Tips for 16 yr old DD for first festival(s) this summer

[Rollergirl11]

She is going to 2 festivals over the summer. Truck festival in July which is a smaller, friendly affair and then Reading at the end of August. She has never camped before. I understand that tents don’t tend to make it home so do we buy cheap and cheerful?

Please hit me with your recommendations/advice as DD and I are completely clueless!

Following

Following too.

Introduce yourself to your neighbours. It’s a festival – everyone’s there for a good time. Plus they might be able to lend you something you have forgotten.
Practice pitching the tent before you go.
Attach something distinctive to the outside of your tent so you can recognise it when you’re heading back to it late after a long day. Or if you don’t want to do that, pitch next to or near some other distinctive tent/landmark.
If your tent has guy ropes, put coloured tape or pegs on them so you and your neighbours don’t trip over them in the dark.
Whatever you do stay clear of the toilets and anything down wind of the toilets. Steer clear of the security towers and lights unless you like the constant noise of a generator and bright light shinning through your tent all night. Also avoid the bottom of a hill or slope, unless you fancy sleeping in a puddle all weekend.
Don’t put a lock on your tent - whilst it might seem like a good idea it simply highlights to any would be thieves that you have something worth stealing inside. A knife will cut through the side of any tent so your also wasting your time and you'll be cursing yourself when you get back to your tent in the early hours and you can't find the key. Just don’t take anything with you that you are not prepared to lose.
Take a head torch. You might look like a miner but trust me you’ll be glad you’ve got your hands free when your scrabbling around trying to find things.
Take ear plugs and maybe even an eye mask if the morning sun wakes you up.
Take lots of plastic bags. You really can never have enough at a festival. They’re handy for rubbish, wet clothes, dirty clothes, muddy wellies. Everything.
Baby wipes are your best friend. And so is toilet roll. Make sure you pack plenty. And if you are worried about messy hair, take a hat or headband and hide it away.
It’s also worth packing bottled water for brushing your teeth.
Take a folding chair. You’ll want one to sit in first thing in the morning and last thing at night, especially when the grass is damp.
Food is super expensive so stock up on breakfast bars, dried fruit, nuts, oranges and anything else that comes wrapped and doesn’t need to be kept cool.
Instant porridge pots are a lifesaver when it comes to actually wanting to feel full and be ready for the day.
For clothes anything goes at festivals and whatever you do wear is bound to get filthy, so don’t wear anything expensive. Keep it simple and comfortable. Pack a thick jumper and socks - even if the forecast is good, it will get nippy once the sun has gone down.

Leaving tents at a festival is just lazy and bad for the environment. Of course she should bring it home.

Have somewhere secure on her person for money and bank card. Don't leave anything valuable in the tent.

Take a power bank or 2 for charging the mobile.

Take some cereal bars for snacks (not ones with chocolate on or it will melt).

Practise packing her stuff before she goes.....make sure she can carry it all in one go.

Have a water bottle with her she can refill for drinks in the tent.

Take a waterproof/wellies if rain predicted.

Have a great time.

I would say dark nail varnish, dry shampoo and baby wipes and hair in plaits are a must as she will get pretty grotty. Agree with pp on carrier bags and snack food.

Also, make sure she know how to find her tent at night by noting landmarks.

Hello! Dd going to a festival but could only get Friday night tickets..so we need to work out where she can stay..there’s a youth hostel 20 min drive, or hotels nearer, but massively expensive. Are we being unreasonable taking her down and picking her up after? She’ll have a friend, she’s 17 but pretty naive, we live in a village, she doesn’t drive yet. And I’ve never been to a festival so don’t know what to expect! Did got to serious moonlight tour and that was awful re crowds and loos and lost car keys and spent night in some van freezing and listening to my mate shagging random bloke. UGH!

Toilet roll, dry shampoo, wet wipes.

Things that are quick and easy to cook - pasta / noodle pots, etc.

I took walking shoes instead of wellies. But either way, you need decent footwear. And something like flip flops or crocs for showers.

Sorry to be negative because festivals can be wonderful friendly experiences but please have a renewed chat with your daughter about drugs, sexual predators, date rape, drinking to excess and staying with her friends and what to do in any emergencies.

As an experienced festival goer this would be my biggest concern for a 16 year old at a big festival like Reading. It's a small minority of other people I would worry about.

Hope she has an amazing time though, festivals are awesome on the whole!

Lots of snacks, wet wipes, bottle water and dry shampoo.
No valuables left in tent.
Condoms

My ds went to Truck when he was 16 and had a great time.

