Advice on sleeping IC

General
1

I am making the transition to IC sleeping in a pavillion style tent which has a groundsheet but not sewn in. There will likely be a toddler in with us later in the year.

Give me your wisdom, seasoned IC campers!

Airbeds or raised camp beds?
Do you bring an emergency proper tent for disastrous weather?
Are your kids warm enough… Do you construct an inner bedroom to keep heat in?
What other pro tips do you have?

2

Any bed can be covered with IC looking blankets…
The rest of this advice is entirely about staying warm :slight_smile:

Both camp beds and airbeds will raise you off a cold or damp floor, neither will insulate you underneath. Also airbeds don’t breathe.
So you want some dense insulation on the bed, underneath you.
Blankets, a camping roll-mattress or sheepskins are all good.

My best advice for choosing between a camp bed or airbed is do you sleep curled up ?
Camp beds are very comfortable if you sleep straight, and on your own. For anything else you want an airbed.[or a fantastic rope and wooden bed from Dougie]

3

Can’t offer advice regarding sprogs, but in general:

  1. A bed raised off the ground is a better choice. It also gives you a space to hide OOC stuff. I have a collapsible rope bed on which I have a futon mattress - its at least as good as my bed at home.
  2. An emergency tent has never crossed my mind. If I wasn’t confident in my IC tent I think I wouldn’t camp IC as I’d be concerned that worry about it would affect my enjoyment of the game.
  3. I always have a plastic groundsheet under the stuff I put down as the “flooring” so that this has a good chance of remaining reasonably OK even if the weather is bad - it’ll still get awful at an event like the mud-fest one we had last year, but better than if it was direct on wet ground.
  4. Things I keep clothing, etc. in I raise off the ground slightly so that if water runs into the tent my kit isn’t soggy. (Also a factor in the raised bed above) Plastic boxes hidden away would be another solution of course.
  5. For colder times of the year a duvet you can wrap around you to sleep in is great - I prefer this to a sleeping-bag but YMMV. If cold is forecast you can’t really take too much in the way of bedding - you can always not use some but you can’t add what isn’t there (and LRPers being LRPers there will be somebody with too little you can help out if you have more than you need.
  6. Having something to pee in during the night can save a walk over a cold/muddy field to the loos. (Possibly easier for us blokes, but …)
  7. Dry socks.

Nothing much rocket science - I bet you know it really.

4

I used to sleep in a sleeping bag on a thermroll with a blanket underneath and now have a raised camp bed. Let me say camp bed all the way. Not only does it let you stash things underneath, its less subject to hard / rocky ground issues.

Granted I still have the thermroll and blanket to help soften the top the camp bed, but I get a far more comfortable sleep with the bed than I did without.

5

Having a bed up with space underneath is definitely a benefit on hiding the not IC necessaries, all of which can be hidden with a suitable blanket or spare sheet. Plastic boxes or large supermarket shopper bags will prevent the water getting into things you would prefer dry if the groundsheet doesn’t cope, hide under bed or with spare cloth as above. NB washing several flat single bed sheets is a bit easier than washing blankets if all the cloth is doing is hiding stuff, charity shops are good for either.

Make sure you have left your torch somewhere easy to locate when you have finished being IC and just want to find your wash bag to do your teeth before bed.

6

Airbeds work best if you’ve got a roll mat or some insulation foil blanket underneath it to keep the ground from chilling it. Then stick blankets and sheepskins over the top to taste :slight_smile:.

7

Raised Beds, not airbeds.

If you want to go all out, then a collapsible rope bed is very easy to make, if you have any woodworking skill whatsoever.
greydragon.org/furniture/beds/ropebed.html

As Nik says, they maximise your space, as you can store stuff under the bed.

Also, A piss-pot from Jim the Potter.

8

We use porta-johns for midnight toilet visits, toddler is still in nappies so haven’t tried them on him yet :slight_smile:

We co-sleep, and hubby is considering building a triple wood and rope frame to make space for growing toddler starfishes, but it does keep him warm and snug. I’ve found an inner tent and some sort of flooring do make a massive difference to the heat. If you’re not happy co sleeping then a little bed with plenty of blankets and maybe a hot water bottle will be fine.

Don’t bother with an emergency tent, if the weather is bad enough to abandon an IC tent you’ll be decamping to a car or emergency travelodge.

Attach a GPS tracker to your toddler, tatoo them with your name and contact details, make sure your nation knows what they look like and be prepared to chase after them a lot and drag them kicking and screaming back out of the hall of worlds, senate, god, monster room… In all seriousness, mine likes to wander, and we were close enough to the hedge that he could be through it if you took your eyes off him for a second. Really hoping this year he’s old enough to understand that he needs to take someone with him.

