Festival season is upon us and if you haven’t booked early to nab those Early Bird discounts, or have no idea which festivals are good for kids, then here is our yearly guide to help you find the festival for your family.

The festivals for families, or that offer family friendly fun, are getting cooler and cooler every year. There is so much to choose from that I wish you the best of luck in making your decision.

Lollibop

The first of these, the one that I am particularly impressed with, is the Lollibop Festival that is completely and utterly and totally about the kids. It’s called the big bash for little people and will be held at Regent’s Park on 5, 6, and 7^th of August 2011.

The line-up includes Rastamouse and da Easy Crew, Zingzillas, Charlie and Lola, Horrible Histories, Roald Dahl, Waybuloo, DJ Dick & Dom, Peppa Pig and loads more. You will also find an Enchanted Forest, Imagination Stations, a craft market, special areas for tiny tots and babies, food stalls and even LolliSports.

Camp Bestival

This is one festival that will really knock your socks off! Held on 28,29,30 and 31 July at Lulworth Castle in Dorset, this festival has a programme of events designed to make your drool with delight. This year you’ll find acts like Blondie, Mark Ronson, Mr Tumble, Miss Dynamite, Labrinth, House of Pain and loads more.

They have a garden for the kids and a circus field, loads of arts and crafts for kids, a fairground and loads more. You can even have a professional babysitting service watch the kids while you relax with one of the main acts.

Vintage at Goodwood

Now I hadn’t heard of this before and then some online research threw this up as a family friendly festival option and I was coloured impressed. What you have here is a festival that highlights the vintage and the wonderful, offering music, fashion, film, art and design into the mix. It is eclectic and beautiful, and a definite must for any crafty types out there.

If you have a hankering for the 50s and the 60s, want to boogie on down to roller disco or wail away with some soul, then this is the party for you.  They even have 80s inspired toys like Space Hoppers for kids to enjoy, old toys used by kids from the 50s and 60s, and loads more. With baby sitting on offer you may even find yourself throwing some shapes on the dance floor.

WOMAD

Running from 29-31 July in Wiltshire, WOMAD is a stunning place to take the kids. With plenty of activities and crafts, children are encouraged to make amazing works of art with artists from across the world. And, at the end of the festival, they take their hard work into the final celebratory procession and carry them with pride. It is a stunning event that offers parents and kids a wonderful opportunity to relax, have fun, and make something special.

I am rather taken with the Human Library – which looks genius – and the WOMAD Spa. Who doesn’t like getting pampered while on a holiday? WOMAD offers up a very relaxed and easy going atmosphere and you’ll find yourself happily making friends with other families while you amble around the plentiful activities on offer.

Underage Festival

This festival is only for teens and you, dear parent, are not allowed to come. Kids get to escape their parents (and you get to escape your kids, grin) for a day. Fantastic bands like Devli N, Dutch Uncles, Encore, Bombay Bicycle and Brother head up the acts and kids are allowed to roam free.

The Underage Festival takes place on August 05 at Victoria Park in London and runs from 11am to 8pm with tickets costing £31.50. It isn’t a huge expense and the kids will thank you for it, boy will they thank you for it.

Latitude

Based in Suffolk, Latitude is a small scale festival that is also very much about families and kids. They have an excellent line-up for children of all ages including wildlife trails, hunts, crafts, toys, drumming and parades. Parents can relax with their kids in the Parent & Baby Chillout Tent and the Baby and Toddler Tent has bounce and rock sessions.

You can get Family Camping tickets that pop you in an area free from mad young humans without kids and that has a ton of facilities just for the family festival goer. The tickets are reasonably priced for a three-day event and there are still several available.

The Outwell competition has ended and two lucky families are walking away with these fabulous prizes. Outwell gave us one set of a Dino Sleeping Bag and Dino Self-Inflating Mattress and one set of Flowies Sleeping Bag and Flowies Self-Inflating Mattress. If you've not been following this competition, see our review here.

So! Who won the awesome Dino set? Well none other than lovely mum Jen. Congratulations Jen! Your set will be posted off on Saturday to reach you during the course of next week. We hope it brings you lots of happy memories.

The winner of the pretty Flowies set is Tara! She'll be receiving her set next week too!

Thanks again to Outwell for letting us have these great products and hosting a rather lovely competition for the festival season.

I Want One Of Those.com (IWOOT) sent PlayPennies a bundle of brilliantly bewildering camping accessories that you just know, because they are from IWOOT, are completely insane. We had these sent along to our old PlayPennies regular, Heidi, who promptly whisked them off on a camping holiday with her husband and two boys...

The Briefcase Barbeque

We all loved this idea. A proper bb that’s compact and portable, and in a briefcase. So what did Heidi think?

“I loved the idea of this. I thought it would be perfect for the beach or camping, but in reality it’s just too small for our needs as a family of four,” she said, “We went camping this weekend with friends and had planned to cook dinner on it, but once we got it out the box we realised there was no way we were going to fit food for four adults and two children on it.”

Heidi did go on to say that there is a bigger version available for the larger camping group of humans but that she couldn’t really recommend the smaller one for a family at all.

“It might work fine for a couple with a baby not yet on solids,” she added, “But then, if you’re camping at that stage of life you’re probably so superhuman you take gourmet meals with you, or have a butler.”

The friends Heidi went camping with also felt that it would be too small for just the two of them and she wasn’t sure it would cook the meat properly. However, they did find the perfect use of it – an impromptu campfire around which they sang songs and made s’mores and toasted marshmallows.

“Maybe they should ditch the bbq bith and market it as a portable campfire complete with the ingredients to make tasty campfire treats,” said Heidi, “Now that I could get excited about.”

She also felt that it was a mission to clean, difficult to locate smaller bags of charcoal for, and nowhere near as convenient as a disposable bbq. Except for the green angle, of course. You wouldn’t be contributing to landfill with the IWOOT one.

“As a gift it’s actually quite inspired,” said Heidi, “And it will probably be the inspiration for some impromptu family fun, as long as we can find some small bags of charcoal.”

The Pocket Towel

“The pocket towel takes a bit of getting used to in terms of the way it soaks up moisture but it's reasonably effective,” said Heidi, “It also scores high points for being portable and taking up minimal space in your luggage.”

Certainly this is an ingenious idea and is something that will definitely come in handy for the camping family. So small it can be secreted away anywhere in the car, easy to use and very useful for camping, this gadget won Heidi over.

“One of the best things about the pocket towel is how quickly it dries,” she said, “None of this having soggy towels at the bottom of your beach bag, or lurking in the corner of your tent. I know a mum who bought one of these for her daughter’s teacher as a thank you gift at the end of the school year.”