Some tips - expect anything useful to be pinched - beer, camp chair.
Have a bag - ds had a Nike bumbag - that you never take off. Ds taped the fastening of his up as well. Kept phone, money, ID in it.
She needs to prove she is 16 so a provi driving licence is an idea if there’s time to get one - less traumatic to lose than passport.

Hope she has fun!

Sorry, didn’t mean that stuff WILL get pinched - but it might, so don’t take anything you don’t mind losing. Buy some cheap T shirts and joggers.

Please make sure sure understands she HAS to bring her tent home. This whole "oh we leave them there" that seems to have developed in more recent years is not ok, and terrible for the environment.

Also Crocs for quick on-and-off trips to the toilets. A headtorch, as others have said. A folding chair- yes, you will want to sit in it, even though it feels like a faff. Walking shoes rather than wellies. Lots of thick warm socks.

And a robust conversation about sex, drugs, and not leaving friends alone!

Leaving tents at a festival is just lazy and bad for the environment. Of course she should bring it home.

This. It's a terrible thing to do.

You can often get a deal on a Festival bundle of camping gear that comes with a tent, foam roll mat, & sleeping bag if you look online or in camping shops. I agree with suggestion for dd to put it up at home beforehand so she knows how it goes together and how to pack it away. How many friends are going? Get a 2 or 3 or 4 person tent as needed. It would be good to find out what camping gear the friends have, too, so you don't buy more than you need, and some things can be shared by the group.

You should decide whether to mess with a camping stove. They can be fiddly and dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. You should be able to buy hot choc/coffee/tea/breakfast roll from a food cart, if you need something hot.

I never bother with the showers, just tie back hair, use wet wipes and/or wash cloth, change clothes.

Expect queues, have patience!

Bring clothes for sun & rain, chilly nights
(Colourful, costume-y, fun!)
Wet wipes, Loo roll
Snacks
Water
other soft drinks, no glass, be prepared to carry them!
Flashlight (head torch is super handy or a small one that clips onto your backpack)
ID, small amount of cash, card
Phone, charger, power bank
Sun cream
Toothbrush/paste
Wash cloth, small towel
Plastic bags
Picnic blanket (with plastic side and fabric side)
Comfy walking shoes
Wellies if rain expected (bring lots of socks)
Sandals or flip flops for around the tent

My best trip from the 90s is to take 2 Imodium before you go so you can avoid having to poo in the disgusting loos.

Tell her that you will give her a drug test when she gets home As she will have undoubtedly assured you that she won't be taking drugs she will be happy to agree 🙃

Ooooh I didn’t realise there were any responses to this! Thanks for all the tips so far, I shall get DD to take some notes.

I absolutely hear loud and clear on the leaving your tent on site. I have since read that it’s really bad environmentally as they get sent to landfill. So rest assured DD won’t be doing that.

@clary interesting your DS went to Truck when he was 16. How did he find it? DD hasn’t been able to glean what kind of crowd to expect and if it generally appeals to younger or older festival goers? She thinks the line-up is awesome (better than Reading) and knows that it’s a much smaller festival but doesn’t know much else!

@Rollergirl11 he really enjoyed it. He went with a disparate group of mates, all older than him (he was known as Baby 😁) and they saw some great sets and drank a lot of beer. Yy it's smaller than others. It was a very wet weekend at Y Not (much more local to us so lots of his mates were there) but they had great weather at Truck. He stank when he got home! but that's fine. He was going to go again the following year but y'know, covid. I don't think it was held last year either was it? Hope she has a good time. A good first festival I gather, not too druggy or scary.

Sorry I haven't answered about age of crowd there but there were plenty of young ppl ds's group was 18-19-20 so not loads older lol. Is she going with other 16yos?

At reading sleep with shoes on feet away from zip end. A young colleague had her shoes stolen and didn’t have enough money to buy new ones at reading.

Buy Imodium and eat stodge or get a bucket as the loos are filthy.

Take suncream

Bring warm clothes - especially if the forecast is good. If it's sunny in the day it's inevitably cold at night as there's no cloud coverage.

I would absolutely second this. They need to stick together and keep an eye on each other. I’ve always felt safe at smaller festivals, but not at Glastonbury at 16. I bet she’ll have a great time though.

I’ve always felt safe at smaller festivals, but not at Glastonbury at 16

That's interesting, as I felt the opposite - safe at Glastonbury, but not so at Leeds festival where gangs of lads were mainly setting things on fire (!!!)

Yes, I’ve always found Glastonbury to have a much better atmosphere than a lot of other festivals.

I’ve not been for years I’ll admit, last time I went someone got shot and there were gangs pick pocketing.