I went to Aldi and I brought.....

[WhereTheWildThingsWere]

Camping cupboard, very huge, very fab, very pleased.

UFO light, very bright.

Picnic rug, very lovely, last was bordering on buying 6 to carpet the tent, brought 1 , should have brought 2, might go back....

Please add below.....

Just keep swimming - we have a remote control latern from last year nad it is great - means we can hang it in the centre of the tend where I cant reach it and I can still turn it on and off

They had everything in the Hythe Kent store yesterday!

Thanks MadHouse - make me feel like it was worthwhile purchase not just whimsy!

though can't remember what our tent looks like inside and whether we have anything to hang it off???

So what are the opinions on the mats then? Are they comfy, how long do they take to inflate, do they deflate and pack away ok?

I should really just read the instructions anyway shouldn't I!

Someone I know said they're quite hard to pack away, but I'm ignoring him as MN know better

Ooo, Camping stove, picnic blanket, bbq fork, wind break, wet wipes and sunscreen ! Bargain !

We have alsdi mats, until we come in to money and then fat aircs it is.

We just open them and let them inflate for a good few hours and then close the valve.

I think that they pack away OK, about the size of a foam mat and weigh a lot less than airbeds and you do not get as cold as you would on an airbed

Ahhhhhhhhhh thanks TMH, that was my reason for wanting them as I am FREEZING in an air bed.

Should I give them a trial run first do you think, or is there unlikely to be anything wrong with them?

They inflate better the more you use them. We are off on Sat, but had a night in FILs field last night as a test run again!!!!

Lol TMH brilliant. Thanks for your advice, will get them out and give them a go.

MumHadEnough - oooh I just wrote a long spiel about the virtues of Aldi mats, and then the computer crashed . So to recap - they are great for the money, we have the ones from last year. They have got more comfy as the more you use them the puffier they get. They are 100 times better than an airbed.

I don't find them a hassle to roll up, just take it slowly, lean on them and wait for the hissing to stop before you do the next roll IYSWIM. Then at the end screw up the cap and put the elastic round. Now they don't roll up small, but then they fill up quicker the next time . From what I remember the instructions said that to roll them smaller you do it twice, but I could never be bothered to try!

Like TMH I hanker after a Fat Airic, but for the price Aldi ones are fab. We also have two Karrimor ones which do roll smaller, but then they are narrower and more dense IYSWIM. They were £40 each, but we got them in the sale for £15 - now if we had paid the full price I would have been disappointed.

Hope you enjoy them . Aldi stuff has really done us well for the new campers we were last year, and saved us a fortune .

Thanks tina. We have one inflating on the living room floor as I type.

Now going to put our coleman comfort airbed on Freecyle. I can find the bloody hole anywhere, so now wondering if its a leaky seam. Someone from freecycle can have a go if they wish as its only been used twice grrrrrr.

DH is now lying on it watching the footie! So I assume that it is a success!

Oh hooray, does that mean you need to freecycle the sofa too . My DH loves his too!

Nah that just means I can spread out more

Have actually opened it up again and will leave them over night. I think he was being a wee bit ambitious!

Just for info - I treated myself to a Fat Airic a couple of weeks ago but haven't tried it yet.

Got an Aldi sleeping mat for dp (and the boys get to sleep on the groundsheet ), so am going to do a product test in a couple of weeks when we go and stay with our friends!

Will report back on the similarities/differences between Fat Airics and Aldi mats (and feel suitably stupid that I spent so much money on a Fat Airic probably... )

Oh Dotty Dot please tell us the results of your experiment. I am sure your Fat Airic will be fab, so many people rave about them they must be good. Maybe one day I will be able to persuade DH to get me one.

what colour is it?