Reluctant first time camper - help 🙈

[JustAMum31]

So DH has a dream of us being a proper camping outdoorsy family 🫠 personally - I think it sounds like hell but he’s got our (pre-school aged) kid all excited at the thought so I’m taking one for the team and going along in the hope that I’m proved wrong and actually love it 😅

DH hasn’t camped since he was a child so we’re complete beginners! We’re borrowing all the gear from a friend for our first try and then will invest in our own set up if we like it.

Campsite booked an hour from home - great reviews. Site has proper toilets/showers etc and is 10 mins walk from a small town with decent shop and farm shop. We’ve booked a pitch with electric.

Any tips and tricks for beginners would be very much appreciated. Any “must have” items to make it comfortable? Any top tips to make a more successful trip?

We’re borrowing - Air tent with carpets, extension for the electric, camping tables and chairs & air beds.
We’ve got - decent sleeping bags, portable gas stove, electric cool box

OMG yes. Never, EVER, choose to camp somewhere beyond easy reach of a pub that does decent food. That would be utter folly.

Really cosy, warm socks.

Crocs or sliders, any shoes that can just be slid on over socks (or not).

In good weather, you can't beat camping.

Torch for night time trips to the loos or better still head torches .

Really warm pjs and a woolly hat. A pillow. A good strong torch or light, pack of cards, basin for washing up. Hope you get into the excitement- a game changer was the following morning being up before the rest of the campsite- it was silent and beautiful!

Check to see if you can have bbqs and if the need yo be kept off the ground ( most likely so disposable ones are out ) .
Rechargeable torches and a decent power bank for phones and torches .
A bucket with a bit of clumping cat litter for night time wee's.

Basic 1st aid kit ,antihistamines.

Quiet toys that your dcs can use at night / if it's raining.

Good water proof clothes, if it does rain provided it's not freezing or blowing a gale get out of the tent and go for a walk , make it fun , splash in puddles, look for bugs , look in rock pools .

Lots of towels! And hot chocolate after

It's just a good luck from me - I had exactly the same thing. Couldn't think of anything worse than camping but my husband had amazing memories from childhood so I agreed to try it. We bought ALL the gear (very good idea to borrow first time around) and it was......a total disaster 🤣🤣 what my husband forgot to recall was that as a kid he didn't do any, or very little of, the setting up and even worse the packing up. Got home early after a very rainy week in the New Forest and sold the lot 🤣🤣🤣

Take wellies even if the weather forecast looks good, I had to buy some emergency ones! Second taking warm clothes for you all, those mornings can be extremely chilly unless you are in a heat wave. Don't take tons of extra stuff you think you might need, you've only got to unpack it all then pack it all up again, whilst cleaning out the tent - not just packing it, sweeping it out as well, take a dustpan and brush - and possibly putting away a wet tent that you then have to put up again at home to dry it out..haha not for us! I really hope you do have a different experience though and enjoy yourself - all of my husbands family still love it even with all the hard work!! Xx

Thank you all so much for your tips 😊 these are fab! I’ve got a note of it all!

We only have 2 nights so it’s not a long trip and we’re only an hour from home if it turns out a complete disaster 😂

Hopefully I’m pleasantly surprised by the experience and we can have lots of lovely family trips 🤞🏼😅

Absolutely agree. Cooking over a firepit is also fun- wrap up some potatoes in foil and put at the heart of the fire when you're building it, and you can rake them out an hour later when you're cooking everything else. A classic meal for me would be those potatoes, fried halloumi and some frozen ratatouille from home.

I also don't really understand the need for electricity when camping. Are you planning on watching TV?! 😆

But I always prefer, the simplest, most deserted, most basic campsites around- the seasonal farmer's field type. So quiet that you can wee outside the tent at night, sod camping toilets

I also avoid camping chairs. They're freezing!! I prefer sitting on a blanket next to the fire.

But take duvets. All the duvets.

