What to take to centre parcs

[goldpendant]

Hi there,

Booked our first family holiday to centre parcs - it's in Holland, but the set up seems identical to the UK.

Can anyone share a packing list of what they normally take? Eg do I need tea towels/fairy liquid or will that stuff be there? Do you take tea bags/coffee etc or can that be bought in the supermarket on site (is it really expensive?)

We are staying in the highest category accommodation so linen is provided. Not sure about much else!

Thanks in advance!

Lube.

@NicoAndTheNiners you beat me to it

If you want bikes book them now and if they still do the vouchers use them.

Eating was great for kids they ate free in most restaurants and much more family friendly.

Was also about to post lube 😂😂😂

Sorry, had to be done.

I've always had tea towels and I'm fairly sure washing up liquid. Also had bedding and towels provided.

You can buy anything and everything in the park market. Yes it's expensive. I've only been to UK ones, not Holland. I tend to take tea and coffee with me, any other non perishables I might want like marmite or jam, sweetener. Apart from that it would depend what meals you think you might cook, so maybe take rice/pasta/pasta sauce/tinned tomatoes if you'd cook that sort of stuff and then get any fresh stuff from the shop?

Oh balls! I was going to say lube 😂

Think it's MN tradition now to try and be the first to say lube on these threads!

Of course, lube!!

We are driving so can fully load the car up. Think we'll hire bikes rather than take our own.... presumably micro scooters are allowed??

If you're using a cot then take cot bedding. Centre parcs don't provide it. Came as a shock when we went.

Yes micro scooters are allowed.

Last time we went to one in Belgium they had some ace mini segways to hire for an hour which where ace. And not expensive.

Posting so I can follow-

Lube 😂

Washing up liquid
A sponge to wash up and maybe a tea towel (they provide you with one threadbare tea towel)
Dishwasher tablets, they give you four but it depends how often you cook and how many dishes you create.
Beach towels to use by the pool. They do provide them there but you have to pay for them and you aren’t supposed to take the bath towels out of the lodges to the pool.
DVD’s if you fancy curling up in front of the fire in the evenings, the TV isn’t great in terms of what channels are available but that may just be because I am used to SKY TV
Snacks, easy portable ones you can chuck in your bag. All the snacks. I have a 2 year old, no further explanation needed.
A backpack/rucksack. If you plan to hire a bike these are essential. We took one for each of us, though my Primark cream leather look one did look a little out of place I’ll admit.
A spare toilet roll or two. Depends how many of you there are and what kind of lodge you are in but just a normal woodland lodge has one small roll in each bathroom, we had just about finished them by the time we left so we did use our spare roll I took with us.
A blanket – this isn’t exactly an essential but is there anything better than sitting under a snuggly blanket with a glass of wine once the kids are in bed? I never sit on the sofa without a blanket on my legs so this was a must for me.
Plastic kids crockery if you’ve got small dc and you plan on eating in a lot.
Lunchboxes and water bottles.
Extra plastic bags. The rubbish bin is tiny – they’repretty hot on recycling – so plastic shopping bags are a better size than bin bags. Save them up in the weeks before your break and bring a decent stash.

I have a list on my phone now:
Washing up liquid
Matches (for the fire)
Kitchen towel
Silver foil (makeshift lids, baked potatoes, leftovers storage)
Tissues
Bin bags (as a PP said)
Loo roll (ditto)
Hand soap
Dishwasher tablets
Snacks
Tea
Coffee
Margarine / butter

You can buy all of them, but it’s annoying for a few days and then either wasteful or you end up lugging doubles home.

Thanks @RedCabbageStains that's really helpful!

Take your own bedding, ee went for the first time a few weeks ago.

Loved it!

The lodge was lovely and the facilities were great but the bedding provided was a bit plasticy and rustled a lot, it was a similar texture to the waterproof sheets you put on kids beds.

Coffee filters and ground coffee. Tea towells and towels.
Washing up liquid
Maybe a slow clicker if you are planning on eating in (there isn't always an oven)

Just remembered - coffee needs to be cafetière suitable (which gets us every time, we don’t use a cafetière at home) or instant if you don’t always want to faff around. And last time I went there were both tea towels and towels, and we always get the most basic lodge. Oh, and I wouldn’t bother with bedding personally, it’s a bit crackly but not so bad as to be worth the car space.

I do take the first night’s meal frozen (stew, usually), but if you booked a restaurant for the first night in advance that would also work. I just prefer to eat in the lodge as then tired kids can eat quickly and go to bed whenever they need to, without having to behave nicely in a restaurant.

Of course, lube!!

We are driving so can fully load the car up.

Sounds excessive. Surely a couple of tubes will be more than enough.

Salt and pepper.

If you hire bikes, take a plastic bag each to put over the saddle to keep it dry when parked up in the rain.
A spare old t-towel or two for drying down bikes is useful too.
Definitely backpacks for everyone - so much easier carrying stuff on a bike!
Casual/sport wear and waterproofs (jeans take a long time to dry in the rain)
Can you tell we have had several very wet Centre Parc breaks

dragqueen point about a cooker is a good one. The Belgium centre parcs only have hobs and think the Dutch could be the same. So don't take anything where an oven is essential. We had a filter coffee machine and a coffee pod one in our Belgium lodge. We did a big supermarket shop in a France supermarket after the ferry but the parcel market was ok (better than in British centre parcs)