Calling all camping Mums

[kiwi_camper]

Sorry if anyone feels left out.......feel free to post here even if you're not a Mum LOL.

I am a Mum to 2 boys (8 and 10) and am always on the look out for great ideas or things, to make life easier when camping with kids, especially when it comes to the CT kitchen, storage, bedding etc. It will probably sound like a product endorsement thread but that's ok too.

So I will start the ball rolling with a few that I have......

Customline make a canvas mattress bag ($250) that will keep your mattress dry and dust/dirt proof.

Vacation Campers make a hanging clothes shelf ($299) that gets everything off the floor and can fold down with the CT, so no need to remove

Drifta makes a Bedside Table that sits over your bed- a great place for all that stuff that needs a flat surface to sit on

Croc makes a table and rubbish bin that attaches to your tent pole, which is space saving and gets your rubbish off the ground and away from rodents etc

Spacesaver bags are fantastic for bulky stuff like towels and pillows, as well as keeping them dry

We have a double bunk bed for the kids that takes about 20 minutes to set up. When you take the legs off, it folds down flat and can be stored under the CT bed- no more setting up

Smartspace Pots- would love a set of these

Vacuum Sealer- not only keeps food longer but stops things from leaking in the fridge/esky (which then smells and can contaminate other food items) and cuts down on wasted space taken up with bulky containers

Those are a few I could come up with off the top of my head. I will add more as I think of them.


I wonder if anyone can help me with this question?

We went camping at Girraween for 3 nights recently and plan to do more winter camping. The first night got down to 1.5 degrees! Needless to say we weren't prepared for such a cold night. The boys sleep on a double bunk bed (as mentioned previously) so they are up off the ground, they each have a self inflating mattress and we can double bag them with sleeping bags. However, they constantly wriggle around and end up one end, while their sleeping bag ends up down the other. I have been looking for something similar to a swag bag (?) that you can put all their bedding into (to keep it together) which will also help to keep the cold out. Does anyone have something similar or can suggest another option? All suggestions are greatly appreciated 



 

[evolution]

just with the cold idea, for the price of two of those swag things that your looking at, I think you could get a diesel heater couldn't you?
allot of people have used electric blankets with great success. for what they are they don't draw too much power.

Cheers
Evo

[Tjupurula]

Hi Kiwi_Camper
Although I have been called a mother......... a few times, I am a father and grandfather.
Could I suggest that you have a look at the BCF site (Boating Camping Fishing) and you could get a few ideas there.  No need to buy from there, you can easily just get the ideas then search around for the best prices for the same items.
Regards
Tjupurula

[toeball]

We take two bags for each kid (2 kids) one for clothes one for toys, books etc, only way we can limit what they think they "need" to have.

[Pebble]

Great idea for a thread, look forward to reading "Mumsy" type tips

I've also got two kids 8yr old girl and 10yr old boy. We've had a couple of different camper trailers but then camping slowed down a fair bit in the last 5 years for various reasons so we ended up all going to tents and swags. This might change soon as we're buying a camper trailer again, the kids will keep their swags though. We got decent ones as we hope they keep them into their adult years The idea was that swags contain all our bedding, can be rolled up and carried on top of the car and if necessary can be used in a tent without being properly set up.

The last time we we went on a short overnighter with the swags it was an unexpectedly cold night / morning! The kids reckon they were nice and warm in their swags, Hubby and I weren't but at the same time it was too cold to get up and hunt around for spare blankets somewhere in the depths of the draws in the car!

Personally I've found that those nylon type sleeping bags seem colder, the kids ones have more of a cotton lining on the inside which I think makes a difference (both ours and theirs have the same rating...0 from memory). Since that night I've changed ours to a good blanket and thin doona instead of sleeping bags. I would have brought different sleeping bags otherwise but probably used them in a doona fashion anyway.
These are the blankets I got....brought some for home too, I think they're thicker than the BigW variety.
http://www.hostdirect.com.au/listSubProduct/Hotel+Room/Bedding+and+Linen/Blanket+-+Polar+Fleece

All I can think of is that if you don't end up going for something like swag bags maybe consider letting them use the sleeping bags in more of a doona fashion (or half unzipped in such a way), if it's less likely to end up half way down them when they toss and turn (easier to pull it back over).

Likewise it could be worth considering proper swags if you can see them not sleeping within the CT as they get older. And depending on your camper you can probably just store them on the camper bed without even having to roll them up.

[Jjw1234]

We have 4 boys. We have just bought them all http://www.campingcentral.com.au/oztrail-cotton-canvas-swag-12-c-jumbo-sleeping-bag/

They love them. Apparently very warm and comfy and they don't seem to wriggle around anymore in them. But they are very huge

[uncyspam]

http://www.gro-store.co.uk/grobag-baby-sleep-bag/6-10-years.html

Ignore the photos, these things come in sizes suitable for most kids. I use them with my 1 yo when camping (and when at home) and highly recommend them... they cant manage to slide themselves out of the bag if its attached. We put out boy into a normal sleeping bag as well, and he seems to stay warm enough, although we are going to look at fitting a heater to our camper...

[rossow]

We have camped in some pretty cold places (-5), and all slept really well.
Our kids sleep on those double bunk things too, and the way we have set it up is like this.

All bags and excess stuff gets stuffed under bottom bunk to stop cold from leaking up through the bottom.
Then on top of the beds is an eggshell type mattress topper.

