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The Ultimate Festival Survival Guide

Welcome to our Ultimate Festival Survival Guide! Festival season is upon us and despite it being a Glastonbury rest year, there are still loads of other festivals to choose from! It’s the BBC Biggest Weekender this weekend, the Isle of Wight Festival next month, and Wireless Festival in July to name but a few. With this is mind, I thought it would be fun to gather together all the top tips I could (everyone was super generous sharing their tips – thank you all!) and compile this blog – The Ultimate Festival Survival Guide!

 

The Ultimate Festival Survival Guide to… Fashion

• A bum bag is an essential to ensure to get back to your tent with everything you went out with.
  Tina Badley, Tina Badley Copy and Concepts
• Ponchos and kimonos are brilliant for pairing with dresses, shorts or jeans and great for when it gets chilly at night. Or vintage fur coats are great to cosy up in – and seem to be a firm favourite with the guys.
  Tina Badley, Tina Badley Copy and Concepts
• Boho Boots are great for dealing with all the walking, mud and rain and are still easy to wear if the weather dries up! Kathryn King, Kathryn King Designs 
• How about waterproof, washable jewellery? My award-winning collection would be fab for festivals! Gorgeous colours and heat resistant too for those balmy days! Sarah Cooke, Halia Rose 
• Obviously, wellies are perfect if it’s wet – or my kids just wear their favourite trainers and bring them home plastered in mud for mum to wash! Buy cheap wellies and bejazzle them with stick on gems or Day-Glo paint.
  Tina Badley, Tina Badley Copy and Concepts
• Festival shades – the crazier the better. Primark is the perfect place to find some perfect versions – think flamingos, palm trees, rainbows and unicorns. But don’t expect to bring them home as they’re likely to get lost in the mosh pit. Tina Badley, Tina Badley Copy and Concepts
• Take a hat! Shields your face from the sun…or the rain! Kathryn King, Kathryn King Designs 
• Lots of colourful clothes – stuff you’d never wear at home. Tina Badley, Tina Badley Copy and Concepts
• Wrap bracelets are a great way to jazz up your outfit – they wearable, durable and go with everything – leave them on all festival and forget about them! Kathryn King, Kathryn King Designs 

 

The Ultimate Festival Survival Guide to… Food/Drink

• Take a vacuum insulated hot/cold flask with you so you can have your morning coffee and keep your water cool for the rest of the day while being mindful of the environment! Also, fab for alcohol  Just ask for free ice at the bars. Lynn Angeles, Events by Amende 
• Obviously, there’s always great food at a festival, but when you’re on a budget, we always pack:
  • Kellogg’s mini cereal boxes – pour in the milk and eat them straight out the box
  • Malt loaf – perfect for midnight munchies or hangover breakfasts
  • Pot noodles
  • Snacks
  • Cider
  • Orange juice (one of your five (pints) a day)
  • Packets of cheddars
• Tina Badley, Tina Badley Copy and Concepts
• Make sure you eat at least one good meal a day! All that festival action takes a lot of energy – refuel people!
  Kathryn King, Kathryn King Designs 
• Cereal bars – convenient and packed with energy/sugar! Kathryn King, Kathryn King Designs 
• Flavoured cous cous – just add water! It will be a welcome change from Pot Noodles!
  Kathryn King, Kathryn King Designs 
• Drink lots of water and grab yourself some of those little squeezy bottle of squash – so convenient and will jazz up your boring old water! Kathryn King, Kathryn King Designs 

 

The Ultimate Festival Survival Guide to… Hygiene

• This may be too much information – so, sensitive types, please look away! I’m told that a SheWee is a useful piece of festival kit. Anon 😉
• Wet wipes in place of a shower. Tina Badley, Tina Badley Copy and Concepts
• Dry shampoo to keep you going until you can wash your hair with the help of a mate and a 1 litre water bottle. Tina
• Packets of tissues for when the loo roll runs out. Tina Badley, Tina Badley Copy and Concepts
• A fold up mirror (can’t find a link for this but apparently one of my daughter’s mates had a brill mirror that was small to pack but then folded out to give a full-length mirror to check out your outfit! Or sideways so three people could do their festival makeup at once! Tina Badley, Tina Badley Copy and Concepts

 

The Ultimate Festival Survival Guide to… Beauty

• Gas operated straighteners to keep your fringe straight when everything else goes a bit wavy…
  Tina Badley, Tina Badley Copy and Concepts
• Sunscreen! I know, I know – but it could be sunny!!! Kathryn King, Kathryn King Designs 
• Glitter is a must – for men and women – and you can now get biodegradable versions that are kind to the environment. Check out beard glitter too! Tina Badley, Tina Badley Copy and Concepts

 

The Ultimate Festival Survival Guide to… Camping

• A flag or something colourful to go on the top of your tent so you can find it easily! Sally Bunkham, Mum’s Back 
• Black bags to put all your muddy stuff in (or sit on if it’s wet or even re-purpose into wet-weather gear). Tina Badley, Tina Badley Copy and Concepts

 

The Ultimate Festival Survival Guide to… Kids

• If going with kids get a festival trolley – well worth it for not just little legs and naps when needed but also for carrying all the gumpfff needed for them! But don’t go for the cheapest (as we did first time and wheel fell off on way to tent!) go for ones with stronger wheels! Helen Nurse, Wonder Adventures
• Also get ear defenders for the kids, even if not planning to go close the stages they are well worth it. Helen Nurse, Wonder Adventures
• If going to a family festival that has big family areas and lots of scheduled activities go through the schedule when you arrive and check what activities need pre-booking and book as soon as you can- the popular ones will book up quickly so worth getting in early for the most popular kids activities!  Helen Nurse, Wonder Adventures

 

The Ultimate Festival Survival Guide to… Everything Else!

• Power add packs are amazing for battery life on your phone! Sally Bunkham, Mum’s Back 
• You’ll need a large waterproof bag to keep wet clothes separate from dry when it’s raining non-stop!
  Lynn Angeles, Events by Amende 
• To go as a volunteer? I went to Reading festival as a student with Oxfam. It means you get to go for free, have a MUCH nicer campsite (the toilets are sanitary and smaller queues for showers etc) and you only had to work two or three shifts over the weekend, so you still get to see a lot of the event, as well as obviously making money for Oxfam which is a bonus. Hannah Otto, Janet Murray 
• Stay safe – check out all the safety instructions for your festival and have a great time, but stay safe 😊
  Kathryn King, Kathryn King Designs 

 

And there you have it – our top tips in the Ultimate Festival Survival Guide! 

Are you going to any festivals this summer? Let us know – we’d love to hear about it. And if you have any great tips to add, please let me know – I’d love to add them 😊 Have fun at your festivals this year!

Thanks to all our contributors – this was a really fun list to compile.

Special thanks to Tina from Tina Badley Copywriting and Concepts and her friends and family who really rose to this challenge and came up with loads of amazing tips!

See all our bracelets here and our earrings here. Enjoy!