Your unessential essentials

[mouth]

I love mine. Brilliant if its not p*ss*ng down as you can use it as a blanket and then just wrap it around you when it gets chilly. It also comes with a back pack bag thing so you can just roll it up and chuck it on your shoulders.

I took mine in 2007 and used it as a rug only once! However I was also sharing a Tipi with my other half and his two teenage daughters and it was a godsend for privacy for TravelJohn emergencies amoungst other things! (not rude things I hasten to add!)

I also used it as a pillow, it was nice having something really snuggly & soft.

Hope that helps!

[CrunchyFrog]

Do you have to pull the same face if you wear one?

[grumpyhack]

Everything I take is essential - though some things are more essential than others - like loo roll.

My friends, who help pull our trolley, always complain that I take too much but here are some of my non-essential essentials with justifications for their inclusion.

Flagpole with daffodil sttreamer - helps us find the tent after a good night out.

Inflatable sheep to adorn the gazebo - as above (you may be getting the sense that we are from Wales but both of the above are more fun than a boring Welsh flag).

Decent coolbox packed with ice, fresh strawberries, dark choclate and cans of Prosecco (Italian champagne) to set the mood after we've got the tents up. Pate, olives, cheese and biscuits for a little aperatif before we venture into 'town' for the evening.

Wine boxes. You can remove the plastic inside and carry it round the fest in a small rucksack to have drink on tap wherever you go.

Good lighting to illuminate our gazebo at night while we sit around putting the world to rights (then taken in the tent to see so that we don't trip over our camping table, kettle and stove we use to make that first morning cup of coffee.

Inflatable double airbed and double sleeping bag (even though I sleep alone I like a bit of space).

If you are going to be there for the best part of a week you might as well be comfortable.

Warning tape (the sort round holes in the road) not to mark out our pitch but to fix to the guy ropes of our tents so they are more obvious and so people are less likely to trip over them. Oh and Gaffer Tape to fix together anything that falls apart.

Edited March 23, 2009 by grumpyhack