Camping with Kids

Modern city life comes with scores of stresses. So a mini break with the family, where you go camping in the great outdoors, seems like a great idea. You can set aside the distraction of your city life and become one with nature. Simple living, eating what you find, and hiking across narrow trails all have their own charms, and they become more enjoyable when you can share them with your family. But be warned that a fun family camping trip almost always results in a lot of stains. Fortunately, Vanish is at hand to help you get the stains out, so you won’t regret going on the trip and ruining your clothes!

You cannot carry washing and cleaning materials with you, but there are some necessary camping elements that you simply must have. These are:

• A family sized tent (or two separate tents if the children would like to have their own quarters)
• Sleeping bags
• Floor mats/air bed (don’t forget the air pump!)
• Wellingtons
• Sun protection cream (SPF 30 or more)
• A GPS/map/compass
• Warm clothing (an extra jumper can help on cool evenings)
• A flashlight or headlamp
• Matches, lighter
• First aid supplies (pain medication, motion sickness pills, bandages, etc.)

Carry adequate supplies of food and water, but don’t add a huge bag of food to your luggage. A pack of marshmallows to roast by the fire is a good idea.

Exploring the countryside helps you bond with your family and have a lot of fun with each other. You can go hiking and play fun games like ‘eye-spy’ or ‘hide and seek’ along the way. A popular favourite is telling (and listening to) spooky stories by the camp fire. You can play ball games or toss a Frisbee during the day, or try to identify different types of flowers and fruit along your hiking trail. Finding uncommon leaves and fruit, or chancing across a small animal are all part of the adventure.

But now you are home from your fun camping trip, and looking with dismay at the pile of washing up to do. And there are many types of stains on many of your garments and shoes as well. There are mud stains, grass stains, even blood stains and dried on food. But you can remove all these stains with a soak using Vanish Gold Oxi Action Powder.

Treat mud stains by brushing off the excess – make sure it is dry. Damp mud can continue to work into the existing stain. Instead of washing all the stained clothing individually, you can soak it all in one tub:

1. Add a scoop of Vanish powder in four litres of warm water. Let coloured clothes soak for one hour, while whites must soak for six hours.
2. Once you have soaked your clothes for the adequate amount of time, you can rinse them and pop them into the washing machine. Wash the clothes as you always do, using your usual detergent.

Make sure you follow the usage instructions listed on the pack, so that you get the best results from Vanish. So your family camping trips can now be all-round successes, since you don’t have to worry about cleaning stained clothing when you have Vanish to help.