Camping can be a great trip to spend quality time with your friends or family, and summer is the best time of year to go, for obvious reasons! Whether you fancy going away for a weekend camping trip with a few close friends, or wish to get the whole family together for a summer holiday, camping is a brilliant idea. If you’re the outdoors type, this will be right up your street; if you’re not, you might just surprise yourself!
It’s important to be prepared if you’re planning a camping trip, whether you’re going for a couple of days or a week. There can often be a lot of different equipment involved that you’ll need to help make the trip an enjoyable one; you don’t want to turn up at the campsite having forgotten half the things you need!
Camping can sometimes require a bit of a checklist, but here are some of the most essential items that you’ll require for your camping trip this summer!
Cooking Equipment
Each campsite will have slightly different facilities and rules but generally speaking, if you’re going camping you will need to pack cooking equipment! One of the best bits about camping is being able to cook your own food out in the open, whether you choose to use a stove, BBQ or open fire.
Utensils, cutlery and plates and glasses are also an essential. Whether you decide to use proper equipment brought from home, or you opt for plastic alternatives, is entirely up to you, as long as you have something to eat off, and something to drink out of, you can’t go wrong.
Tent And Sleeping Essentials
Possibly the most important bits of equipment you’ll need for camping, aren’t just the tent! It’s the smaller things that easily get forgotten, but are a complete pain if you do. Tent pegs are often something not put away properly or left out of your tent bag, and it may be useful to take something to knock the pegs into the ground, like a rubber headed hammer. To some these aren’t essential bits of equipment, but if the ground’s a bit hard then you will be very pleased you remembered to pack it.
Your choice of sleeping bag is important too as you’ll want to be as comfortable as possible during the night! It’s worth investing in a good sleeping mat too, as this can provide extra protection from uneven ground and even acts as a layer of insulation.
Of course, it depends on what sort of camping experience you are looking for. Those who want an extra bit of luxury it may be a good idea to invest in a larger tent or even take camp beds to ensure that extra bit of comfort during the trip.
Essential extras
Once you’ve compiled your list of necessities that you’ll struggle without, there are a few little extras that could come in useful during a camping trip. A torch is always helpful as many campsites will have little lighting once it goes dark; this is particularly useful if you find yourself needing to visit the toilet in the middle of the night!
A first aid kit is also handy, particularly if you’ve decided to camp with children! Bandages, plasters, hand sanitiser and medicines are always useful items to have in your tent. Toilet roll is another item worth throwing in your bag.
Despite choosing the summer months to camp in, the weather can still be changeable and you may end up getting caught in a cold or rainy spell. Packing the right clothing could make or break your trip, so it’s worth ensuring you have thermal, waterproof socks or gloves especially as the temperature can drop overnight! A supplier of these waterproof items is Dexshell amongst others.
So before you take off on your trip make sure you’ve checked out our full camping checklist, noted everything important for you and your family and packed well in advance of setting off so you don’t forget anything.
Image Credit: Zac Betten, Creative Commons Zero