“The teacher is going backpacking around Australia during the summer and was reportedly thrilled. And I can see why! This is an inspired gift for festival goers and intrepid explorers.”

Costing £9.99, this seems like a fabulous investment for families that camp.

The Pocket Shower

I have been dying to hear about this particular review. I’ve been quite excited to see if it worked, how it worked, and what happened when you used it. Here is Heidi’s onsite report.

“The idea is that you fill it with ten litres of water, hang it from a tree, and let the sunshine heat up the water within, giving you a seven minute shower,” explains Heidi, “I might be missing a trick but I just don’t get this. You’ve got to go to the lengths of finding ten litres of water, pouring it in to this, hanging it from a tree and waiting for it to warm up – all for the shortest shower of your life.”

Unfortunately the pocket shower just didn’t strike a chord with Heidi at all.

“The only place you’re likely to find that much water whilst camping is in a tap, and a tap strikes me as all you’ll need for a wash anyway. Besides, what kind of campsite doesn’t have shower facilities?” she wondered, “Perhaps if you’re camping in the Australian outback but where would  you find ten litres of water in the Bush?”

Ultimately Heidi felt that this was more of a gimmicky gift that may come in handy for an intrepid explorer but that overall it was more for entertaining her kids on a hot day and not really worth the £14.99 price tag.

And Finally

The Pocket Towel was the clear winner in this review, useful and helpful it did what it should and made a big difference to her camping experience. The bbq was a bit too small for her family but should perhaps be judged only on that level as she never got a chance to cook on it. If this appeals to you, get the bigger version just in case.

In honour of the festival and camping season, these delectably warm and toasty summer days, PlayPennies was sent some adorable sleeping bags and self-inflatable mattresses to review. Parents can choose from a funky flower design called Flowies Rose, or a DINO Explorer range with lots of lovely dinosaurs.

While I appreciate that perhaps girls won’t like dinosaurs or boys won’t like flowers, I’m not a fan of forcing a gender stereotype on anyone so I won’t be allocating a gender to this review.

Outwell Self Inflatable Mattress

How cool is this? I loathe having to blow up/pump up anything. I think old age has rendered me incapable of blowing up even balloons, so getting in a mat that will do all the hard work for me is pure genius.

The two different self-inflatable mats we were sent had either a funky green and red dinosaur pattern or a pretty lilac and green flower pattern. They have plenty of other colours and designs on their site too, so if neither of these appeal to you there will be others there that you might like.

The mattress didn’t take long to sort out. I only had to slip it out of the included cover and follow the simple instructions. You have to do a teeny bit of inflating at first. I suppose this is to activate it or something, but it didn’t demand a lot of effort to do.

After about five minutes, as opposed to the advertised two, the mattress was fully inflated and ready to go. I had to top it up a bit after a while but this is quite normal for most inflatable mattresses as the fabric settles.

My daughter adored it. She lay down on it and refused to get off. It’s really a lovely size for her (she’s four) and its dimensions are 160x51x3cm. Because we didn’t have any camping trips planned in time for this review I did a field test in the lounge. My daughter was set up with the sleeping bag (see below) and snugly ensconced on the mattress for the night.

I must admit that I expected lots of cries of, “Mooommeee” to continue throughout the night, but instead she did her usual three (a wee, a drink and a cuddle) and fell straight to sleep. In fact, because of the novelty value, we got an extra hour of sleep that morning. Oh, how I wish I could keep this mattress!

The only down sides, for me, are the fact that the site is determined to make them gender specific, and that the dinosaurs were a bit disappointing. I would have hoped for something a bit more detailed than the plain black images.

These retail for around £17.99 which feels like a good price for a product that does all the hard work and looks good for kids.

Outwell Sleeping Bags

The same designs seen on the self-inflating mattresses are repeated on the sleeping bags but with some neat little extras. Flowies has a fairy motif while the dinosaurs have, well, a dinosaur motif. The bags come with a cap compression sack and measure 165x70x40cm. They are really cute and my daughter just adored hers.

What makes these quite impressive is the long list of specifications. They come with a ridge hood and thermocollar insulation around the shoulder area for extra protection. There is a full length zip baffle complete with an anti-snag guard (thank goodness!) and an inside mesh pocket for storing all those little toys and secret things.

The fabric, for those of you who are camping buffs, is 230T microfibre polyester.

I have to admit that, in spite of a life of camping up and down two continents, I am possibly the worst roller-upper-of-sleeping-bags in the universe. I have been incapable of reducing a sleeping bag to the size it needs for insertion into tiny bag from Day One.

Sadly, this is no exception. I sweated, heaved and rolled until I gave up and had a sulk. This isn’t really a good basis for a review though, because my husband ambled in and did it in seconds. I think, perhaps, sleeping bags have it in for me. Possibly they’ve teamed up with spiders to keep me on my toes.

These Outwell sleeping bags sit in the region of £22.99, a reasonable price for a quality sleeping bag methinks. I love the patterns and styles available and felt that this was a good quality product that appealed to its target market.

And Finally

As a special surprise for PlayPennies readers we are giving away two complete sets of the Outwell kids range to two lucky winners. Check out the competition here and follow the simple instructions to win. I really do recommend these products to future parental campers and festival goers so good luck to you all!

We’re celebrating the magic of festivals and camping and summer delights this July, and giving away a bunch of goodies from Outwell. Outwell have a collection of camping accessories for kids and are giving away two delectable sets – a self-inflating mattress and sleeping bag in two different designs. 

The Dino Explorer sleeping bag and self-inflating mat are toasty and comfy and ideal for anyone who loves dinosaurs. The scrummy Outwell Flowies sleeping bag and self-inflating mat are flowering pink and lilac delights for those who prefer something more colourful. Check out our review tomorrow!

Instead of uncomfortable kids and moaning minnies, you’ll have toasty tots that snooze their way happily through the festivities, leaving you some free time to relax and soak up the atmosphere. Each prize is valued at £41 – an awesome prize indeed! 

So, how do you get to win your set?

• Subscribe to the PlayPennies daily email update (1 entry)
• Leave a comment in the thread below saying Dino or Flowies for your choice of prize (1 entry)
• Tweet a link to this contest and leave your twitter link below (1 bonus entry) 

Rules: 

1. The contest ends on Friday 06 August 2010
2. Open to UK residents only
3. 1 person per household may enter
4. Must complete email verification when subscribing
5. Must include a valid email address if commenting
6. Admin’s decision is final in call cases 

The winner will be announced on Monday 09 August and your prizes sent out that same week. Please expect delivery within two weeks of the announcement.