Bug spray very very important, depending where you are mosquito bites are hell

Good luck with it! It’s a cheap way to get away and if you take it up you can get whatever gear and extras to suit you.

Would echo all of the above but when we went for the first time we took a couple of the fold flat ottoman stool boxes which were brilliant for unpacking clothes/extra stuff into, don’t take up lots of space in the car and can be used as seating and our friends recommended one of these water boxes which was so useful https://highlandspring.com/product-range/boxed-water/

Battery powered fairy lights to decorate the tent are great

Wine, really comfortable camping chairs and thermals.

Don't attempt or expect normal bedtime routines for kids

You'll need
A lighter (we forgot ours once!🤦‍♀️)
Crocs/flip flops for showers
A wine box

We have a hanging storage thing - a bit like vertical storage for shoes, that hangs in the tent with lots of pockets for eg phone, wallet, car keys, torch, brush/comb, tissues, hand sanitiser, things that you need to find easily.

Check if the campsite allows BBqs, we went one very dry summer and they weren't permitted.

It gets surprisingly cold after dusk even on really lovely days so take hoodies, blankets etc

Couple of really warm blankets, wool if you have them. Just in case you need an extra layer at night sitting out or in bed. I haven't been camping in the UK for a couple of years and had forgotten how chilly late spring can be at night (2 weekends ago).

And a small hot water bottle

@crackofdoom
We always have EHU, we have a plug in fridge and we always take a small heater, we've used it in the eve, even on days that we're 30° in the day! (We also take a electric pump for air beds, travel kettle that plugs in, and charge our phones)
I've never considered taking - or watching - TV when camping but I have seen others do that

Don’t go!
A wise woman once told me: camping is holidaying in conditions you wouldn’t tolerate at home.

Take a heated blanket.

Thanks all 😊

For all you professional campers - any good bug spray recommendations?
Scotland so midges galore 😂😂

Cord for hanging up wet stuff/towels
bin bags for wet clothes.

Pillows and hot water bottles.
wine boxes weigh less and take up less space than bottles.
warm hats for sitting outside in the evenings and because I can’t sleep if my head is cold.

Smidge. Everywhere sells it in Scotland!

It's colder than you think at night. Take extra blankets. A lot of the heat you lose is through your head. If you wear a hat in bed, your feet will feel less cold.

But then if it's sunny the tent will be too hot to stay in after 10ish. Don't leave it too late to get yourself organised in the morning as you won't want to go back inside the tent until the cool of the evening.

Pack lots of thin layers because it's easier to get dressed in 5 layers while it's really cold, then gradually strip down to one layer as the day warms up, then put layers back on as it cools down in the evening, rather than having completely different outfits for when its hot and when it's cold. Jersey-fabric loose yoga trousers can be worn under jeans.

Practice having a more chilled attitude to the standards you normally uphold. You can certainly choose to prioritise having a daily shower and brushing your teeth twice a day if that's what you wish but it's ok to let things slide a bit in the wild. I do remember giving my 3yo a "bath" in the sink of a communal campsite kitchen once though, which the 3yo found hilarious and so did fellow campers. If you really want to do a bath, you can buy silicone rubber trug buckets from B&Q which fit into a shower cubicle and make a great little bath for a young kid, but it won't harm them to go unbathed for a few nights.

Thank you 👍🏻 Im planning lots of things layers although I’m obviously not quite getting how cold it’s going to be 🙈 packing hats for night in June seems wild to me 😂 but I’m taking the word of all you campers and they’re on my packing list. Also taking duvets and a pile of fleece blankets so hopefully that’ll be fine.
Im packing lighter layers rather than big heavy stuff. Hopefully that’ll work.

It’s the hygiene side of things that’s always put me off camping if I’m honest 🫠 I’m not really a “let things slide in the wild” type 🙈 But I’ve specifically booked a campsite with fantastic reviews on their facilities. Showers etc look brilliant. 4yo DC will be more than happy just having a shower anyway so bath isn’t an issue.