My Top 10 Camping Tips: #10 Things 25/8/15

My #10 Things this month, just has to be ‘My Top 10 Camping Tips’ for Families, following our own recent camping trip in the gorgeous Cornwall.  It must be noted that this isn’t aimed at those hardened campers out there in the wilderness. But more for those visiting camp sites with a family in tow!  I’m far from a pro camper too, but these would be some of my tips following our own experience.

1. Don’t forget wellies even if the weather forecast is looking good. This was my big mistake, or more the hubby’s mistake! I asked him to pack mine and he forgot to pack them and we both brushed it off thinking the weather would be ok. BIG mistake!! I regretted it all week.

2. Take duvets and pillows, it’s worth it. They’re bulky and take up precious room in the car, but trust me, you will be glad of the extra home comfort.  For my boy, it was like from home to home, as we took his own set and he was warm, cosy and happy.

3. Pack the thickest fleece jumper you own. My friend made the mistake if not taking one, but luckily I remembered to pack not one, but two fleece jumpers! It’s always colder than you think in the evenings when camping, even in summer. Especially this summer!

4. Pack thick blankets. These are lovely to wrap round your shoulders when sitting outside the tent, first thing in the morning and last thing at night.  I wrapped mine round my shoulders when nipping to the loo in the night, a bit like a dressing gown.  The kids will make use of these too, when feeling chilly, as ours did (below – other than my hardened daughter).

5. Invest in an extra large ground sheet. Wish I’d known this before our trip, so this is on our list for next time.  All the advise says to put an extra groundsheet underneath your tent, to provide extra protection and warmth  if it rains, as the ground gets really damp and cold. This would have made a big difference, as I was starting to get a damp bottom, come the end!

6. Camp beds are great but a blow up mattress is more comfy.  We debated over camp beds or blow up mattresses.  My hubby won the blow up mattress argument and I’m glad he did.  Camp beds are great for keeping you off the ground, but are bloody uncomfortable (I tried my friends). Plus if you follow tip 5. above, you won’t need to worry too much.

7. Take more than one torch and spare batteries. we took one and kept losing the bloody thing! So it would have been so useful to have had at least one spare and extra batteries just in case.

8. Buy bottled water. We took bottled water with us and it made life really easy, as we had drinking water at the tent and didn’t have to worry about how and where to get any.

9. Use a pasting table as a make shift tent table.  I had to persuade my hubby, but we took ours and it was great for storing everything off the ground, food, drink, toiletries, clothes, everything.

10. Accept you and the tent will not stay clean. Once I accepted this, life in the tent was fine.  There was no point struggling and stressing to keep things clean and tidy, there is going to be mud and dirt on the floor no matter how many times you clean it! I also accepted I wasn’t going to have a shower or wash my hair every day.  I barely bothered with deodorant come the end…

Here are some of the happy campers…

Most of all, enjoy your camping trip come rain or shine! The kids will love the experience whatever! And we survived (just!).

What are your top camping tips?

Jess xxx