Last Updated on 16 July 2024 by Colette
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When it comes to packing for a festival – the most important thing to consider is that you’re probably going to have to carry all your kit quite a long way. Unless you’ve booked some fancy VIP parking set up, you’re going to have to drag your stuff across a field or two and then back again – when you’re tired and probably quite hungover.
Whilst it pays to be prepared, the less stuff you take to a festival the better.
In the same breath as I tell you to take as little as possible to a festival to save multiple trips between the car and the campsite, you do also have to be prepared – mostly for the weather. Nothing will kill your enjoyment of a festival faster than being cold and wet, and not having anything dry to put on – equally forgetting the sun cream and giving yourself an (un)healthy dose of sunburn to cope with is never going to end well.
So with all that in mind I thought I’d share what we take to a festival for our family of five.
1. The tent
Obviously, unless you’ve booked a glamping experience, you’re going to need a tent. Our tent is HUGE and mostly a bit unnecessary when it comes to camping at a festival – if we were being fancy, and had the storage space, perhaps we’d have a second smaller tent for festivals however we don’t. What we have is an enormous Berghaus Air 6 which comfortably sleeps the five of us (and in fact has previously slept seven when Aunty Custard and Uncle Chris came to Y Not Festival with us and slept in the living area of our tent!).
Having such a big tent means there’s plenty of room for getting dressed, sheltering from the weather or generally just taking a breather from the festival fun. We have an extension for our tent too which generally serves as a bit of kitchen space and also means we can take our shoes off etc before we get into the main part of the tent. The downside of taking such an enormous tent to a festival is that it can be quite tricky to find enough space to pitch it – the key to getting this right is making sure you arrive at the festival site as early as you can before the campsites become too squashed!
Essentially a smaller tent is probably better at a festival as it will be quicker to pitch and pack up again, easier to find a space for and you just don’t need lots of tent space if you’re going to be on the festival site all day – your tent is for sleeping!
2. Cooking equipment
Festivals don’t generally allow BBQs on the campsite but most will permit a stove as long as it is raised off the ground. We take very little cooking equipment with us when we go to a festival – just our gas stove and a couple of pans so that we can make hot drinks and bacon sandwiches for breakfast. We then eat the rest of our meals in the festival itself- this isn’t the most budget friendly way of eating at a festival but we find choosing what to eat and trying out different food vendors is all part of the festival fun (and also saves schlepping back to the tent every time someone is hungry!)
3. Food and drink
So whilst we’re on the subject of food . . . although we don’t really eat our meals at our tent, we do make sure we’ve got a ready supply of drinks and snacks. Plenty of frozen Capri Sun in the cool box for the kids and cans of pop for the adults. Freezing the Capri Sun not only keeps them cool but also helps to keep anything else in the cool box cooler for longer – even on the hottest festival weekend ever (Timber 2018 I’m looking at you) we still had bacon fit to eat on Sunday morning thanks to all the frozen drinks we had packed on the Friday night (as well as all the usual ice blocks).
Crisps, sweets and biscuits are all welcome additions to the snack arsenal – but try to avoid anything melty if it’s going to be hot! You may or may not get away with stashing snacks in your bag and taking them into the festival itself – some places don’t mind at all, others are super funny about it. (If nothing else because they need you to be spending coin with the food vendors!).
Check out our suggestions for the best food to take to a festival here
Booze at festivals isn’t cheap (scrap that, nothing about being at a festival is cheap) so it’s worth making sure you’ve got a few drinks at your tent (however you won’t usually be allowed to carry them into the actual festival with you – check individual festival policies on this for guidance!).
Make sure your beer is in cans and your wine in boxes as glass bottles are generally not allowed on a festival campsite (on at least one occasion we completely forgot about this and Dave ended up having to leave all the beer he’d brought with him in the car for the weekend. Gin in a tin is also a firm festival favourite!
4. Clothing
It’s easy to over pack for a festival – so think carefully about what you want to wear. Plan an outfit for each person for each day plus a spare in case you get wet or just plain filthy (and then pack them separately in labelled plastic bags to make them easy to find and to keep them dry). It’s also worth packing another bag with comfy clothes or PJs that you can leave in the car so that you’ll have something to get changed into before the drive home.
