Festival Essentials

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When you go to a festival there are some things that are just essential. Everyone's essential products are slightly different of course. Some people favour comfort over weight or cleanliness over food, but for many of us there are just some things that are must haves and even if they are not essential they are jolly useful.

When I started attending festivals in 2007 I had no idea what to expect. I hadn't been as a teen when you can get away with taking nothing except a tin of 'tobacco' and a fiver and trusting to the kindness of strangers, when you are a teen mud is fun to slide around in and wellies are for wimps, but in 2007 I was a grown up with a 6 year old in tow so I had to be slightly more sensible. I needed a tent for a start. I took a tent, beds, sleeping bags, a potty complete with disposable nappies (fabulously handy for a nighttime wee or when the toilets are just too vile to use - (you don't wear the nappy of course, you just use its super absorbent middle spread out in the potty to absorb the wee so you can bag it, and bin it later.) and some food, wellies and extra clothes, I think that was all. Oh and wet wipes.

In the years since then I've attended a minimum of 3 festivals a year and caught up with what we need and what is a nice extra. I always over pack - not helped by the fact we bought a trolley to cart stuff around.

So what are my festival essentials? (I'm not listing the tent and the beds, you already know you need those)


  • Wet Wipes. They clean everything from face to fingers to feet and everything in between. Also great for spills, removing face paint, and wiping the worst grunge off of dishes before washing them.
  • Ear plugs. I am not bothered by the sounds of a festival, I love the distant sound of musioc at 1am and the laughter of children at 6am but the sounds of the fat drunk guy snoring in the next tent FOR 2 HOURS (Glastonbury) or the screaming baby THAT JUST WON'T SLEEP (Camp Bestival) or the loud sex talk from a group of high teenagers (Eastern Haze) those things I can do without - so I take soft foam ear plugs. Heaven
  • Eye mask. My tent lets the light through the canvas, this wakes me too early in the summer so for a good nights full sleep I wear and eye mask. (being this sensory deprived I also sleep across the doorway when DD is with me, and keep all valuables deep in my sleeping bag!
  • Bin Bags. Useful for all camping, at a festival they are great to sit on if the ground is wet, and can double as a coat if you make arm and head holes! Perfect for the kids. And of course they are good for keeping things tidy in the tent, Dirty clothes, rubbish, muddy wellies.
  • Wellies. Get a trendy pair, wear them whatever the weather. Be prepared.
  • Layers. You can't be too warm (well you can but you can always take stuff off) nothing causes grumpiness faster than being cold. Layers, lots, take a woolly hat too


There are lots of nice but non essential things too of course, but those are my essentials. What are yours? Pop over to Twitter or FaceBook and let me know

Thanks to twitter users Alessandra, Ben and V for input :-)

And check these other important considerations over at The Parenting Game!


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