In reply to rgatrg11:
One of my earliest memories of Cubs was being shown how to fold a camp blanket into a sleeping bag with blanket pins holding the edges together!
Started off with the standard rectangular sleeping bags with "L" shaped zips, but the first "proper" mummy sleeping bag I remember having was a green and purple "Snow Cat" from Blacks.
Before I got that, though, I remember doing my Chief Scouts Challenge hike and borrowing a sleeping bag from a mountaineering neighbour - a nice Vango "Marco Polo" bag - as the Snow Cat wouldn't fit in my rucksack.
My first sleeping mat was a cheap (and very inferior) foam copy of a Karrimat that my Dad got from an army surplus shop somewhere, but had it for years.
Both these came to a head in my first term at Uni, where we ended up sleeping in late November in the old barn near the Grouse Inn in Grindleford - 3 sides, a roof and a concrete floor. It snowed that evening and I've never been so cold - first things on my Christmas list were a new sleeping bag and an upgraded sleeping mat!
Kept the Snow Cat for many years for summer camping and sentimental reasons, but was eventually superceded and finally donated to charity in a house-move clear out.