How many ponchos do you need

A disposable poncho is one sheet of PE with a drawstring hood and an elastic cuff at each wrist. It keeps a person dry for the walk to the car, the queue at the gate, the second half of a ball game. Then it goes in the bin. So the sum is simple: count the people, then add a spare for whoever stands on their own hem and tears it.

That spare is not padding. A poncho gives way at the hem first, and a group of four with four ponchos becomes a group of four with three. Buy one size up from the number of heads and the problem never comes up.

A bundle carries a pack of ponchos and a pair of coats in one box. It suits a household that wants cover for itself and spares for visitors, and a coach who keeps a box in the van for whoever turns up in a t-shirt.

It is rain cover, not a shell for a hillside. A poncho keeps rain off your head, shoulders and arms. It leaves your legs below the hem to the weather, and it has no sealed seams. In a side wind it lifts, which is what the wrist cuffs and the hood drawstring are for.

None of the packs state a thickness. What each item page does give is whether it is single use or folds back down.