I’m just back from my first ever camping trip and first ever family music festival, so being addicted to lists I thought I would share and share alike!
I promise you won’t get such a comprehensive list elsewhere because:
(a) I’m a bit wacky and love a bit of glamping and
(b) I’m retentive about lists.
I’ve highlighted the MUST HAVEs for you!
If you haven’t been to a festival with the kids yet, check out my post on why family festivals are a great adventure to try out with the kids and my review of the fabulously muddy Penn Festival and last years Just So.
Clothes
Check out my tips on what to wear to a festival, plus my Pinterest board with more ideas and links to the clothes.
Wellies (there are some lovely ones on my Pinterest board)
Crocs (don’t use if very muddy, they’re feet will be a terrible mess!)
Daps if it’s not muddy (There’s some cute daps on this Pinterest board of mine)
Fleeces – were brilliant for me and the kids (I’ve now bought an extra one, so that I’ve got daytime and nighttime ones!)
PJ’s – take extra incase of trouble for the kids (mine are fleecy Joe Browns ones)
Water proof coats and trousers – I don’t wear the trousers (yuk!), but they were a must for the kids and the hairy one. The macs need to be those pack-a-mac ones for lightness (try to get a prettier one if you can)
Wooly hats – for kids in evenings
Pashmina Scarf – for me (I don’t go anywhere without them)
Socks, Knickers, Bras – just incase you forget
Wings, Tutu’s and wands for Little Dimples
Fancy Dress For Curly Headed boy
Poncho Towels x 2 for the kids for after a shower
Nappies, wipes and bags
Outfits for each day plus spare leggings/tracksuit bottoms
Bedrooms
Hotwater bottles for me and the kids – OMG so glad I had these as I’m a wimp!
Pillows for me – yep wimp again.
Those cuddly teddy bear pillow for the kids – make great teddies and travel companions too.
Sleeping bags – a double for me and Little Dimples, Moshi Monster one for Curly Headed Boy and ‘proper’ one for the hairy northerner
Double blow up bed (and pump) – for the girls
Sleeping Mats – thick mat for the little boy and thin mat for the ‘hard’ one
Blankets x 4 – 1 under me, 2 on top of me and 1 more for Curly Headed Boy
Bed Bumpers – so that little dimples doesn’t roll into the tent side (she doesn’t like it)
Towels x 4 – can’t have enough towels
Microfibre hair turban if your hair takes a while to dry (£1 from Wilkinsons or a pound shop)
Festival
Rucksacks – for each of us, don’t use over the shoulder bags, and if you can get oilcloth washables one for you, they will be the easiest to clean afterwards.
Ear Defenders for kids
iPads and iPhones with films on for packing and unpacking
Power monkey to charge up iPads and iPhones – AMAZING!
Radio Flyer – perfect for carrying two kids, sleeping babies, lugging stuff from the car, and getting through mud. (some places you can rent them)
Games
2 books of drawing/sticker activities
Lego book for son, Duplo for daughter
Football – didn’t take it, will do next time as it is much more sensible than a frisbee
Books – thin ones that work for both kids (Gruffalo!)
Bananagrams game
Some little characters to play with e.g. Mini mouse plastic tiny travel house for Little Dimples, and Octonaughts submarine for Curly Headed Boy
Camping Stuff
Here’s my pinterest board for camping/glamping stuff.
Bog in a Bag – OMG you HAVE TO HAVE one of these – no long trip to the loo overnight or panic when it’s pissing it down! (there are a few left here to buy!)
Bunting and solar fairy lights – 2 lots – VERY important!
Tent – check out my review of the Vango Airbeam Tent
Mallet – for the tent.
Pop up tent – we have a little one that is useful sometimes for at the festival or keeping things in outside our tent if we don’t take an awning.
Pink whistling kettle – obviously!
Enamel Tea Pot – Keep Calm and drink tea from John Lewis – tea is obviously a necessity!