Kids have their doona's off their beds at home and the good wifey made a light blanket with velcro straps to strap the blanket to the beds.  When it gets real cold, the kids have sleeping bags (which they usually wriggle out of) then doona, then the blanket with velcro straps on top.  This blanket on top straps the doona down (gently) so that even when they wriggle out of sleeping bags, they doona (and any other blankets / sheets) dont move too far.  Only the doona's get removed at packup time and we simply take the legs off the bunks and fold them together and under the main bed.

Setup / Packup for the kids beds takes less than 1 minute.

[westvic]

I am a Mum to 2 boys (8 and 10) and am always on the look out for great ideas or things, to make life easier when camping with kids, especially when it comes to the CT kitchen, storage, bedding etc. 

Hi Kiwi-camper

Not a mum but a dad who usually ends up sorting this sort of thing out.

- teach them some card games you like....easy entertainment and not much packing

- they are boys...they will sleep hot, if they get cold they will learn to stay in their sleeping bags (bit harsh but it wont harm them)

- give them one bag, let them know they can take anything they want but it must go into that bag

- allocate kitchen duties, dont ask just tell, but make them achieveable and not show stoppers (drying dishes, clearing table, setting table, etc NOT cook steak, cut vegies with big sharp knife, etc)

- remember they are boys so WILL get messy, smelly, dirty, etc but this will not bother them...only you

- a stick picked up at the camp site will subistute for just about any toy once they get their head around the fact that their screen based entertainment is not there.

- head torches are not good for kids, give them a good hand held torch  for spot light games and they are happy for hours

hope that is the sort of thing you are after
Steve

[jnik]

Personally I've found that those nylon type sleeping bags seem colder, the kids ones have more of a cotton lining on the inside which I think makes a difference (both ours and theirs have the same rating...0 from memory).

Get yourself some pure silk (not "faux silk" or "silk blend") sleeping bag liners.

e.g. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/220769631714 mind you, mine was from a bricks-and-mortar outdoor store (had if for over 10 years, cost about $60) ... I haven't tested these eBay ones, but if they're pure silk they should perform just as well.

It really is true that they improve the sleeping bag's rating by 5 degrees!

And they're tiny and light ... ideal to have around just in case you hit a colder-than-expected night.

And they're far easier to wash than the bag itself.

By the way, a sleeping bag rating is a "survival rating" rather than a "comfort rating".

[Jjw1234]

Anyone have any hints on making the kids like sleeping in liners. I bought mine all thermolite sea to summit but they all hate sleeping in them! Grrrr expensive lesson

[Marschy]

Have you tried gaffer tape lol. Sorry nothing else for you, liners can get all tangled up around the legs and can make it difficult to roll over, not a fan of them myself.

[JCOJ]

For kids mattress bags have a look here: http://www.myswag.org/index.php?topic=20900.0

We have slept in the minuses and our boys haven't complained until they have had to get out of bed!

Another good space saving idea for saucepans is the Tefal Ingenio range: http://www.myswag.org/index.php?topic=20900.0
They are very good quality and easy to use.

[Jjw1234]

LOL I've given up and just bought them extra warm winter bags instead

[kiva]

We're going back to sleeping bags for the kids. When our daughter was 3.5 - 4.5, she slept in my wifes old sleeping bag. It's a goose down fill, rated to -10 or so, making it very cosy on those chilly nights. Then when the two kids slept together they shared a doona.

In our new camper we've been using the kid's own doonas, however the doona's are too big for the smaller camper beds - and they have been falling off during the night. Our girl (6.5 yo) will pick hers up and sort it out for herself. Our little boy (nearly 4 yo) just calls out and tells us he's cold.

So, we bought him his own bag yesterday which should hopefully do the trick.

[jnik]

Anyone have any hints on making the kids like sleeping in liners. I bought mine all thermolite sea to summit but they all hate sleeping in them! Grrrr expensive lesson

Ha! I can imagine this would be a problem with little wrigglers!

I was actually thinking of the adults (Pebble said the kids were OK, but the nylon lining in the parent's bags felt cold).

[kiwi_camper]

Wow! Thanks everyone for all your replies. There are some good suggestions here for bedding that I can try. I believe in the KISS rule for all things but know from experience that if my kids are unhappy......so am I LOL. Something like ......Happy life, happy wife- but for kids

JKohn- I saw a previous post of yours about your kids sleeping arrangement and thought the canvas bags looked just like what I'm thinking of. Where did you get them from?

uncyspam- I used grobags on the boys when they were little and they loved them. Shame they don't have designs with Sonic or Minecraft on them LOL

westvic- I agree with everything you said, especially about the boys getting cold. My hubby says they same thing, they will learn not to wiggle out of their bags or they'll get cold. Problem with that is we get woken up in the process too LOL

 

[Tanglestoo]

Have you tried Phenergan, the kids will sleep great, and if you get the dose right they wont move all night.

And if you take the right dose of liquid you wont wake either.

Happy days (and nights)!

[JCOJ]

JKohn- I saw a previous post of yours about your kids sleeping arrangement and thought the canvas bags looked just like what I'm thinking of. Where did you get them from?

Infront Camping Gear: http://www.infrontcampinggear.com.au/

I gave them the measurements I wanted and they made them up from there.  They fit the mattresses we use perfectly and the quality is excellent.

[Pebble]

Have you tried Phenergan, the kids will sleep great, and if you get the dose right they wont move all night.

And if you take the right dose of liquid you wont wake either.

Happy days (and nights)!

Lol I thought that stuff only worked on babies....isn't beer for the Adults anyway?