9

[quote=“Hob”]
Also, A piss-pot from Jim the Potter.[/quote]

He does female ones IIRC :smiley:

10

Do it! Especially if you’re bringing kids. The alternative is to go OOC at 8pm every night. Sadface!

We (me & 2 kids) are fine with airbeds. I push them together to make a wide sleeping mat, we end up sprawled over it like three puffy worms. Put an emergency foil blanket under if you have one.

I keep one in the car when I have the kids, just in case, but I’ve never used it, and I’m not sure what combination would be a) bad enough to make me abandon the IC field but b) not bad enough to make me just go home.

We don’t make a bedroom but it does get pretty nippy. O was in two sleeping bags for E1. With one good sleeping bag the kids are fine for anything over -5C.

Pages and pages of advice is forthcoming on the Parents FB thread, I won’t repeat it all here.

Bring many blankets; put them on your kids at night, then shove all your OOC stuff to the side and cover during the day.

Bring a bucket. :slight_smile:

Depending on your toddler, just relax and enjoy it. :slight_smile: I find Anvil to be one of the safest places that I take my kids.

ETA: Before the age of 5 my kids would never in a million years have stayed on a camp bed overnight. We used ready beds extensively while camping / larping:
amazon.co.uk/Disney-Frozen-J … B00LZMO9WC
(Other franchises available)

11

[quote=“Hob”]Raised Beds, not airbeds.

[/quote]

I am now curious, what problem have you found with airbeds ?

12

Brilliant advice folks thanks, esp re night-time peeing, I hadn’t considered that. And great tip about the survival blanket underneath.

13

I am now curious, what problem have you found with airbeds ?[/quote]

Deflation upon occasion. Need to be hyper vigilant of ones pointy things, and the loss of the space under the bed for storage. Even with a cheapo Argos camp stretcher, (which I use when I am roughing it IC at Empire), I can fit a lot of stuff under it, and space is always at a premium in a tent.

[quote=“nikgaukroger”]

[quote=“Hob”]
Also, A piss-pot from Jim the Potter.[/quote]

He does female ones IIRC :smiley:[/quote]

And that’s the type my Lady and I have. She Declined Jim’s kind offer of a personalised fitting…

14

Daisy,

Is your Pavillion a hub and spoke type?

if so, you can divide it up into wedges using hangings hung from the spokes.

You can also make a box canopy, on a very light frame, (20mm dowel with copper pipe elbows to join the struts) and hang that from the spokes to make a sleeping chamber, which does a lot for warmth.
like this, (Which is suspended from the rafters, even though it looks like it is supported on posts)
greydragon.org/furniture/canopy/index.html

15

I apparently have a singularly pointy family.

I should probably clarify that we now only use self-inflating mattresses; more comfy, and we haven’t burst one yet. :slight_smile:

16

@Hob, that canopy is awesome!

It is indeed a hub and spoke pavillion. I’m picking it up this weekend and will be experimenting with my hangings. if I get chance to raise it before the event that is.

You are all welcome to come enjoy the hospitality of the Gremani hearth and inspect my setup at event1 (practice event, no toddler). :slight_smile:

17

I’ve never slept well on an airbed: any movement gets magnified. I know some people are fine with them though.

I’ve slept fine on one of those camp beds of canvas stretched over steel rods, something like gooutdoors.co.uk/hi-gear-4-l … ed-p143629 but wider.

Perhaps you could experiment by borrowing things for a night at home.

18

Just to echo the sentiments regarding raised camp beds. It is big and it is clever. I currently use a fishing bed and it’s great.
For a more authentic look ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/S29009571/ a cheap pine bed that assembles with allen keys either an inflateable matress or futon on the bed frame. you can dress it up with a stain and beat it up a bit to look more rustic. When sleeping a blanket under you works nicely as an insulator.
Interlocking foam tiles covered by rugs can also help for a comfortable area and insulate the tent from the ground.
Hangings from the spokes can divide the tent and create an inner tent which is easier to keep warm. also blocks sight of OOC items. “S” hooks are your friends. Just be carefull to not put too much weight on the spokes as you don’t want them popping out.
You can also hang your clothes from the spokes and I know several people who store their bows in the “rafters”

19

SheWee + pot/receptacle for ladies. Lifesaver.

20

Hi, new here and surfing for bed and sheets idea and reached here… I agreed with Seren…! Does Ikea is in Australia? a physical store rather than online? I want to look and check the size before buying!!! Need quilts as well because winter has just begin in Australia!