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.