Tips for a quick pack up (possibly in the rain).

[DemiBourbon]

What are your best tips for packing up quickly (we have to leave the campsite by 10am)? Me, DH, 2 x DC 4 and 9, 5 man tunnel tent, various bits of folding/inflatable furniture and a roof bag. I don’t think I was organised enough last time and found it quite stressful! Also, the forecast is ‘light rain’.

I think pack up as much as you can the night before, like some of the inflatable furniture just before you go to bed. Also get one of you to be in sole charge of the children and the other can focus on packing. Have fun, and hopefully the rain will hold off!

The day before
*Prep your car and boot- seats down, put bikes etc on roof
*Pack everything possible.
*Check the tent pockets and empty, I swear these take ages for their relative size.
*Make any lunch, fill water bottles
*Either have a cold breakfast, or get breakfast when you've packed up from the site or cafe. That way you can pack kitchen stuff too.
*If raining, back car to tent with boot open so you can pack with a fair bit of shelter. Wear t-shirt and shorts, keep towel and dry clothes on front seat to change if necessary. Use bin liners for the tent, rather than the tent bag and dry/sort at home.

Fastest pack up I ever did was 40minutes. Me stbxh, ds (11), dss (12) and dd (4). Dss told us in the late afternoon that he was feeling homesick and wanted to go home. We were in the Lake District, dss lived a 3hr drive away. We lived in Kent. It was pissing with rain and windy. We decided that if he goes home, we all go home. I stuck the kids in the car, and emptied the tent into boot. I took down tent (8man inflatable) and threw it into roof bag (it was soaking wet). Hideous, but it worked.

Normally though, I’d pack a lot of stuff the night before, pack away porch (if it’s dry). Often I would pack away everything except bedding. In the morning, we get up, wash/change and then finish packing and eat out for breakfast before heading home :)

@TicTac80 what a nightmare, that’s probably the worst possible scenario! I’m thinking the roof bag will have a lot more stuff just thrown in it on the way back (we didn’t have one last time).

Good advice re: having one in charge of DC/cold breakfast/pulling car up to tent, this is the exact opposite of what we did last time (no common sense)

I always take large bin liners so the tent gets shoved into that to deal with once home.

Deflate any furniture you are not sleeping on the night before. Pack away everything you don't need in the morning and just leave out the clothes you need. In the morning I shower, dress and then make breakfast and coffee whether they are up or not, eat mine then get on with the rolling of sleeping bags etc whilst everyone else eats, showers and dresses (yes I have mug written on my forehead) then it's pack everything into the car bar the tent, take down the bedrooms then collapse down. Takes around 2 hours from waking up to leaving in my experience, less if I got help. So thankful my days of camping with kids is over!!!

@minnieok....I have also been known to do similar!!! I kind of figure that if I don't make a start early, and work quickly, then I just feel meh and can't be bothered/put it off to the last minute and get all stressed!

I don't camp but drive the car down and put the kids in it while you both pack up!

Can kids read / play with something electronic or not in the car while you two pack up?
Obv pack up as much as possible night before.

I’m usually up pretty early when camping so will deflate/pack everything possible previous night and sort myself out before everyone’s up. We don’t have EHU so will have to hide one of the devices to keep them entertained while I’m packing. Tbh I’m probably quicker packing on my own than with DH so I’m hoping he’ll sort the kids for an hour.

Large bin liner for the tent is a great idea, the amount of time I spend trying to get it back into that teeny bag is ridiculous! Thanks for the tips

DH and 9yr old can roll their own mats/ stuff sleeping bags as soon as they wake up. 4yr old with some encouragement. Anything which can be packed tonight is packed, just leaving clothes for tomorrow/toiletries out. Agree with leaving breakfast until all packed - helps to focus. Bin bag for outer tent. I would just stash the dc in the car while you both take down tent. Does depend on the tent we have a big canvas tent (min 45 minutes) and small tent (10min). Sometimes we take big tent down the night before and just have the little tent up if we need a really quick get away or if rain is forecast.

The 9yr old will be really popular on school residentials/ cub camps etc if they can roll mats and stuff sleeping bags.

@TW2013 I’ll be dropping hints to DS about how much girls like a man who can roll a sleeping bag, or failing that, bribe him with chocolate

They always come back amazed at how many people can't get a sleeping bag back in or roll a sleeping mat. Think dd did about half her class. Of course it also makes them popular with the teacher/leader who has fewer to pack themselves. Ditto for putting up/ taking down tents. Even our youngest who is reluctant to do anything which may be helpful revealed at cubs when it came to putting up tents something had sunk in.

One person to pack the equipment and boxes whilst the other loads the car. I find we get stuck cleaning/drying the groundsheet so have some cloths and an old towel ready.

Packing- there must be videos on this. Tent should be folded to an oblong, then a long strip (the width of the bag) and rolled up tightly. Sleeping bags just stuff into bags without rolling or folding, takes 30 secs. SIM roll it tightly (kneel on it if necessary) and close the valve to stop it re inflating.

I deploy DS to do shuttle runs with rubbish and recycling. If pushed we skip breakfast, or maybe have a cereal bar and then stop off for late breakfast/early lunch en route. I usually wake up first and get my bedding sorted, then DS wakes up and I'll do his, it feels like we're halfway done by the time we're all up. All dirty laundry into one bag the night before, all remaining cleans into another. We start with a bag for life each for clothes. By the end it all just goes in whatever bag or box comes to hand.

Our fastest ever pack was after several days of grim weather NW Scotland. We didn't see blue in the sky the whole time. It culminated in a brake failing in the car, the part had to be couriered from Inverness, strong winds that night damaged the tent and DH and I lay awake wondering whether the whole thing would just take off with us inside. Also terrible phone signal throughout campsite so DH had to hang around reception to get any update from the garage. Thank god for the communal kitchen! Anyways, this was our longest ever camping trip and we'd said beforehand that if it got too much we weren't above checking to an actual building for a decent night's sleep. DH came back from collecting the car and said he'd managed to find us a B&B for that night (our last night at that site, we were going elsewhere the following day anyway). We pretty much just flung the tent in the boot, checked into B&B and went for a pub dinner. You've never seen a de-pitch and pack like it.

In the morning put all the stuff in one bedroom as soon as it's ready to go in the car.

Check the rest of the tent to be sure there is nothing left.

Put everything in the main body of the car if the tent needs to go in the boot first.

Get the tent down and in it's bag, you'll need to get it out again when you get home. Put it in the car, get the other stuff in the boot.

It takes us about an hour. We don't do anything the night before.

First one up lets the airbeds down!

Rubbish runs for the dc/set them their own tasks

Do as much as you can the night before - agree with PP re breakfast ie croissants or similar that can be eaten on the go then a late brunch once you're on the road.

Shower stuff and clean clothes in a bag in the passenger footwell - nothing grimmer than a long drive after a sweaty mad rush, a quick 5 min shower once all packed up really makes a difference