So what are you top tips for organised and fun camping

[Beetroot]

Hide a spare towel for yourself

Pack extra pants, socks and keep them hidden until kids desperate

great idea re ikea bags.
what do you keep our foodin?

and pmsl arlink

I got 2 giant ikea tubs with lid that stack - one with kitchen quipment in, and one for food, so travel with food one empty and sored indide other one, then buy stuff there and they stack on top of each other, both have lids so no beasties

link may be amusing but totally vital, no early morning/middle of night toilet visits for anyone

do you catheterise yourself then

lol, no but I use my gadget to wee in a bottle practically every night I'm camping as once I'm in my pj that's it, no nocturnal wanderings for me. You've heard of a she-wee right? This is just a better one of those. The ultimate technological advance, women being ale to stand up to wee

My top tips concern storage:

1. When tent camping, a dangly organiser such as can be bought as a cuddly toy holder in Ikea is a great place to keep random essentials which you want to keep off the ground such as matches, toilet rolls etc.

2. If you don't have enough space in the car/money to buy camping furniture such as shelves and camping kitchen, collect orange boxes or other good strong shallow boxes from the nearest supermarket when shopping and use these to store things such as food, saucepans, plates, knives and forks etc. Then any plastic boxes you've brought can be freed up for carrying sandwiches or other picnic items.

Just got back from that river dart camp site and it was absolutely fab. Very spacious and loads for the kids to do. The lake and pirate ship were a huge hit. Definitely worth the 4 hour drive.

Went to the Dart one 2 years ago and it was great, if a little on the expensive side.

Top Tips-
1)a square plastic 'tupperware' style container, with a lid and a big handle that attaches to the box itself to put all your toiletries in for shower visits. No problem with water getting into it if there's no curtain, whatever.

2)dry off with a facecloth before using the towel- amazing how much dryer you can keep your towels

3. (getting 'soft' here)- a collapsible floor standing drying rack preferably with loops at the feet to peg down, shove it outdoors on nice days, leave it inside the tent at night. Banish wet towels and togs!

4. (never never land) A hanging rail for clothes! No slightly damp fleeces, nasty crumpled 'slightly better' shirts etc. I got an Argos one and cut it half-length as that's all you need.

5. a floor cloth- use a blue J cloth but knot a corner so you know which is the floor one and which the dishes one.

6. I store clothes in a camping cupboard unit, 3 shelves and a top, 20 quid from argos. Again you can sort out the kids stuff from yours and it doesn't all end up a twisted, dampish mess being off the floor. I put things like the torch, glasses, sunblock on the top of it for ready easy access. Word of warning, though- don't get a super tall one thinking 'loads of space!' cos in a tunnel tent, it has to stand away from the walls so the taller it is, the further out into the living space it stands.

7. lidded bucket- useful as a trash bin and for sluicing revolting children!

8. a potty. Our DSs, 6 and 8 still use it for nocturnal visits. Put a bag of wet wipes next to it every evening.

9)keep your gear, as far as you can, packed and ready to go as in camping cutlery, crockery, pots'n'pans. Far easier to make a split second decision to Go Camping.

10. An obsessively detailed list of EVERYTHING you may need on the computer. Edit it for each individual trip and revise it after every trip, noting what needed repairing, replacing etc

11. wine and earplugs, but we all knew that already, didn't we?!

shit, we go camping tomorrow and all we've got so far is wine!
Forgot about needing dishes and stuff.