To start with the obvious:

1. A kite.

2. Some flying line.

3. a handle or reel to wind it onto.

(You would surprised how many people buy a kite, open the packet on the beach, and find one of those 3 missing)

After that, things get a little more complicated, depending on what kite you are flying.

If you are flying a fairly small or simple single-line kite, usually all you need is somewhere to fasten your kite. Choices are:

1. Parts of the scenery, such as handy rocks or small bushes.

2. Furniture, such as beach shelters, deck chairs and the like. Never fasten a large kite to a pushchair, especially if it holds a small child!

3. A bag of sand or gravel. This is quite convenient, since all you need to do is have a carrier bag in your pocket.

4. A ground stake. This is a spike that you hammer or screw into the ground, with a loop at the top to fasten your kite to. A good style looks like a corkscrew and can be bought from petshops, intended to fasten dogs to.

A carabina is also useful, as it can quickly clip your kite to a handy object.

(Of course, you could always be boring and hold the handle in your hand.)

If you are flying larger one-liners, or it is windy, gloves are essential. A taught kite-line can cut to the bone, and I know of at least one person who got the line tangled around his ankle. This has happened, and the pictures were not pretty. Ordinary gardening gloves are good, and cheap enough to leave in your kite-bag. A good rule of thumb is to never pull or hold your line with a bare hand, just to avoid falling into bad habits.

Spare tails are useful if wind conditions are variable, or if the tail of your kite is long and liable to get caught and torn. It is also useful to bring along something to wind your tails onto, such a pieces of heavy card, hardboard or thin plywood. This is particularly useful for the easy storage of dragon kites.

In Case of Emergency:

It is useful to have an emergency repair kit, even for a kite you only paid 99p for:

Scissors. Pick a sharp pair, small enough to be convenient to carry, tough enough to cut several thicknesses of line and sail material.

Tape. Scotch-type tape is useful to fix small cuts or tears, especially in plastic kites, but if a rip is large enough to need gaffa ("duck" or "duct") tape, then it is large enough to warrant packing up and going home to fix properly.

Glue and paper. Paper kites sometimes come unstuck at the seams, so a glue stick will provide a rapid patch. Rips in paper can get worse quickly, so gluing small patches over rips helps greatly extend the life of a kite.