Enamel Plates and Bowels – pretty ones with bunting on from John Lewis – I was disappointed that the edges seem a little dodgy. You can buy the blue ones from the pound shops.
Cuttlery – we had plastic, but it was horrid.
Cooking spoon – get a metal one, we melted the plastic one!
Saucepan and frying pan – doesn’t need to be big, just enough for a whole meal for the family.
Front door mat – WOW this was useful – I’d bring two next time one for inside and one for outside
Wind break, HUGE picnic blanket and cushions from GLTC – gorgeous and made it feel really homey. Would have been wonderful if it was sunny. But didn’t wash very well :o(
Picnic basket and cool box – we didn’t really use this as we decided not to take lunch with us, but we will use it at the Just So festival and our holiday in Siblu (french caravan park).
Cooker with 2 hobs and under toaster (plus canister) – great for tea, a full english breakfast and making dinner on the night we arrived.
Collapsible water bottle – a must have
Collapsible washing up bowl – so useful for feet, washing up and catching drips from wet clothes!
Oven gloves – get thinner light ones as the lids are small
Light cutting mats for cutting up things to cook on.
Knife with cover.
Tea towel – we forgot!
Dustpan and brush – definitely needed on longer trip.
Kitchen cooker table – was very wobbly, I wasn’t sure that it would stay straight. Not needed for a festival (just cook on the ground), but good for a longer trip as long as you buy boxes to store stuff underneath.
Table and Chairs – This one from Cotswold is very easy to transport, but a little wobbly with little kids and takes up lots of room. I don’t think you need it for a festival, just for camping longer than a weekend.
Cheap Plastic backed picnic blanket – was a god send outside the front door.
Wind up Lamp, plus two little ones for the kids (head torches are great too)
Something to hang up wet stuff with – a washing line or I got a pink plastic oval thingy with pegs on it that I could hang from something
General kitchen supplies
LOADS of black bags
LOADS of antibacterial wipes
LOADs of baby wipes
LOADS of kitchen roll
LOADS of Loo roll
LOADs of little packs of tissues
Matches
Little travel bottle with washing up liquid
Newspaper can be great outside the front door if it gets muddy (or straw as we had)
Dish cloths
Toiletries
EAR PLUGS – (Reminded by a lovely commenter!) – I use the blue waxy ones from Boots, not the yellow foam ones or the plastic ones.
Eye masks – you know the ones you get on a plane – can be useful because it gets so light in a tent in the mornings!
Wipes to wash face and take off make up
Travel bottles with shampoo and conditioner. (I can’t travel without mousse either).
Moisturiser
Deodorant
Toothbrushes and toothpaste
Makeup.
Tampons and pads – if there is a chance your period is going to come while you are away, you so know it will!
First Aid – Plasters, Suntan Lotion, Sudocrem, Thermometer, Calpol, Aloe Vera (after sun and good for bites)
Food
- Cereal – those little travel boxes of cereal are great if you aren’t taking bowls. But they caused arguments between the kids as they don’t have equal numbers of types of cereal. So I’m going to pick one type and put in a plastic box next time.
- Toast – nice and easy and a good back up to have a loaf of bread with butter and marmite
- Brioche – can make a lovely breakfast or snack later
- Eggs, Bacon, Sausages, Tomatoes – we had a full english breakfast because the Penn Festival didn’t start until 12, so didn’t need to take a picnic lunch with us. Whereas the Just So festival starts really early, so there will be no time for this.
- Baps, cheese, crisps – when we go to Just So it starts earlier so we will take lunch with us.
- 2 cold cooked chicken breasts chopped up added to fresh pasta (quicker to cook). Add pesto and a big tin of sweetcorn.
- Tins of tuna heated up with some philidelphia and milk to make a sauce and big tin of sweetcorn with pasta or noodles
- Tins of spagetti bolognaise on toast with big tin of sweetcorn
- Tins of tomato soup, big bread, cucumber and carrots
- Hotdogs (but my hubby is allergic to celery, so they don’t work for us)
- I was tempted to introduce the kids to spam and corned beef!
