Have bought an inflatable family tent. Plan to go with the by then 2 and 4 year old. We have only ever been as a couple and a long time ago with all budget kit.

Looking for recommendations on what we should be looking at as a family, what is a decent buy and what lasts. Cheers

bump for the Monday soon to be lunch time lot

We tried various beds/mats. In the end we decided decent self inflators are the best.

Confused. What are you actually asking for? Site recommendations? Kit?

I guess if you have an inflatable tent you are looking for car camping / glamping recommendations rather than bare bones?

Nothing specific but here is my checklist of stuff you’ll probably want for a family camping holiday…

Tent
Inflatable mattresses
Kitchen unit
2-ring stove with grill
Single gas hob
Calor Gas bottle
Gas heater
Foldaway table with integral chairs
High volume hand pump
Electric pump
Electric hook-up with RCD
Foldaway chairs
Cooking utensils
Crockery and cutlery
Water carrier
Piezo lighter
Bin bags
Tea towels
Mini fridge
Can opener
Mallet
Washing-up bowl
Light for tent
Head torches
Maglite torch
Extension cable
Windbreak
Sleepings bags
Pillows
Rugs
Washing up utensils

I see the recommendation for having a Calor Gas low pressure job thing come up a lot when people talk of “family” camping. If people already have one or more lightweight stoves, what would be the advantage to then investing again in the other? Is it not just as good to use the lightweight stove(s)?

Rachel

kit recommendations please, and yes for car camping – as we have 2 kids under 4.

List is useful, we don’t have half of that stuff.

Cooking gear in particular is something we need to invest in as only ever had disposable bbqs and found a local café for break / lunch

The next thread might be about where to actually go…

BTW, look on Ebay for all the accessories as you’ll get the whole lot for much less than the cost of new. I got all of that in the list (and some more bits) + two big family tents for less than £200.

Warm clothes for the evening. It’s amazing how cold it can get even on a balmy summer’s night if you’re just sat around which – if you’re camping with two small kids, you probably will be after they’ve gone to bed.

Nothing specific but here is my checklist of stuff you’ll probably want for a family camping holiday…
Tent
Inflatable mattresses
Kitchen unit
2-ring stove with grill
Single gas hob
Calor Gas bottle
Gas heater
Foldaway table with integral chairs
High volume hand pump
Electric pump
Electric hook-up with RCD
Foldaway chairs
Cooking utensils
Crockery and cutlery
Water carrier
Piezo lighter
Bin bags
Tea towels
Mini fridge
Can opener
Mallet
Washing-up bowl
Light for tent
Head torches
Maglite torch
Extension cable
Windbreak
Sleepings bags
Pillows
Rugs
Washing up utensils

And two cars, one for the kit and one for the people. That’s why we stopped camping in tents and moved to vans and now caravans. The amount of kit for a family of five filled an estate with the back seats down and we had to take a second car just to carry the people.

List is bit long, drop
Electric hook up
Electric fridge
Gas heater
Rugs
Kitchen unit?

We got two dad’s and two kids in a single car for a week easily. Two tents and pretty much a double up of everything. Including a Weber BBQ. Had a roof box.

Next year will be more streamlined. So don’t listen to the ‘you cannot fit a family in a car’ they are justifying the campervan! Which I would if I could!

Nothing specific but here is my checklist of stuff you’ll probably want for a family camping holiday…

You forgot the kitchen sink.
Sofa?
TV?
Cat?

We have camped with 5 from a Renault Grand Scenic and a Berlingo. Both with a roof box

We are comfortable but we haven’t got a huge tent. We don’t take a big table. So it is possible. But doing it in one car needs some care

How posh a campsite are you looking for? Swimming pool and shop or showers and a view?

PS don’t go to cheap on the sleeping bags. No one should be cold at night

Nothing specific but here is my checklist of stuff you’ll probably want for a family camping holiday…

Tent
Inflatable mattresses
Kitchen unit
2-ring stove with grill
Single gas hob
Calor Gas bottle
Gas heater
Foldaway table with integral chairs
High volume hand pump
Electric pump
Electric hook-up with RCD
Foldaway chairs
Cooking utensils
Crockery and cutlery
Water carrier
Piezo lighter
Bin bags
Tea towels
Mini fridge
Can opener
Mallet
Washing-up bowl
Light for tent
Head torches
Maglite torch
Extension cable
Windbreak
Sleepings bags
Pillows
Rugs
Washing up utensils

I don’t know what that is but its not camping.

Family camping is

1 faded orange Vango Force Ten with totally disintegrated mossie net triangles. Two adults three kids smallest across the top.

One yellow volvo 242 estate and a trip to Switzerland.

Johndohs camping is on a par with my flat!

And two cars, one for the kit and one for the people.