When it comes to planning festival outfits, think about what will be comfortable, what you can layer up and how much you want to carry around with you. We tend to stick to wellies and walking boots for the whole weekend (with flip flops for at the tent or in the showers) because even on the most glorious weekend, an overtrodden festival site can get pretty muddy. Shorts are often a good plan as your skin dries faster than jeans – you can always stick tights on if it’s colder. Jumpers and waterproofs that you can stash in a backpack are a good plan and maybe a hat – we got really caught out by this at Y Not Festival a few years ago – forgetting just how much colder it can get when it goes dark.
You can read more about what to wear to a festival here.
5. Toiletries
If you go to a festival expecting not to be able to shower for the weekend then you won’t go far wrong. Whilst some festivals have lovely hot showers with minimal queues (gold stars to Just So and Timber) others want you to give your right arm – or at least a substantial sum of money – for the privilege (yes that would be you Y Not). Take hand sanitiser, Freshwipes, spray deodorant and dry shampoo – you’ll survive on that. I always take a bit of shower gel and a shower cap (no chance I’m washing my hair at a festival) on the off chance the facilities are accessible and I’ve recently treated myself to cordless GHDs – boujie I know! You won’t regret taking a spare toilet roll or two as well.
And, don’t forget the fun stuff too – glitter, neon face paint, face gems . . . Anything goes at a festival!
6. A festival trolley
It took me a long time to convince Dave that a festival trolley was a good idea – but I won him round in the end and we wouldn’t be without it now (even though it does take up precious space in the car). A festival trolley not only helps enormously with the endless ferrying of stuff from the car to the campsite but is a great option for small children – somewhere to rest their legs to watch a performance, a means of transporting them around the festival and somewhere to chuck your bags! (You might want to consider where you will sit during the day as well – we often chuck some little folding camping stools in the trolley or carry sit mats in our rucksack)
We invested in a very study, metal garden trolley which is brilliant for transporting stuff from the car to the campsite but if I was buying again now and looking for something more comfortable and easier to manoeuvre, then a WonderFold Wagon might be a better choice.
If you want a wagon that will stand the test of time and easily navigate bumpy festival terrain, a WonderFold Wagon is for you. These premium wagons include all terrain wheels, a UV protection canopy, plus reclining, removeable seats with 5-point safety harnesses (for up to 4 children, depending on the model). Not just a transporter, the robust structure and versatile seating options mean that they can be used for napping, picnicking and storage too. Fully safety certified, WonderFold wagons are packed full of interesting and practical features to help make taking children to festivals, including numerous handy storage pockets, lots of room for bags and kid-friendly zip hatch exit doors.
7. Power banks
Obviously at a festival you’re not going to have electrical hook up – and your phone battery is never going to last you the weekend – especially if you’re using it to take photos / videos of your weekend, access the festival app (so much handier than an old school lanyard), ring your mates when you’ve lost them etc etc etc. I know some people like to have a “festival phone” – a knackered old Nokia style handset that they just using for texting over the weekend – but that doesn’t work for me. I need my fully functioning smartphone thanks. We usually take a handful of power banks camping with us (either normally or at a festival) and they are used purely for phones (or perhaps a camera if we are vlogging). The kids know that when their tablet battery dies, it dies.
8. Head torches
You’re going to need a torch for late night toilet trips and quite possibly for finding your way back to your tent at the end of the night – so keep a couple in your backpack as well as at the tent itself. We have a “box of light” for camping which basically is a plastic box full of head torches, small hand held torches and big lamps for inside the tent. They all come with us when we’re camping at a festival.
9. Ear plugs and an eye mask
Decent ear plugs (these are my favourite) and an eye mask are camping staples for me – but they are even more important when you’re camping at a festival. Festival campsites are naturally noisy places – they are way more crowded than your typical campsite, people are more drunk, more excited and then of course there’s the festival itself – if you have to leave the main site to take the kids to bed, you’ll be able to hear exactly what you’re missing! Honestly, pack some ear plugs.
10. The right mindset!
Going to a festival with kids is definitely a time to relax the rules and expectations a bit. Bed times don’t count, eating churros or spag bol for every meal over the course of a weekend won’t kill you and singing the swear words in your favourite song when you’re ten is hilarious. It’s only one weekend and you’ll get as much out of a festival as you put in – let yourself go and have fun!
For more festival based content check out our guide to festivals!
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