- Remember you can get tinned potatoes, which would be quicker to cook than normal ones.
What do you think of my tips and list? Let me know if you use it and if there’s anything to add. Also feel free to add your own lists in the comments!
You missed out earplugs!
OMG you are sooooo right! I use the blue waxy ones from Boots – I also added the kids ear defenders when my neighbours were partying, but to no avail :o(
This is an amazing list! We camp regularly but have never been to a festival. The one thing I always forget (which I won’t this weekend now I’ve wrote it here!) is cooking oil for the fry-up. We usually end up trying to dry fry bacon!
Good point Emma! Don’t think we took oil – we must have used the butter?
Oh My goodness. Just as @mummyratesit was starting to convince me – that’s put me right off! Haven’t you forgotten the kitchen sink? LOL Hope you have a marvellous, splendifidous time!
Nooooo don’t let it put you off Anya – I had a lovely time!
We always seem to forget oil too!
It’s funny you mention fruit and veg – yesterday I added a last-minute trip to the allotment (or farm shop) to gather up loads of fresh peas and beans, raspberries, baby carrots, etc – things that can be eaten raw or just need the lightest of cooking. Also try to take fresh pasta rather than dried – more nutritious and cooks in just a couple of minutes. x
I did a blog about festival/camping food for families once: http://www.festivalkidz.com/essentials/festival-food-for-families/
Meant to say I added a ‘last-minute trip to allotment’ onto my pre-festival packing checklist (but got distracted thinking about food!!)
Box of wine! Great idea. I’m storing this in my inbox so I don’t have to think about packing when we go!
Great list! (I have one on my blog too) I was pleased to see we share a love of bunting and solar lights. We have a dragon on a pole too;) , and this year we have Shmangles!
A bit of a delayed comment (busy week!) but great list and lots of nice touches like teapot (though the packing police might put a stop to that – husband a bit of a stickler!) , power monkey and hair turban! Few small additions from me – rubber flip flops for the showers – can be a bit grim going barefoot in those. Dry shampoo. We don’t take hot water bottles anymore but instead have those fleecy all in one sleepsuits (annoyingly have to grab them in winter as really hard to find in summer) for the kids & fleecy socks, then tend to be snug as bugs in those and also good in the morning when if they wake early and it’s still cool. Finally, those little instant porridge pots which you just add either hot milk/water too. Saves on washing up the pan and again warm on a cool morning. Enjoy the next one! We might be at Just So (just waiting to see if might be singing there) so will tweet if we are!
Great list! We’re going to a festival this weekend and can’t decide on whether to take the cool box – I see you’ve got meat on your list – don’t you find the ice packs warm up in about 24 hours? Or do you only eat meat on the first day?
MumToThreePrincesses what I do is take a frozen orange juice, frozen apple juice and frozen milk (as well as unfrozen) – so they add as extra cooling. But I don’t eat meat on the 3rd night, maybe not even the 2nd. The weird thing was that the first camping trip everything stayed frozen and on the second one it ws only cool. No idea why, but I suspect someone not zipping up a list.
thank you for giving us a very useful packing list for camping with kids. i love camping with kids so i hope i can get more and more tips list from you:D best regards,
Michael
I’m so glad you like the tips @MichaelSilver, there will definitely be more tips coming up soon – I’m trying out a motorhome this Easter (too cold for a tent, brrrrr!).
I remembered this list from last year, so am using it as the basis for my packing tonight. Thanks Lisa!
So glad it’s useful @Monika
Brilliant! We’re off to Deer Shed Festival so I found you via a search for what to pack when taking kids to a festival. I am now addicted to your blog.
Linz x
Oh so glad you enjoy my blog @Linz, hope you have fun at Deer Shed!