Even though you won't catch me in a tent (unless it's a 5 star one a'la those featured in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and then I might consider it!) I can spot a good tent deal when I see one, and this 2 person teepee tent from Argos is just that!

• Click HERE to camp out at Argos for this deal

I used to camp you know! Iused to kip out in the garden in my brother's two-man tent and I spent many a camping trip away with the Girl Guides in a 12-girl bell tent!

This 2 person teepee tent reminds me of those Girl Guide days as the shape is very similar, much more interesting than your bog standard square and pointy efforts.

This particular one is in blue camo colours; there is a pink one, if you're after a tent for a girl who's into pink and flatly refuses to sleep under blue, but it's £7 more expensive.

Anyway, back to this one! Argos have reduced it from £49.99 right the way down to £17.99 which is an utter steal, in my opinion! Reading a comment from cRuNcHiE over at HUKD, it's an awesome tent,

"I presume they only call this 'kids' due to the colours. I had one of the brown/creme ones argos do , also 2man, the same size specs as this. Loved it till someone slashed it open at Glasto! For adults you can get 2 in it comfortably, for a festival its really one person plus your stuff realisticly.

Never got wet in it once even with really bad Glasto rain in the past! Recommended!"

So there you have it tent fans! It's great for kids, it's great for adults and it's great for Glasto! What more could you ask for!? (Cheaper home delivery from Argos instead of their £5.95 extortion!)

Thanks to whizzkid over at HUKD!

Mossie bites can totally ruin my holiday. This is not a problem at home. It’s as if I have built up a resistance to the little bloodsuckers around here, because I barely get a bump on my arm if I’m bitten. But as soon as I go somewhere else I come up in lumps the size of a small golf ball. And that’s before I scratch the bite. If I’m idiotic enough to do that, then I’m walking around on holiday sporting a lump on my arm, or leg, or heaven forbid my face, the size of an orange.

Not a pretty sight.

So, top of my shopping list for my summer holiday is always insect repellent, shortly followed by a first aid kit. Because, even if I do remember to spray myself, I’m sure to trip over a misplaced bit of air. That’s just the kind of luck I have!

In the interests of keeping our readers safe in the great outdoors this year, I got a bunch of products from Boots. And gave them to Katharine, a PlayPennies mum with a lot of experience taking children on holidays to the seaside, camping and abroad.

Repelling mossies

Boots gave us two insect repellents. Repel Insect Repellent Lotion Natural Citrepel 75 (100ml) £6.99. And Repel Once Insect Repellent Spray (125ml) £8.99.

First impressions were good. As Katharine comments “Both types of insect repellent (Natural Citrepel and Repel Once) have a quite pleasant odour, and don't smell anything like as strongly as repellents I've used in the past.”

Although the name of the active ingredient, Citrepel 75, sounds a bit sci-fi, the substance is natural and comes from the lemon eucalyptus plant. According to Boots, the Natural Citrepel 75 repellent is suitable for non-tropical areas with a low risk of malaria and insect-transmitted diseases. It also claims a light and non-greasy formulation.

That wasn’t quite what Katharine experienced however. “Whether using the spray pumps or the lotions, they all go on easily, though they all leave your hands feeling slightly sticky” she says. “The Repel Once ones (which are designed for tropical areas where malaria is a problem) are the stickiest. A quick wash of the hands, though, and the problem's solved - I've never been troubled by mosquito bites on my hands, so I can't see it being a problem not having lotion on them.”

Repel Once contains 25% DEET and claims to provide protection from mosquitoes for up to 8 hours. Neither repellents are suitable for use on children under six months.

What were the repellents like in use? "While wearing the lotions outside, I haven't been bothered by any insects - but I haven't really found insects to be a problem at all this year," Katharine explains. "So it hasn't been a very fair/thorough test. (Most years I end up covered in bites - I must taste good.)

What was Katherine's final verdict? "The prices, ranging from £7 for the non-tropical Natural Citrepel repellents to £9 for the tropical Repel Once Spray are probably quite reasonable, but unless I was going somewhere with a particularly rampant mosquito population, I doubt I'd bother buying them. If they were a couple of quid cheaper, I would."

Soothing stings

Even with the most careful application of repellents, you can be sure that if you miss even the tiniest spot, a mosquito will find it. Scratching such a bite is, for me, a really unpleasant and unsightly experience! Boots has a product, Bite and Sting Relief Click It (£5.49) to help people like me. Our tester found Bite & Sting Relief Click It rather intriguing. "You click it five to 10 times on and around a bite or sting to dispense tiny electrical charges, which supposedly relieve the urge to scratch." Certainly sounds like an unusual approach. What is it like to use?

"Thankfully, I haven't been bitten or stung lately, so I've been unable to test its efficacy." Katharine told us. "However, I have used it on un-stung skin to see what it feels like - in a word, strange. Not unpleasant, though, and I'll certainly be taking it with me on my travels this summer. At just £5.49 and with the ability to treat up to 2,000 bites, it seems incredibly good value, too."

Travel First Aid Kit

With two boys, we definitely always needed to carry at least a few band aids with us, wherever we went. But it was my energetic and adventurous step-daughter who required a more substantial first aid kit! I was never confident enough to be able to carry just a little one. However, I might have done with this Boots Travel First Aid Kit (£8.99), as, from what Katharine says, they're thoughtful enough to include space for you to put a few extras of your own.

Katharine says "Finally, the Travel First Aid Kit is another great value piece of kit for just £8." In fact, it is a kit that she has bought and used in the past because it seems to fit such a lot into such a handy pack. "I just sling it in with our luggage when I pack for a holiday and I know I'll have everything I need for any minor medical mishap. There are plasters, dressings, a bandage, scissors, antihistamine cream, a blister plaster, antiseptic wipes and even a very brief guide to basic first aid. The small bag it all comes in is roomy enough for you to pop extra bits and pieces in too."

And Finally

My plan this year is to go camping, and more of us than ever before taking advantage of the festivals abounding in our countryside. For use here I'll be going with the natural repellents, but in a hotter country I'd probably opt for something with DEET in it to be doubly sure.

Plus if this summer continues to be as hot and muggy as it is, especially with the humidity, I don't think I'll have to go on holiday to find bumper crops of mossies! Some of these items will probably see just as much use in my own backyard, which makes sure I'll get my money's worth out of them.

My mum's side of the family is rather big and at least once a year we'd all get together for the day on the August Bank Holiday Monday.

The agenda was always the same: meet at a pub, go to the beach (regardless of weather), eat sand-filled sandwiches, get cold, move on to a park somewhere for phase two. I dreaded 'phase two' - it involved catching of balls and throwing of frisbies; I am, to this day, RUUUUBISH at both!

