Every camping family accumulates hacks the hard way, usually in a field, in the rain, at about 6am. These 50 are the ones that have survived contact with real trips. They cost pennies, they mostly involve bin bags, clear boxes and thinking ahead, and not one of them requires you to buy a gadget you will use once.
They are grouped by theme so you can skim straight to whatever is currently going wrong, from car packing to pack-down. Rain is assumed throughout, because this is the UK and hope is not a strategy. Numbers 33, 36 and 39 are not really hacks at all, they are safety rules, but they earn their place because getting them right is what lets everything else be fun.
Packing and car Tetris
Half the battle is fought on the driveway. If this is your first trip, start with our guide to first-time camping with kids, then come back here for the fine tuning.
- 1. Pack in clear plastic crates instead of holdalls. They stack neatly in the boot, keep everything dry, and on site they become steps, stools and a washing-up station.
- 2. Pack each child's clothes as complete rolled outfits, socks and pants tucked inside the jumper, one roll per day. A four-year-old can then dress themselves without emptying the whole bag.
- 3. Load a first-hour box into the car last so it comes out first: mallet, kettle, snacks, waterproofs and the tea bags. Nothing you need in the first hour should be underneath the tent.
- 4. Photograph the packed boot before you leave home. When everything mysteriously no longer fits on the last day, you have the answer key.
- 5. Wellies travel in a bag for life in the footwell, not the boot. The mud stays contained and they are reachable the moment you park on wet grass.
- 6. Take double the socks you think each child needs, then add two more pairs. Dry socks are the cheapest morale boost in camping.
- 7. Check when you book whether you can park by your pitch. If it is a car-free field, a folding trolley earns its boot space many times over, and our listings note parking arrangements for sites like the Court Hill Centre.
Pitch setup
The first hour on site sets the tone for the whole stay.
- 8. Aim to arrive by mid-afternoon. Pitching by head torch with a hungry toddler is a known trigger for marriage-strength disagreements about which pole goes where.
- 9. Pitch with the door away from the wind, which in the UK usually means away from the south-west, and put heads uphill if the ground slopes.
- 10. Give each child a real job: handing out pegs, unrolling mats, rigorously testing the bedrooms. It is slower and much happier.
- 11. Clip battery or solar fairy lights along the guy ropes at dusk. Pretty, yes, but mainly it stops anyone taking a guy rope to the shins on the way to the loo at night.
- 12. Put a doormat at the tent door and make shoes off in the porch the rule from minute one. It is the single biggest difference between a tent and a cowshed by Sunday.
- 13. Arriving late, build bedrooms first and feed everyone from the cool box. Arriving early, set up the kitchen first and let dinner cook while you fiddle with guy ropes.
Sleep
Cold comes from below and mornings come early. Plan for both.
- 14. Cold rises from the ground, so insulation underneath matters more than blankets on top. Put foam mats or a picnic rug under airbeds and self-inflating mats.
- 15. Children sleep in tomorrow's base layer: clean vest, long-sleeved top, leggings. They stay warm overnight and one morning job disappears.
- 16. Babies under one sleep exactly as safely as at home: their own flat, firm travel cot, a correctly sized baby sleeping bag, no loose blankets, pillows or duvets, and never sharing an adult sleeping bag or airbed. The Lullaby Trust's safer sleep advice applies in a tent word for word.
- 17. Judge a baby's warmth by their chest or the back of their neck, not their hands, and take hats off for sleep. Cold hands are normal.
- 18. Warm older children's sleeping bags with a hot water bottle at story time and take it out when they climb in. Not for babies, ever.
- 19. The sun gets up before five in June and so will your children. Leave a dawn bag in the porch, books, stickers, a cereal bar, so early risers have a script that does not involve waking the entire field.
Food and washing up
Feeding a family outdoors is mostly about doing the thinking at home.
- 20. Cook the first night's dinner at home and reheat it on site: one pan, no thinking, fed children within twenty minutes of the tent going up. Our family camping meal plan runs the same trick across a whole weekend.
- 21. Freeze milk and yoghurt pouches at home to double as ice blocks. Keep the cool box in shade, open it rarely, use chilled food early in the trip and always cook meat right through.
- 22. Take two washing-up bowls, one for washing and one for rinsing, and make ferrying them to the sinks a paid-in-marshmallows job for children.
- 23. Wraps beat sliced bread because nothing can squash them. Pesto pasta is the reliable banker for the night everyone is tired and feral.
- 24. Bottles can be sterilised off grid with cold-water sterilising tablets in a lidded tub, following NHS guidance. Formula needs water at 70C or ready-to-feed cartons, so sort the kettle logistics before you leave.
- 25. Give each child a snack box for each day and let them manage it themselves. When it is gone it is gone, and the negotiation ends with the lid.
- 26. Make pancake batter at home and carry it in a clean squeezy bottle. Day-two breakfast becomes a headline event for the cost of a shake.
Mud and weather
This is the UK. Assume rain, then be pleasantly surprised.
- 27. Pack a complete spare outfit for every person in a dry bag that lives in the car and is not opened until genuinely needed. That bag is the difference between an anecdote and going home early.
- 28. Puddle suits over normal clothes for anyone under six. The child gets wet-weather freedom and you halve the laundry.
- 29. Bin bags are the ultimate multi-tool: wet-clothes bag, muddy-tent bag, emergency poncho and, held at both corners, a passable hillside sledge.
- 30. String a washing line inside the porch or between two guy points, and finish drying stubborn things in the car footwells with the windows cracked. Never dry clothes over a stove.
