren’t sleeping on any lumps and then has storage underneath.

If sleeping is the trouble, is it cold or light that is the problem? Or noise? If you can be specific with what his disasters have been we can help more.

Fix cold with good sleeping mats as above, but consider taking hats to wear in bed - huge difference.
If it’s light, I have a buff style thing that I can use as an eye mask. Very effective.

Borrow from mates if you can to start. find a campsite with cafe for breakfast and eat out or BBQ in the evening so you can avoid getting cooking stuff straight away.

Camp chairs to sit on can be nice especially if you are hanging around whilst kids run wild.

We have rubberised cotton airbeds which are awesome. Better than self inflated mattresses we’ve had.

Also take duvets and pillows. Miles better than sleeping bags - we made this revelation this year.

Buy the best sleeping kit you can afford. We have a good self inflating mat and two sleeping bags, one for underneath and one on top. Now upgrading to a 10cm SIM to cushion the old bones a bit. Agree that you need two tables. As others have said, a decent campsite - some have shared spaces with kettles, toasters, fridges and microwaves which can make all the difference in bad weather. Also campfires, I think a campfire is the best but about camping and I never camp anywhere that doesn’t allow fires. UK Campsite website has loads of information about good campsites all over the country. Good luck!

*bit not but!

These for walking too and from the showers. Means you can dry off and dress in your tent and not in some too-small soaking wet shower cubicle with not enough hooks or benches to keep your clothes dry.

www.decathlon.co.uk/C-815231-bathrobes

Hire a fridge from the campsite. We camp mostly in France and they generally have fridges for hire.
A really good blow up bed and a good chair. I prefer taking duvets to sleeping bags

A good tent.
We had a small tent for years. Think it’s a 4 man and had 2 small bedrooms and a little middle bit. Wasn’t too bad when the kids were toddlers but now they are pre-teens and 3 of them it was a nightmare and stuff everywhere. Plus the middle bit was open to the grass so bugs got everywhere.
Last year we bought a new tent. It’s an 8 man and so can be divided into 4 bedrooms and they are black out rooms so don’t get the light and woken up quite so early!! The middle bit is massive and came with a carpet so nicer under foot. When it rained we could fit the 5 of us and my sister, niece and nephew in to play card games etc.
The kids shared one large bedroom without a divider in and me and DH had one half of the other end. The other half was them used as storage for clothes and coats etc.
We then bought the large porch which again made a massive difference this year. All the kitchen stuff could be sorted out there (and we could cook in it when it rained!!) camping chairs etc could popped in the porch at night etc.

Biggest tip to sleep well - have a couple of drinks!!!

Decent bed and bedding, plug in cool box, kettle, toaster, cafetiere, coffe.

And camp fire

Inflatable tent! DH always had reservations about camping but a couple of years ago decided that he was willing to give it a go. I decided that we needed a tent big enough for us to stand up in plus space inside for if it rained. We have a huge 8 man tent and we can put it up in 15 minutes which was invaluable in the rain in France last summer. It was expensive but worth every penny as DH sees camping as a fun thing so we actually do it!

I need to sleep well, we have camp beds with Sims on topthen blanket then me then duvet. Also I always take toilet. Honestly we now have a bell tent with a wood burning stove, carpets, etc v v posh 😂 and a porch for our kitchen bits. Oh and camp fire is a must for us, we often take a potjie pot and cook with a tripod through day then bung bread dough in over night to rise for morning. Delicious!

Wow so many responses, thank you! I think I definitely won't consider anything less than an 8 man tent then. SIM's, dry robes and tables should be my starting essentials. Interested to learn about EHU's. I wasn't entirely sure what they were needed for if you weren't in a camper/caravan Decent comfort, warmth and darkness for sleeping are the main things so thanks for the ideas on how best to achieve that.

We use EHU for cool box, phone/tablet/Kindle charging (although we have a solar charger as well) and DHs Sleep Apnea machine.
I saw TVs in tents last year, and a kareoke machine (please don't. Why anyone thought this was a good idea is beyond me).

Karaoke! I think if I had to endure that on a campsite then that would be the end of camping adventures for us!

Aroundtheworldin80moves - DHs BiPAP is our main reason for having EHU too

A tent with a porch! Our first tent didn’t have one so when it rained the water came inside every time you opened the front. A porch is also somewhere to leave muddy shoes / chairs etc.

Hmmm, if he is outdoorsy and noise sensitive I would look for ‘Wild ‘ style campsites where you can be a long way from other tents, often in a little glade on your own, and have a camp fire.

Have some good luxuries: proper coffee, have a good cool box do that you have properly cold beer / wine, cook fabulous food over your fire ( get him into this) with a stove as back up.

So, the opposite of EHU. Personally I hate sites with EHU because the tents are too close together for my liking and someone always uses it for a TV which you can hear..

See what he is comfy sleeping on: lost of people really like the inflatable Decathlon camp beds with a SIM on top (you don’t need to spend that much on the kids mats).

Coleman and Outdoor Revolution do blackout bedroom inners if it is the light in the morning that keeps him up, and the new silicone mouldable ear plugs are quite good.

For me, my SIM, proper coffee, cold beer, good food and a campfire make Camping my favourite experience.

Cotton canvas or polycotton are cooler in the cold, warmer in the heat and less noisy in wind.

They are more expensive, but last forever (more or less).