I thought those days of torture would be over when I got older and started doing trendy things like going to festivals or camping at motorcircuits for Formula One or MotoGP race weekends.

But OH NO! It would seem that throwing round bits of plastic and funny shaped foam things at each other at these events is THE thing to do! It's COOL!

On 6 July I wrote about the Rangs Magic Boomerang. During that little deal post I mused over whether my total ineptitude with anything like this would be a challenge too far for it, and thwart Rangs' claims that they have THE 'World's Best Boomerang' which is guaranteed to come back to you (if you throw it correctly).

By sheer coincidence some  lovely people from WickedVision were, at the very same time, sending us an outdoor and INDOOR Rangs Magic boomerang to play with (yep, an INDOOR boomerang) along with a Duncan pro yo-yo (another thing I still don't have adequate skill for!).

Fortunately for me, my name wasn't top of the list for this one and so it was Tamsin who went forth to make a show of herself show off her festival-fun and playing-in-the-park boomerang skills in public in the name of the PlayPennies review.

Along with her four-year-old daughter, Tamsin decided to try the Rangs Outdoor Magic Boomerang first...

"The packaging is genius! The boomerang is simple to remove and all the instructions are written on the back," Tamsin told us, "this made life so much easier as we ambled into the park; I had to take the packaging with me so we could see what we had to do as there was no way I was going to memorise everything!"

She continues, "To start with you are shown how to hold the boomerang, you have to throw it at a 45-degree angle into the wind and all sorts. If you don’t, your boomerang won’t come back!"

Oh this could be fun, you remember how good Tamsin was at following the cookie-making instructions, right? 45-degree angles into the wind!

"How much is 45 degrees anyway? Maths is not my strong point!" lamented Tamsin, and it was at this point that our intrepid mother-daughter duo enlisted the help of a nearby family enjoying the sunshine.

"I have to tell you that this boomerang was a huge icebreaker because soon everybody was getting in on the action, trying to find the exact angle, the direction of the wind, and who could get their boomerang to come back," she told us, grinning like a Cheshire Cat.

They never quite managed to get it to actually land in their hands (or even return faintly in their direction) nor catch it using the clever moves shown in the instructions, but they did, by all accounts have a lot of fun.

Tamsin's little girl utterly ADORED playing outside with this little toy and just to make sure they gave it a thorough testing, they took it off for a throw-around on the beach.

"At first I was a bit worried that we would decaptitate someone but actually this just served to make us friends and engage the rescue services of a shaggy dog. The latter galloped into the sea to catch the boomerang when we accidentally threw it the wrong way!"

This is all very well and good when you're in the wide open spaces of a park, but I have to say the INDOOR boomerang intrigues me!

"I eyeballed this chap with suspicion. I had visions of smashed TVs, broken lampshades and grumpy husbands," reveals Tamsin.

Like his outdoor cousin, you can do things to the wings of the Rangs Indoor Magic Boomerang that will wow your friends and make you look like a pro boomerang-chucker - turn the wings down for lower flight, up for hovering (yep, these dudes can hover!) and twist them for a tight flight circle!

Having had so much fun with the outdoor version, Tamsin reluctantly handed over the Indoor Magic boomerang to a friend, saying, "We don’t have a lot of space to work with so we found a friend who does. She was also pretty flexible on the whole “boomerang indoors” thing on condition we left the boomerang with her."

Indoor boomeranging just does't sound as much fun as hurling one as far as you can outdoors, I was rather amused (and pleased) to read what Tamsin's friend had to say about their indoor throwing experiences.

"Toby loved it! In fact, I couldn’t get him to stop playing with it. Even hubby got in on the action and soon it was really a competition to see who could get their boomerang to come back and catch it using the trick catches on the back of the instructions."

Is this just a boy thing?  There must be girls out there who can throw these things and get ultra competitive in the process? Toby's mum, like me and Tamsin, is not one of them...

"I am terrible at it," she said, "and mostly knock things down but Toby and Hubby both managed to get the boomerang to fly back to them and did some spectacular saves. I would recommend removing all bric-a-brac and covering your TV with a blanket though.” Sounds like it might be an idea to put your priceless Ming vases away!

Yo-yo's! Another toy of torture from my childhood (you can see why my name wasn't on the list for this review can't you!) and one which my brother was annoyingly good at!

Along with the boomerangs, WickedVision sent Tamsin a Duncan ProYo yo-yo to bounce up and down and flick over her wrist.

"Offering competition grade performance, this yo-yo is a complete charmer. In fact it’s a little intimidating!" admits Tamsin.

"It wasn’t great for tiny tots so hubby and I had a go and really enjoyed it. Talk about being taken back to the good old days of being a kid and doing yo-yo tricks in lunch breaks. The coolest tricks meant the coolest kids!"

This was and is, I'm reliably informed by my Teenagers, still the case - if you can't 'Walk the Dog' then you're a nobody in the yo-yo world.

Luckily the Duncan ProYo comes with full instructions on how to perform all of these amazing tricks.

So did the instructions turn Tamsin into a yo-yo-flinging-over-the-wrist-and-down-along-the-ground-to-walk-the-dog pro?

"To be honest I spent most of the review time trying to remember how to yo-yo in the first place, much less Walk the Dog. Still, I only got tangled up in string once and only had one grumbling untangling incident," she finally confessed, after we threatened her with all sorts of unmentionable torture and torment!

She did conclude, however, that whilst she and her daughter aren't going to be entering any yo-yo or boomerang contests any time soon, they did have the most ridiculous amount of fun.

And finally...

All of these things that WickedVision sent us are perfect for messing around with at festivals, and all the other Parties in the Parks that are happening around the country.  Also, with the school summer holidays coming up they would definitely keep your kids entertained both outdoors AND in.

I think we have to face facts that these toys are going to be with us for the rest of eternity and if you can't beat 'em...you might as well join 'em and engage in some family festival and party-in-the-park fun!

It's that time of the year. The going-on holiday time of the year. A sun-kissed white sand beach on an island somewhere. A campsite on the British coast. A festival in a field. Does it really matter? It is a holiday, a change of scenery, a time to recharge the batteries!

I did a lot of travelling when I was on maternity leave. After all, why not make the most of getting  six months or more off ? On the first trip, we went to Hong Kong when my son was two months old. I looked for the lightest, easiest to carry, travel bassinet I could find.