Nah – big ass roof box and everything piled up in the boot works fine.

This is the reason that I don’t like the idea of family camping. It’s like moving house and then staying in close proximity to people you don’t know and don’t want to know

My plan is to do some wild camping this summer with one or both kids. I’ll carry the stuff, but we’ll be on our own!

I think johndoh has missed off a few important items.

^^^ 😉 I have done that one actually Slowoldman (on the Mara River, complete with turn-down service and armed guards) 🙂

But I don’t see why my list is overly long – I don’t go camping to live like a caveman, we go as a family and want to be comfortable and be able to cook standing up, drink cold beer, sit at a table to eat and have a nice chair to sit in when chilling by an open fire. We can get all that + a dog crate and mutt into a family estate with roofbox. Ohh, and I think we took the dingy with us the last time we went. 🙂

I used to like camping. I had it down to a 5man vango tent with 2 x blow up mattresses for me and my lad. A large plastic box which stored everything we needed and doubled up as a table/seat when we ate.

I stopped when people like the OP started realising it was cheaper than going abroad etc. They would turn up and take over huge swathes of camp site with their huge tents, barbecues and wind blockers. Prices went through the roof when it became fashionable too.

Now I have a similar setup but in a camper van. We rock up, set up in 5mins and bugger off before we have to deal with these people.

Oh and my essential piece of kit is a slack line. I am crap at it but you can waste whole days trying to convince yourself you are any good

I stopped when people like the OP

Well thats nice isn’t it.

Accept that whatever you take with you, it’s a compromise. There will always be something you *could* have taken that would make things a bit easier, and you will always take stuff you didn’t use – on this holiday.

Store your stuff so you’re ready to go. Get a couple of see thru plastic storage boxes for all your utensils, gas cannisters etc so you can shove it all in the car really easily. Reduce the admin.

Take the minimum you can get away with whilst still being comfortable and warm. e.g. a single burning stove might be light but not the easiest when cooking for 4.

You can have a great holiday without fold away cupboards, windbreak, fairy lights, blow up sofa, supersized BBQ.

Avoid fancy overly designed ‘space saving’ things like camping tables and storage cupboards that you have to build onsite. Get simple stuff or go without.

We’ve got a family tent and all the gear but I’ve also bought two cheap mountain tents and for weekends we go quite basic. Less admin, more time doing fun stuff.

Single most important item of kit of family camping…

Bucket with a lid on it. Trust me.

Over the years family camping I have changed my philosophy from trying to emulate a house under canvas with chairs and dining tables to a lighter, quicker, smaller, more communal experience of tent with one big space (a tipi style tent), a couple of pocket rocket stoves, a low table, rugs and cushions. Trying to kid yourself that you’re in a home away from home is bound to end in disappointment – embrace the nature of what you’re doing. You need less stuff, it takes up far less space in the car it’s easier to move and set up somewhere else so you see more.

Depends how long you’re staying too – when we head south (of france) in the summer we basically empty the house into the van as we’ll be pitched up for 14 nights .. a weekend surf trip may not even involve a tent if its me and the boy!

He’s right about the bucket though.

Oh for Rachel – the stove thing – mainly for families I guess .. we see off a 7Kg canister over summer, using small light weight stoves doesn’t work for 5 of us, comparatively time consuming to cook on and not as environmentally friendly as refilling a big canister – we’d be using one every couple of days. Plus there’s toast … having a grill is a useful 3rd cooking option.

That’s brilliant johndoh, love it.

To be honest I would only trim a few things off your family camping list.

1. I would say the double burner plus grill is adequate without the single burner.
2. If you’ve got folding chairs you don’t need a table with built in chairs (which seem to fall to bits after 3 uses), just a table.
3. Electric AND hand pumps?
4. Electric hookup.
5. Gas heater.
6. Mini fridge.

Otherwise, as you were.

^^^ Some of it is a ‘belt and braces’ and I got all of the kit in a job lot so I end up taking it all with me as it fits.

Family camping equipment recommendations, and no-one’s mentioned swingball???!?!?!

And two cars, one for the kit and one for the people.

We have a six man steel pole tent, extension, and a kit list similar to the above. It all goes in a C-max with roof box. Bikes on a towbar rack.

Why would you take a gas heater if you have electric hook up ?

Why would you take a gas heater if you have electric hook up ?

I don’t bother, but at a guess hookups are often 10A so I could imagine a heater, coolbox and other gubbins would trip the supply.

Gas heater – not camping
Electric hook up – not camping
Fridge/freezer/Genny – only for Le Mans to keep beer/champagne cold. not for family use

I generally don’t bother but have found my self camping with other folks kids in frosty April and a small fan heater takes the chill out the air in the tent without being a CO generator.