- 31. Stuff wet wellies with newspaper overnight. It draws the damp out surprisingly well and gives you a use for the sports section.
- 32. A large umbrella is underrated kit: instant shelter for nappy changes, pram naps and the queue for the showers.
- 33. Never bring a lit or smouldering barbecue, gas stove or fuel-burning heater inside or even near a closed tent or awning, whether to cook, dry clothes or warm up. Carbon monoxide kills, and it kills quietly.
Toddler management
Small children plus open fields is mostly wonderful and occasionally hair-raising. These keep the balance right.
- 34. Dress siblings in the same bright colour each day. Spotting your own children across a busy field becomes a one-second job.
- 35. Tie bunting or a flag to your guy ropes so small children can find home among thirty similar tents, and walk the route to the loos together on day one.
- 36. Around any campfire or fire pit, mark a no-go zone with logs or rope, keep one adult always on watch, keep a bucket of water beside it and douse it fully before bed. Fire pits stay dangerously hot for hours afterwards.
- 37. The travel cot has a day job as a playpen. Pitching, cooking and packing all go better with the baby safely contained and grumbling about it.
- 38. Babies under six months stay out of direct sun altogether. Nap them in proper shade with good airflow, never under a blanket or muslin draped over the pram.
- 39. If the site has a stream, river or lake, treat it as a constant-supervision feature from the moment you arrive, with life jackets for non-swimmers and any unfenced banks walked together on day one.
- 40. After a day in long grass, do a tick check at wash time: hairline, behind the ears, waistbands and warm creases. Ask your pharmacist or GP practice if you are unsure about a bite.
Games and morale
You need far less entertainment than you think, plus one secret box.
- 41. Print a scavenger hunt before you go: something rough, something yellow, something that smells of rain. It buys you the length of a pot of coffee.
- 42. Head torches for everyone over three and glow sticks at dusk. Independence at the loo block, and you can track your children across the field like amiable fireflies.
- 43. Keep a secret rainy-day box in the car: cards, colouring, a pound-shop novelty or two, produced only when the weather closes in. Our rainy day camping guide covers what to do when the box runs dry.
- 44. Marshmallows are a currency. Spend them on chores, washing-up bravery and moments of quiet, always within the fire rules in hack 36.
- 45. Do not over-programme. The game your children invent with a peg, a bucket and a slope will outlast anything you packed, and other children on small family sites like Daisy's Farm near Bourton are the best entertainment of all.
Pack-down
The trip is not over until the tent is dry.
- 46. Feed everyone properly before you strike camp. Pack-down on empty stomachs is how camping families end, not how they are made.
- 47. Children make an excellent peg crew: pull, wipe, count, bag. Counting also tells you whether the field has kept any.
- 48. Repack the boot from your day-one photograph and give every box the same home it had on the way out.
- 49. A wet tent must be fully dry within a day or two of getting home, pitched in the garden or draped over a line, or mould will quietly ruin it before your next trip.
- 50. Book the next trip on the drive home, while everyone smells of woodsmoke and the good bits are still louder than the mud.
Questions parents ask
What are the best camping hacks for families?
The ones that remove pressure at the two hardest moments, arrival and bedtime. Cook the first night's dinner at home and reheat it, pack clothes as complete rolled outfits per child, insulate under sleeping mats rather than piling blankets on top, and keep a spare outfit for everyone in a dry bag in the car. None of it costs much. Bin bags, clear boxes and forward planning do most of the work.
How do you keep children warm at night camping in the UK?
Start underneath: foam mats under airbeds, because ground cold is the real culprit. Then layers, a vest, long-sleeved top and a suitable sleeping bag, with hats off for sleep. Check warmth on the chest, not the hands. Babies under one need a correctly sized baby sleeping bag and Lullaby Trust safer sleep rules. Never use a fuel-burning heater, stove or barbecue inside a tent to warm it: carbon monoxide kills.
How do you keep a tent tidy with kids?
A doormat and a shoes-off-in-the-porch rule from the first minute, enforced kindly and absolutely. Use clear plastic boxes with fixed homes instead of soft bags, give each child one bag packed as rolled daily outfits, and hang a bin bag in the porch for wet or dirty clothes. Tidy is relative in a tent, but findable is achievable.
What do families always forget to pack for camping?
The usual culprits are enough socks, a washing line and pegs for the porch, bin bags, spare tent pegs, spare torch batteries and a plan for the first meal. Write a packing list once, keep it on your phone and reuse it every trip. If in doubt, over-pack socks and under-pack toys.
How do you dry wet clothes when camping in the rain?
String a line inside the porch or under any shelter, use the car as a drying room with the windows cracked, and stuff wet wellies with newspaper overnight. Never dry clothes over a stove, and never bring any fuel-burning heat source inside the tent. On short trips, accept defeat gracefully: bag the wet stuff and wash it at home.
How do you keep food cold camping without a fridge?
Freeze milk, yoghurt pouches and water bottles at home so they work as ice blocks, pack the cool box full, open it as rarely as possible and keep it in shade rather than in the tent. Use chilled food early in the trip and always cook meat right through. Many campsites will refreeze ice packs for you, so ask when you book.
These are practical tips, not medical advice: follow the Lullaby Trust for baby sleep, NHS guidance for feeding and health questions, and never bring a lit barbecue, stove or fuel-burning heater inside or near a tent. Kids Under Canvas is an independent guide; for health concerns speak to your GP or health visitor, and follow NHS and Lullaby Trust guidance for babies.