Now in those early days of motherhood  I admit I bought a lot of crud. I was a sucker for every gimmicky thing going. I had no idea if the Samsonite Pop Up Travel Cot would actually be of any use, but it looked the business. Tiny - seriously tiny. It folds up into a small round bag about the same size as a medium sized frying pan.

It's made with some of that springy stuff they use in pop-up tents. And it works the same way. Pull it out of the bag and it simply pings open. I then spent the next ten minutes looking for the little metal rod that you have to insert to keep the end of the bassinet part from collapsing. After which I realised I hadn't actually seen how it was when it came out of the bag, so had no idea how to put it back together to get it in again.

Actually all you have to do is, after you've taken out the metal rod, is hold each end in each hand, twist into a letter 8 shape, and push it together. It then slides into the tiny bag. Did I mention how tiny it is?

Once baby gets a bit mobile and is rolling about or attempting to crawl, then there's no point in even bothering with this cot. But for the really little ones, the Samsonite pop-up travel cot is fine.

It comes with a mosquito net, which is one reason I bought it. However, I wouldn't rely on this for malarial areas. It didn't fill me with complete confidence that it could keep out mossies entirely. However it will keep flies and other creepy crawlies off your sleeping baby. You could wrap a mossie net around it for extra protection.

The mattress was a lot thinner than I was expecting. I didn't think that my son would find that comfortable at all but it didn't seem to bother him at all. Still, I used to put a blanket underneath when on wood or tiled floors for extra protection.

It also got a nickname, courtesy of my four year old nephew who christened it 'The Boat'. Because actually, that's pretty much what it looks like, with the hood up and the prow shaped front!

My verdict? This was actually one piece of gimmicky baby equipment that I got a lot of use out of, from hotels in the far east to staying at grandma's.

Have you travelled with a young baby? What did you use for a bassinet?

The great outdoors. Fresh air.  Sleeping under the stars. Meals cooked and eaten under the sky. There’s something of a great adventure about camping. Maybe it is being outside. But I find that I have simply the biggest appetite! So I’ve scoured the internet and asked PlayPennies parents for their easiest and yummiest ideas for camping meals. Here’s what I found!

If you’re after information on what to cook the food on, then take a look at last weeks feature: Festivals, Camping, Food and Cooking.

The easiest option is to simply eat out, or buy convenience foods. But what’s the point of going camping if you do that? OK so I’m not talking from the vantage of experience here. I have yet to take a family camping holiday! I might change my mind after I’ve sat stirring a pot over a fire with the sun blazing down. But, I really do want to do a bit of cooking outdoors myself. It is part of the fun and experience, isn’t it? Plus it is much cheaper. I’m on a mega tight budget – one week for less than £100!

Be prepared!

Preparation isn’t just for scouts and guides. The key to a happy tummy when you’re camping is to make sure you plan before you go. I’ve been told to make a daily menu up, and then take the right amounts of food for each meal bagged up. That way you don’t have to measure and you don’t have to take whole packets. Will let you know how that works out.

On the other hand mum of two teens, Karen, takes a more laid back approach.  “Buy food daily. Also camping is the time for packet mash and everything out of a tin (not if you're hiking, obviously).”

Kay, mum to three and grandma to two, says “We used to do three day hikes. We'd start off the first night with steak and veggies, and then graduate to things that wouldn't spoil for the next two days. Bagels and peanut butter travel well. Make some homemade granola, lots of water, bread and hard cheeses. Oh and peanut M&Ms - absolute must have food when camping”.

Nicki plans out her meals before heading off. “I usually make up a spag bol or a nacho bean/mince mix for the first day. I freeze it; then it defrosts on the trip in time to reheat the first night. By the last night we're on tins of spagetti.“

One Pan Wonder

If I’m going to be cooking on my hols then it has to be quick, easy, tasty and light on the washing up. Preferably, I’d like to just use one pan. Two ideas I have come across that sound promising are to take your wok, or slow cooker . Both make sense, although the slow cooker only works if you’re in a campsite with power hookup.

I use my wok like a saucepan all the time, and have found it is fab for making quick casseroles at home. With a slow cooker you’ll have a nice hearty stew at the end of the day without having to slave over a hot fire. Genius!

BBC Good Food has a page of the yummiest looking one-pan recipes for camping .

Or try this simple recipe idea from PlayPennies dad Phil “When we go fishing, we bring tins of tomatoes (or light cartons from Sainsburys), puree, garlic etc for a sauce and slice up some salami to add to it. All of which, along with the pasta, won't spoil before use.”

I’ve had more than one person tell me to make my own bread on the fire each morning. I’m really still not sure about that. I found a video on making campfire bread on Videopedia http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Cook-Campfire-Bread---Bannock-18630405. It looks easy enough but I am definitely not sold on the idea. Especially after seeing what looks like a spider crawling out of the berries he tips into the mix. Maybe I’m not really cut out for this after all!

And finally

Really want to impress the family in the next tent? I found these recipes from Annie Bell’s latest book The Camping Cookbook, handily available online here. Not sure I’ll have the courage to try out the ‘fish in a newspaper’ one. You wrap the fish up in wet newspaper and cook it on the BBQ. I’d probably manage to burn the campsite down!

However, as yummy as Annie’s recipes sound, they also seem like too much hard work to me. That sort of culinary fannying about is the sort of thing I prefer to do at home in the comfort of my kitchen. Not stooped over a gas ring or portable BBQ, while trying to chop vegetables without getting grass or insects into the mix.

Claire recommends starting every day “with a big fry up. A large breakfast really sets you up for the day, and can often skip lunch and just have a small dinner.”

So here I am, about to go camping as a family for the first time, and I feel more than a tad under prepared. Any advice, or tips, anyone has to give will be gratefully received!

Are you planning on attending a festival this year? If so, please tell us all about it and what you have in your knapsack , and how you prepared for every eventuality. I am desperate to try it out with my tots but also a little nervous. Anyway, here is a portable gas camping stove from Asda that’s less than a tenner and may well be perfect for those scrummy camping meals.

• Click here to sizzle on over to ASDA

To be honest, with a delivery charge of £4.95 (ASDA, what are you like?), I would recommend collecting in-store. That’s a ridiculously high price and would kind of kill the deal a bit.

The portable gas stove comes with a strong carry case to protect it against bumps and crashes and has only one plate. You have an adjustable heat gauge and will need to get your gas separately. I know that this is revealing my age a tad, but I remember when camping was all about hiking to the nearest bbq spot and spending ages creating a fire to make coffee...

Anyway, with this beauty you’ll be whipping up hot coffee and tasty meals in no time at all, turning your festival into a luxury campout that will make your camping neighbours into friends. After all, who can resist being mates with the organised people?

