What equipment do you find most useful for tent camping?

[JennyPennyNAPPYWEB]

We are just in the process of getting a tent and wondering what equipment to get (or ask for for Christmas!). We have a cooker which is just one hob. We can probably borrow inflatable matresses from my Dad which is what we did last year but also had his tent.

I was wondering if it would be worth getting one of those picnic table and chair things? Or if we should just go for the cheaper option of bringing some of our fold up garden chairs and not bother with a table?

ALso, was thinking about storage. We will be camping for 2 weeks next year and getting a big tent. Would love to have some portable storage for the tent but wondered if it is worth the money? We are on a low budget but also quite prone to having mess everywhere and not being able to find anything if we don't have storage! lol.

DD1 (2) has a ready bed she used last year and was hoping DD2 who will be 1 will be able to just sleep in a travel cot depending on where we have space in the tent (haven't decieded 100% which one to get yet.

Was also thinking about a table for the cooker to keep the kids away from it?!

Sorry for sooo many questions! I am excited about camping and we arn't going till next september! lol. ALthough might go for a week in June if we are sorted by then and can get a cheap deal

Hmmm, I might give the blue table a miss for a year or 2 if its not very sturdy, because the DC will only be 1 and 2 so still a bit wobbly themselves.

DO you have any opinions of the camping storage units etc you can get? They look good but look like they might take up lots of space in the car and quite expensive to get a few?

THanks for the reply by the way!

Also, does everybody use windbreaks?

My essentials are a picnic table with chairs attatched for kiddies, 2 washing up bowls with handles that fit one for dirty on the way to sinks and the other clean to put clean in for way back, windbrakes to sheild kitchen area, we use a Quechua tarp to shield the kitchen from wind or rain. This year we are investing in an electric hook up so will be getting an electric coolbox to enable is to take more food with us and save us some cash and time frm shopping each day.

A corkscrew. First thing I always pack

Windbreaks are handy to give you an extra bit of relatively private space in front of your tent, and keep your as flames burning if it's windy. You can also hang stuff off them.

Love that you sound so excited BTW

My essentials (and I am a minimalist camper):

A big knife, strong enough to cut small branches (so you can make your own bbq sqewers)

matches - for making a fire

aluminum foil - for baking potatoes, chopped veg, burgers, fishcakes, fish, chopped fruits for a hot pudding, etc

paper plates (to burn on the fire after you have eaten....)

A cool box.

Are you actually allowed to light fires then Quint? When I went with my Dad when we were younger we only went to one site that allowed fires, and you had to buy their wood etc to burn.

as i think you have realised, you will need to be pretty tidy/organised or you will never find anything. we always put things in the same place. you can buy big plastic boxes failry cheaply - espec good for putting food in so insects aren't attracted. think there's a big list on the ukcampsites.co.uk website. different colour carrier bags also help. if you are going for 2 weeks, a cheap barbecue would be good, espec with only 1 cooking ring

What do you do with your clothes etc while you are there? Just leave them in your bags?

we each have a carrier bag with them in and have them in our respective sleeping compartments - you can find extra things when you are cold in the night. then we have a bag for dirty clothes. in practise the boys end up sleeping on half of theirs and mixing dirty/clean - but hey ho. i don't take anything remotely decent as i end up marking/losing stuff

When ours were little the best thing we took was the baby bath! Al fresco bathing was preferable to trying to shower a baby (of course some sites do have bathrooms but not many).

We had the Argos picnic table but it broke after one trip. We take our garden chairs now and have a table with adjustable legs.

The best thing we bought recently is a camping heater but we were camping in April on a cliff top near Tenby.

Whe our two were very little an inflatable small dinghy was brilliant - we used it as a baby bath, paddling pool and when it rained they played in it inside the tent as a boat/ pirate island / dolls bed etc.

Now I find that my wardrobe is more useful - I hate clothes in bags for 3 weeks and a small plastic table to stand inbetween your chairs at night to put the wine glasses on!

a larder like this one is what we have and then hang coathangers off the sides if necessary.
We alos have one of these units so dh doesn't lose his car keys. oh and this is our wine table

We have two of these for storage. A shelf each for clothes and on the other one we put torches, games, wellies and shoes etc]].

We use those collapsible crates for bottles and food.

Our best purchase has been the fridge I'd say but it wasn't cheap.

How lovely to be talking about camping tonight! I've just this minute written the deposit cheque to go with the Christmas card to the couple who run the campsite where we go for our summer holiday, and sent cards to all the families who always camp the same time as us. I'm excited already!!

Thanks everybody - dont think we will beable to wait till our holiday in september! Might have to go at the start of the year too (haven't booked anything as we might be moving house and wont be wanting to camp in the middle of a house move!)

Frosty - those look great - how long do they take to put together? Do they need tools?

Love the camping ones too but all out of stock at the mo. Not that we need it yet anyway!

I really can't stand the clutter of camping (which is why we ended up with an enormous tent!). What really helps for organisation is this. Also keeps the hot stuff away from little hands. I think you need chairs - a table is less important I think. I also have a couple of those pop-up bins that you can get at Poundland - very handy for storing dirty washing etc and can be hung up as they have handles.

I've hankered over that argos kitchen stand too! Maybe a purchase for this year. As will be a lovely windbreak - if I'm gonna do it, I'm going to get a pretty one .

In answer to your question about where to keep clothes... I have always kept ours in the boot of the car. It's the driest spot! We each have a shopping bag or those blue ikea ones. Easy for packing in the car too.

which tent do you have MissGB? DH has started looking already (as he does every year )