The title of this post really should read – Camping for beginners – our experience and a free camping checking list so you remember everything we forgot…. Apparently that’s too long for Google though so you got the shortened version instead. 😉
We’re not experienced campers and weren’t particularly well prepared for our camping trip a few weeks ago so after I came back, I decided to write a list of everything we took that was worth taking (we took a lot). everything we should have taken that we needed (also a lot of things) so that our next camping trip is a little easier.
I know you’re thinking that I should have been better prepared and that I really should have done some research before we went but honestly, we went so soon after we got back from a week away that I didn’t have time to fully unpack from that, let alone prepare and pack for a weekends camping at a festival.
We didn’t do too badly though and we ending up having a great time (even if we ended up coming home a little early as I wasn’t feeling too great on the Saturday). We’ll definitely be going camping again next Summer as it’s a great way to get away on a break with the family for very little money but next year we’ll use our camping checklist to make sure we have everything we need.
An essentials camping checklist for beginners
The tent is obviously the most important thing when you’re camping and I’d say you need to go for the largest tent you can afford that you know you’ll be able to put up in a relatively short space of time. We loved the Vango 450XL that we got from Millets as it was big enough for the four of us but not too big that we’d have a divorce causing argument putting it up. 😉 We had one practice run with it in the back garden and that was all we needed to be able to pitch it in no time at all when we’d settled on a place to pitch it.
We had been dreading putting the tent up as we’re not very good at things like that usually but it’s pretty self explanatory – the video we watched on Youtube said it was twenty minutes from start to finish and we managed it in 35 which is extremely good going for two novice tent builders. I’m going to try and put the tent up over the next few weeks for the kids to have a last garden sleep out in so I’ll do a video review then and you can see exactly what it’s like.
Here’s the first camping checklist including all of the things that I’d recommend you consider taking if you’re planning a camping trip:
An foodie camping checklist for beginners
The checklist above doesn’t include anything foodie because you might not want to go the whole hog and cook while you’re there, especially if there’s somewhere cheap to eat or buy food nearby. Here’s a foodie camping checklist for if you want to prepare your own food while you’re camping:
We decided to buy food when we were there rather than invest in more camping gear that we weren’t sure if we’d use again but next time I think we’d do it differently and cook our own meals.
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Great post. Thanks for sharing!
When I was a child, my parents took me for a camping trip along with my siblings, and we remember who excited we were while choosing walkie talkies for camping. My father guided us to buy the best ones and taught us the right procedure of using the walkie talkie, and it added up to our enthusiasm manifold times.
There are multiple sources to learn about the dangers while camping, but you can check out the following site to read the real threats while outdoors. So the next time your thinking about hiking, don't forget what you read here.
Great post
We recently went camping during the summer holidays and we loved it. Great checklists here, very helpful. Would definitely helped us as we forgot our tent poles!!! xx
We went camping when my son was younger but never been with my twins as well. Great list, I have pinned!
It was challenging enough with my two and they’re older 😉
Bring stuff in case it rains during or right before your packing up. Some panchos plus a few heavy duty bags to throw your tent and other stuff in huge, especially since you have to take everything out to dry it anyway.
This is such a useful list. We went camping for the first time this summer and loved it so much we went again the following month! One more trip coming up next weekend and that'll be it until next year. Got to get our money's worth out of the tent 😉
I've never been camping but those checklists would be very useful if we decided to, as I wouldn't know what to take! x
I've never liked camping but I kind of want to do it with my kids,as I know they'd love it! The checklist is really useful as it's so easy to miss off the crucial things,like batteries etc. It also means the difference between a great trip and one you just survived on! ha ha.
oh we are a fan of vango products. We really do want to go camping sometime in the future and have a tent. This is a great post to read.
We have never been camping as a family, last time I went camping I was a teenager and the conditions were grim but we totally loved it!xx
A handy checklist I always forget something when I go away and when we've been staying in a caravan we have forgotten things such as towels.
I'm going on my first camping trip next summer so these checklists will come in super handy! Thanks for sharing x