Thanks to Finnboy at HUKD!

Any of you sporting teens or older tots that like to listen to music on the way to school? Perhaps this cheap and cheerful MP3 player will suit them perfectly as a pressie. It may even be a little something to bribe the kids into peace and quiet for a bit over the summer holidays! No matter what you decide, paying only £10.32 including free delivery is a complete bargain.

• Click here to sing on over to Amazon (Expired)

This compact MP3 player is only nine centimetres long and can hold up to 20 hours of music playback. It has 2GB of memory and even includes a fitness mode that calculates how many calories you’ve burnt off during your workout.

The MP3 has a play-and-learn function which apparently learns what your favourite play speeds are, and intervals between songs. If your kids (or even you) have their own blogs then this will come in handy as it also includes a voice-recorder so you can make notes as you amble about the world.

I am quite impressed with how many features this gizmo has (there is even a built-in FM tuner so you can listen to radio) and I’m somewhat relieved it has been marked down from nearly £50, otherwise it could run the risk of being really pants. Perfect for entertaining the kids at festivals, camping holidays and long journeys!

Thanks to goonertillidie at HUKD!

If you are busy packing and preparing for your big family festival then you’re likely to be taking something digital along with you, be it a digital camera or camcorder. The thing is, as much as we adore looking at the amazing photos after the event, it can be quite nerve-wracking carrying them around in heaving crowds. So this chap, down from £28 to £15.99 including free delivery, is perfect.

• Click here  to shuffle on over to Amazon

This bag comes with a shoulder strap, an all-weather cover and a soft inner tricot lining. The padded dividers are adjustable so you can sort your bag out to suit your camera and accessories. You also get a built-in memory pocket (handy! I keep losing my spares as they float free in the bag), and a built-in microfibre LCD cloth.

The bag is lightweight and rugged and designed to withstand the elements and it has enough space to store your camera/camcorder, spare memory, and batteries. This particular bag is only available in Arctic Blue I’m afraid, but that’s hardly a hideous colour is it?

So, if you haven’t already invested in something like this to keep your kit safe, then get this beauty for this great price. It’s ideal for keeping your equipment safe and dry (yes, it has water-resistant nylon) while you camp, festival and have fun.

Thanks to amackie at HUKD!

In keeping with the fabulousness that is our month of festivals, here is an awesome kids sleeping bag from Argos for a mere £5.99. I wouldn’t necessarily take it up Mount Everest or to the Antarctic, but for a couple of festival nights it’s a winner.

• Click here to Argos it

The sleeping bag is green with animals printed down the front. Also, it looks like there may be a train. Not sure, but seeing as trains are cool that can only be a good thing. The sleeping bag also boasts a 250gsm hollowfibre filling with polyester lining and is washable. It doesn’t say if this is machine friendly...

A compression bag is included with the sleeping bag and it hits a size of 15x70cm and comes with a six month manufacturer’s guarantee. There isn’t really much more to say about this chap, other than that it is a little more boyish looking (if your kids are fussy about colours) so girls may not like it too much.

Frankly, for £5, this is too good a deal to miss and my daughter can just sleep in it or go cold. No matter what you decide, I hope you get use out of this deal and enjoy whatever festival you’re planning on attending this year.

Thanks to goonertillidie at HUKD!

You’ve done it. You’ve bought the tickets, you’ve set your resolve and you’ve ignored the horrified looks of other parents. Whether you’re a festival newbie, a parent newbie, or both, these top tips should keep you sane and ensure your experience is a good one.

The Pregnant Festival

If you’re pregnant and plan on heading out to any of these fab festivals we uncovered last week then there are some things you may need to do to keep yourself comfy. First off, take water or juice with you wherever you go so you don’t get dehydrated. It’s suggested that you drink at least eight glasses of water a day so up this amount a bit if it’s hot and you’re stomping through fields.

Take a portable toilet with you. We recently found a great deal on a luggable loo that will come in handy. Depending on how pregnant you are, there can be few things more annoying than spending your entire festival trudging back and forth to the toilets. Also, you won’t have to struggle in and out of those hideous portaloos.

Pack tons of lush snacks that are full of good nutrients and vitamins. Avoid rubbish snacks that affect your blood sugar and rather get nuts and fruits and wholegrains. Chomping on these will keep your energy levels up and keep you going throughout the festival.

Take a blanket and either a chair or a pillow with you. Place yourself near enough to the music to enjoy yourself, but far enough away that you can sit down and absorb the atmosphere in comfort. There is no point in being bashed about in the crowd. You won’t have any fun and it will exhaust you.

The Baby Festival

Taking a baby to a festival and camping out may require nerves far hardier than mine, especially if the weather isn’t kind. Many mums I spoke to recommended that you consider booking into a nearby hotel or B&B rather than camping out so you always have a safe base to head to.

However, some parents may be festival gurus with tents and equipment that would keep a buffalo dry in the monsoon. If you are one of these, then all you need to do is ensure that you bring enough wipes and baby equipment to keep the little ones warm and fed.

Take ear defenders for young children to protect their ears if you plan on going close to the stage so you don’t affect their hearing. At a young age they will not appreciate the roar of Def Leppard at eight billion decibels. Also consider getting some form of transport that can cope with fields.

A trolley or pram that can handle the inconsistencies of muddy fields and grounds will save you. No matter how much you love your baby sling, you will get tired and fed up and a nice soft place for baby to sleep while you wave your arms in the air is a great idea.

Pack big thick woolly blankets for your tots to snuggle in at night. The temperature does drop, especially if the night is clear after a rainy day, and you don’t want to be forced back to your tent (or kept up all night) because of freezing cold kids. Or have freezing cold kids, of course.

The Kiddie Festival

In addition to ear plugs and trolleys/4x4 prams, the older kids must have some form of identification. Most festivals give you wrist bands that you can write on with permanent marker so your kids can get someone to call you. Ensure that your cell phones are charged at all times (you can either use a device like the Powerfreakz Evolution we reviewed or pay for your phone to be charged while you’re there) so that people can get in touch with you.

Tent flags are also a biggie. If you can stick something on your tent that will catch the attention of every human within a mile radius then it’s pretty much a guarantee that your tots will find it too. This is just another precaution in case they get lost and it will help them to find their way home.

Definitely bring plenty of your own snacks and bottled drinks for you and the kids. Hungry and thirsty children are absolutely no fun at all, and keeping them hydrated and fed with good quality food is a great way of ensuring everybody is happy. Also, the food at festivals is notoriously poor and expensive, and you’d have to wait in long queues.

