Festival Fit: Your Must-Have Kit List

Even though it is now possible to buy preprepared festival kits, you really don’t need to pay somebody else to get you festival fit this summer. Whichever festivals you have on your list for the next few months, you will probably have to haul your stuff some distance to the campsite, so travel light but travel smart:

Essential Kit

  • Festival ticket: You’d be surprised…
  • Tent: Whether you go for a sturdy, solar-powered home from home that will get you through a lifetime of festivals or a cheap pop-up disposable, practice setting up your tent before you go.
  • Sleeping bag & roll mat: Roll mats are surprisingly light and are really worth the room in your rucksack. The ground at festival campsites is impossibly hard to sleep on.
  • A refillable bottle: Many sites offer free taps on site, so you don’t have to lug about heavy bottles all day or buy overpriced water. And if you think you can survive on beer alone, you have a horrific dehydration headache to look forward to.
  • Toilet roll, wet wipes & sanitising gel: The holy trinity of festival hygiene. Don’t even think of going without. Packs of tissues are also handy to carry around in a—
  • Bum bag: Wear either a zippable pouch that you can wear around your waist or a bag that straps neatly across your body for security and convenience. This is where you stash your cash, hand gel, tissues, and—
  • Documentation: Check your ticket to see if ID is required. If you look under 18, bring ID anyway. Also bring any medical information if you suffer from allergies or medical conditions.
  • Sun protection cream: You may laugh, but even the most rain-sodden of festivals frequently have hours of brilliant sunshine, and you really don’t want to wake up with a hangover and
  • Wellies & poncho: Even if the sun is blazing down all weekend, all those bodies churning through the fields is going to make it mucky, so be prepared and don’t wear anything flimsy on your feet. Flip flops are handy to slip your sticky feet into when you get to your tent. A rain poncho takes up no space in your rucksack but could save you considerable misery if it starts to bucket down.
  • A hat: Not only will you look cool, but you can avoid both sunstroke and hypothermia by packing an appropriate hat.
  • Torch: An absolute lifesaver when you’re trying to find the toilets or your tent in the dark, especially if you’re a bit unsteady on your feet…
  • Medication: Apart from any essential medication you may need for a condition, don’t forget to pack basic pain relief like ibuprofen or paracetamol, plasters, and medication for stomach upsets.
  • Dry shampoo: Because you’re unlikely to be showering very much, but you still want to look (and smell) reasonable.
  • Contraceptives: You never know.

Don’t Bring:

  • Too much stuff
  • Anything in a glass bottle (Even perfume will be confiscated).
  • Animals (apart from registered guide dogs), sound systems, generators, kites or sky lanterns, fireworks.

Festival 101: The Essentials

 

Our UK Summer sure has crept up quickly and that of course means only one thing…festivals!

 
Yes plenty of indoor UK festivals and all-day gigs are cropping up left right and centre but the ones you really have to prepare for are those outdoor-weekenders – after all you could be spending up to 5 days away from home and in a (potentially) muddy field.

If you’re a festival first-timer, you’re going to need a bit of a briefing! Of course, UK festivals are all about fun, but packing up some essential gear can make all the difference between having fun and having a really miserable weekend – it’s your holiday after all!

Most things are available for you to purchase on your travels or when you get to the festival grounds, but there are a few of the essentials that money can’t necessarily buy  – we’ve compiled a list of those all-important valuables or essentials that you can’t leave the house without – so take note festival first-timers!

 

Directions:

 

First things first, you need to get there! It’s best to always have a printed copy of your directions, train times, bus transfers etc just in case there is any trouble with mobile devices and connectivity. The same goes for addresses or postcodes if you have a GPS device complete with a designated driver!
Festival grounds can sometimes be tricky to find too – the festival organisers will usually sign-post the roads nearby to steer you in the right direction. Local landmarks should be included in the website directions, so make sure to hold on to these.

 

Line-up:

 

Avoid the nightmare of missing your favourite bands by printing the line-up times or saving a copy to your phone before you go. You can always buy programmes when you get there but just be aware that they’re not a bargain.

 

Ticket:

 

Obviously! But it’s so easily done! Don’t forget you tickets!

 

Money:

 

To avoid hefty charges at the festival cash-points, take some money with you. Limit the number of cards you take, but do take them in case of emergencies – make sure they are kept in a secure place like a festival locker. Keep a bit of your money about your person but avoid taking it all into arenas with you so that if it goes missing or gets stolen, you still have a back-up.

 

Keys:

 

Your house and car keys will need to be put away in festival lockers too. Avoid taking them out with you – you shouldn’t need them much unless you need to make a couple of trips back to the carpark. If you are going to a festival with your house-mates, make sure you take more than one set of keys with you in case of an emergency.

 

ID:

 

If you plan to buy alcohol on your travels or at the festival, make sure you have the correct ID – a driver’s license or passport. Otherwise you’ll be in for a pretty dry weekend!


These are just the basic essentials for a typical UK festival – it’s always well worth doing a bit of research for your particular festival whether indoor or outdoor, one day or 5! Get prepared to ensure you have the best festival experience possible.