Camping special buys … the joys of camping!
The last time I went camping was when I was a child. In 1988 I have a vivid memory of walking around the campsite singing ‘Hand on my heart’ by Kylie. Then in 1993 I did Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award which involved a lot of getting lost in Cornish fields, volunteering in a local old peoples home and camping (in the rain). So 20ish years later I appear to be going camping again. We as a family are off to a festival at the end of July which requires us to camp on the Saturday night with children. I’m not so sure I am happy about the camping aspect, maybe we will have the car close by as a last resort!
We have nothing suitable for camping, no tents, sleeping bags, torches, cooking things, anything. So imagine my joy when Aldi kindly sent me a box full of goodies to test with the children. The boys were beyond excited to rip the box open and investigate everything. I also took the box of goodies to a barbeque last week for my camping expert friend Matt to investigate the products.
Inflatable sofa £19.99
The 7 children present at barbeque went mad for the sofa. They invented a lot of jumping, running, climbing games. see the short YouTube clip. To be honest it kept them happy for at least 1 hour, therefore its brilliant value for money. And its comfy. We set it up in our living room last night for the England footy as we had 8 people requiring seats. It went down a storm.
Giant hiking rucksack £19.99
Matt was very excited about this product. His children do Beavers/Rainbows/Scouts all those adventure type activities. Soz my boys just do a lot of football, and cricket in the summer;-). He said the 70 litre bag was perfect for the children to take on their camping trips and Duke of Edinburgh award trips. We got Josh to try it on, who is 6 and it fitted him okay, maybe be a tad big;-)
The pads are really comfy, it’s got hundreds of useful pockets and features including a cool rain cover. Most importantly to me it’s a nice colour. We also thought it would be great to take travelling/to a festival.
Smaller Multi-Functional Rucksack £8.99
I really like this and have been using it for days out with the kids and the school run when I have lots to carry. Its
blue and pink, again pretty colours, important for me;-). It has got lots of handy pockets and a rain cover which came in very handy to wrap up soaking wet swimming costumes on Sunday after the splash park. It’s got a great front pocket for your keys and phone and lip gloss.
Ultra-Comfort Sleeping bag £17.99
These appear to have changed in the past 20 years. This one is warm, cosy and huge. You could easily sleep 2 people in it. They would need to be cuddling, but you could. My boys have been using it as a relaxation tool in the evenings whilst watching TV.
Lighting
We have a very trendy monkey head lamp £2.99, lantern £2.99 and tent clip on lights £9.99. Matt says these are all very useful and will give out lots of light. Jack our 3-year-old who loves monkeys was very excited about the head lamp.
Tent
So we are still missing the all-important tent, there are a few available at Aldi. There is a 5-man tent for £79.99. This sounds like an incredible bargain. Just a little Amazon search tells me that they can range from £100 upwards. They also have a smaller pop up tent for £19.99.
If you are a bit unsure about camping, like us, don’t spend a fortune on the gear. Head to Aldi and get great value for money. And who knows maybe you will like it and go camping for 6 weeks every year. Apparently you do feel very free and at one with nature. Not sure that will be the experience at the festival. We’ll see!!
I was given all of the mentioned products free of charge by Aldi, except the tent. All model are my children, or my friends children. Thank you to Gem, Matt, William & Olivia Faver and Helen, Andy, Thomas and Isabelle Hayes.