Having a trolley or pram will give you that extra edge in that you won’t have to cart all this food, water and blankets on your back. Stick them in a handy portable carrier (we will be reviewing the hamster by Philippelara on Friday) on the back of your pram and you’re the most organised human there.

There are loads of great tips that I'm sure I've missed so please feel free to add your own. My personal favourite was given me by a good friend who said, "Take a blow up air tube so you don't have to hover over the loos when you're pregnant."

Calling all camping conossieurs and festival fruitcakes!

• Click HERE to pitch up at Halfords for this deal

Personally, I'm a hotel kind of girl! If I'm going away I want to stay somewhere where I don't have to do all the things I normally do at home, but in a MUCH smaller space, with the most minimum of equipment and everyone still expecting a three-course banquet!

However, I'm often assured that this is all part of the 'fun'!  Well if you say so, and so for your bargain-hunting delight here is a GREAT camping cookset at a great price from Halfords - they've reduced it down from £59.99 to just £25.00.

It contains all of the following bits and pieces:

• 1 x durable rucksack to store and carry all items
• 1 x portable gas stove
• 4 x pans
• 3 x cooking utensils
• 4 x plastic food containers

It's a shame I don't 'do' camping really;  I almost feel I'm missing out, this is such a bargain! But there will never be a deal good enough to persuade me that an a'la carte menu and room service aren't much more civilised.

If your local Halfords has this in stock (you can check on the website) you can reserve and collect it for free, otherwise you can buy it online and have it delivered for £4.99.

Happy camping!

Thanks to taswir1 over at HUKD!

Whenever I leave the house, even if it’s just for the day, much less festival camping, I have to triple check that things like my phone and camera are fully charged. I absolutely loathe getting to a fab location and discovering that I can’t tell anyone about it, or take photos of it. Or, my personal favourite (she says sarcastically) is that usually there is some kind of crisis just when my phone battery commits suicide.

So, imagine my delight when PlayPennies were offered the chance to review the Powerfreakz Evolution 2500. It sounds like one of those robots out of Robocop, but it’s actually a portable charger that works with anything 5v or less – that includes digital cameras, MP3 layers, Nintendo DS’, PSPs, phones and more.

The Powerfreakz Evolution  is a combined solar and battery charger so you use the power of the sun to charge the battery, taking away the need for convential mains to charge things. Right when we are in the midst of festival season, this gadget is a complete winner.

Sadly I do not have any festivals on right now so the Powerfreakz was whisked off to the lovely Katharine, a professional mum and festival goer who could organise cats in seconds. Promise. She’s super efficient!

“It looks really smart and isn’t very big,” said Katharine, “It easily fit into my camping luggage without too much trouble and it feels really sturdy too.”

The device comes with a handy carry case to fit it and all the cables, tips and connectors you might need to get things all charged up.

“The green symbol on the front looks really cool and lights up as it’s charging in the sun, and when you’re using it to charge your devices,” she said, “Amazingly, I found it didn’t even need to be a sunny day to charge. I used it on a couple of overcast days and it charged up fine, though probably a bit slower than in full sun.”

The Powerfreakz Evolution comes with a range of connectors and tips already included in the kit.

“One of the tips fitted my mobile, and I just used my MP3 player’s USB cable to connect it directly to the charger,” added Katharine, “The MP3 player charged fine, but the charger played up a bit when charging my phone. It kept shutting down and I’d have to keep turning it on again. Eventually it stayed on and charged the phone.”

Sadly this was not the only down side that Katharine discovered.

“I was a bit disappointed about my digital camera as that’s what I’ve had trouble with running out of charge when at a festival before. The camera has its own rechargeable battery and proprietary charger, but there was no suitable connector supplied by the Powerfreakz Evolution kit.”

She continued, “It’s not as though my camera is an unusual make, it’s a Nikon, and my old Olympus camera would suffer the same problem if I wanted to use the Evolution. The Powerfreakz website says you can buy additional connectors but I couldn’t find anywhere that sold them.”

The fact that she cannot connect a very common type of camera to the Evolution is a bit of a concern and so we at PlayPennies have asked the company to let us know where the relevant connectors can be found.

“On the whole I think it’s a great device and I’ll definitely be using it for all my upcoming festivals this summer,” concluded Katharine, “When you have two kids in two, you’re advised to write your mobile number on their wristband while at the festival so it is essential that my mobile is kept charged in case they wander off at get lost.”

The Powerfreakz Evolution retails for £49.99 which is a fairly hefty investment but one that will likely pay you back over time. You won’t need to pay for your equipment to be charged and this will add up in the long term. Well, that’s how I feel. Katharine disagrees...

“I’d be reluctant to pay £50 for this, most festivals now offer facilities where you can get your mobile charged for a small fee that offers far better value for money.”

And Finally

While Katharine and I disagree on the value for money point, we both agree that this is a very nifty device. The fact that it uses solar power to charge your devices makes it fantastically useful for festivals and camping trips. And it is fab for the environment and your carbon footprint!

PlayPennies just got a divine Morrck Splasha in for review and it has been such a hit with the kiddies. This ingenious idea has been done before, but not with as many clever extras as Morrck have managed to include.

The Splasha is, essentially, a big scrummy yummy towel that’s been fashioned into a hooded wrap complete with pockets and studs for extra storage and cosiness. They come in a two different colours and designs and will fit kids from age one to age seven with ease.

We got a lovely white Splasha with bright spots on it and, no matter how hot it was outside, my daughter insisted on wearing it. She absolutely loves it to pieces and it now has to be used at the beach, at the pool AND after a bath.

These towelly delights retail for £19.95 so they are quite a bit more expensive than a bog standard towel. Not brilliant if you’re on a budget, but simply delicious if you’re looking for something that will last for ages and keep your kids snugly without falling off.

Yes, the biggest thing about these Splashas is their utter usefulness. Normally a day at the beach, for us anyway, consists of lots of happy splashing around followed by lots of moaning about how cold she is and can she go home now. With this chap, she simply swung it on and carried on playing in the sand. It was nice to not have to hurriedly stuff everything into the beach bag and gallop home with a whiny toddler.

That alone made it worth the price for me.

The next thing I really liked was the fact that you could button the Splasha up the sides with press studs. Much better than wrestling with a zip and you can leave the sides more open if the weather is too hot but baby is still wet. This makes it a genius product for festivals and camping. Perfect for keeping little ones warm.

The hood is also a great idea for keeping their heads covered in the sun. If you’re anything like me, you’ll often forget to pack a hat for your little one or have lost them all in a freak tidying incident.

The towelling itself is lovely and soft. Really thick and luxurious. It made me want one, although I’m sure an adult wandering about in one of these would look a tad insane... A wonderful trick that I was taught by our very own Sarah was to not wash towels with softener.

Apparently, softener stops the towels from absorbing water and things properly and so results in a stiff and starchy towel rather than a lovely cuddly one. Try it with your normal towels too. Just wash at 40 degrees (or 30 if you’re about saving the planet) without any softener and prepare to be amazed. I was!

The fabric used to make the Splasha is 92 percent cotton and eight percent polyester, so it feels absolutely luxurious. I was very impressed with the quality and my daughter really loves how comfortable it is to wear. Although, she wore it before I knew about the softener trick and moaned about it being scratchy after its first wash.

The only down side of the Morrck Splasha is that it is a pricey item for the budget conscious parent.

And Finally

While the price may be somewhat more than you can stomach right now, this item does get a very high thumbs up from me. I would definitely buy it as a gift for a special occasion, like Christmas pressies for other kids in the family, because it is just so darn useful.

The lovely little extra touches such as the hood and pocket, plus the fact that my daughter dried off super quickly and comfortably, make it a charming must-have for me.

It is beyond cute. I’ve even included a pic here for you!

Is money tight this year? Does a bear do its business in the woods? I’ll be saving some cash by taking my holiday in the great outdoors this summer. First thing to look at is camping food. Or more specifically, how to cook it.

Camping makes sense, as a cheap way to take a break. At the moment I don’t know if I’ll head to a field on the coast, or go to a festival with its in-built entertainment. Or do both.

One thing I do know is that I’ll want to eat. Festivals will have plenty of food options on hand, of course. But there’s still that need for a bacon (or vege bacon) sarnie in the morning! And when I’m camping (by car of course; not up for hiking with a five year old just yet) I’ll need to be able to cook.

For more info on festivals read our guide: Family Friendly Festival Fun. Also look around for smaller, niche, and often free, festivals. For example I’m using the event guide at Folking Cool.

Campsites are even easier to locate. One good resource is The Camping and Caravanning Club, although you may have to join to access some sites.

What to use

I have to admit we’re still debating this one in our house. I would prefer to invest in either a couple of Primus stoves, or a gas burner, dual hob, preferably with grill. My other half just wants to get whatever the cheapest own brand is from somewhere like Halfords.

He doesn’t want to be lugging gas bottles around. I say he’s missing the point of going camping with your car.

PlayPennies parent of two, Paul, is a Camping Gaz man all the way. “I just never thought of taking anything else along. Just need to plug in a gas bottle and you can get these for Camping Gaz just about anywhere.”

Right now it seems like lots of outlets have the Camping Gaz Chef double grill on sale. The cheapest I could find it was £30 at Sports Direct, delivery is £3.99.

Nicki puts in a vote for her Primus stove, which can power a lantern too. I’m not sure I’ll be able to take the advice of mum of three, Rebecca, just yet. Maybe something to aspire to! “We go camping every year but do it 5-star, which involves a trailer /powered site/fridge /mini oven /heater /toaster /kettle etc. Last year we even cooked a roast that made everyone else in campsite extremely jealous.”

Keep in mind that some festivals ban gas bottles, and certain other types of fuel. Check on this carefully to avoid having your gear confiscated at the gate, and being left with a cooler of food and no way to cook it.

Those that use gas, or liquid fuel like Primus, are just the two options that I’m most familiar with, as I’ve used them before. Alternatively, as Sho, an expert at taking her family on holiday on a shoestring, told us “most campsites allow BBQ type fires. You can get a disposable one and use it more than once then just bin it when you leave.” The Camping and Caravanning Club has a good guide to stoves HERE.

How to store

The universal, most offered advice I came across when it came to storing your food is to not use a generic, cheap, own brand cooler from the supermarket. This is, apparently, a false economy. Invest in a good quality cooler, one that will keep the ice (used to cool things) solid for days rather than hours.

Kat has had plenty of experience of camping. She advices that, if you're going to be near a car, “you can pack a cooler with all sorts of thing. We usually freeze bottles of water to keep things cool and then as they melt you have cold water and then just fill them back up as you go. It might be worth looking into a small travel fridge that plugs into the campsite’s electric if you're going to be doing a lot of camping, they even make some that will plug into the cigarette lighter in your car, but they do tend to wear down the battery if the car's not running.”

Here’s a great tip from mum of two Celine, and something I wouldn’t have thought of. “If you're not hiking I'd take a cooler box with those awesome little freezer gel packs - most camp sites will pop them into the shop freezer for you.”

And finally

Once you’ve got your food ‘hardware’ – that’s the cooler and stove – you’ll want to use it. I am gathering all the tips I can from our canny PlayPennies parents, and from around the internet. Next week we’ll look at some yummy, and cheap, ways to eat for next to nothing while you’re living in the great out doors.

Here’s one last tip. Remember that tinfoil is your friend! You’ll want to take at least one roll. You can use it to minimise cleaning – cover the grill before cooking bacon. Wrap up food to keep it warm, and use the tin foil as impromptu plates, serving dishes, and saucepan lids. Or to cook baked potatoes on an open fire. If the wrapping isn’t going onto a heat source, grab some wrapping foil as well. This is much cheaper – the Sainsburys Basics wrap is about 30p – than using tinfoil.

Please share you experiences of camping food, and cooking, here! And help other PlayPennies parents to save money.

I used to have a sleeping bag that was supposed to be able to withstand the sort of conditions encountered by Captain Scott and his team!

• Click HERE to zip up this deal with Amazon

I used to be a Girl Guide therefore I camped, but it was never something I really enjoyed so as soon as I was old enough to hang up my woggle I did!

But my trusty arctic-force sleeping bag came in handy years later when I spent the weekend at a campsite in Donnington for the then equivalent of MotoGP (the GP500!) and camping took on a whole new angle *grin*

Sleeping outdoors under canvas is many things but it's guranteed to be miserable if you're cold, equally it's no fun if you're too hot because your bag is the wrong weight for the season.

This is a great deal what with it being festival season (and there are some GREAT ones coming up). This Gelert X-Treme sleeping bag is a two season 'lite' one, so it's going to keep you warm enough but not see you waking up in a bag of sweat - what a thought for first thing on a Monday morning!

When it's rolled out it's dimensions are:  210cm x 78cm x 50cm.  When it's rolled up in it's little bag it measures a tiny: 36cm x 15cm!  Much fun was always had trying to get the big bag back into the little bag...

Amazon have reduced this sleeping bag by 62% bringing it's price down from £37.99 to £14.25!

Happy festival-going and camping (if you like that sort of thing!)

Thanks to amibees over at HUKD