Do you smuggle drinks in?

[VimtoPassion]

I'm not a risk taker and I haven't had many adventures.

I went to a couple of festivals in the 90s and am about to go to my 3rd!

The friends I'm going with are seasoned pros and see smuggling their vodka in as all part of the fun. It's not really about the money for them, but the creativity, challenge and "winning" against the people who charge such rip off prices at these events.

I can see their POV, but equally would be mortified to get caught. I also can manage perfectly well on a couple of expensive beers without necking illicit vodka. What happens if they/we get caught? Is there a possibility that they'll be denied entry and I'll end up there on my own?!

The friends are people who have been really good to me since a series of tragic events. I'm grateful for their friendship and support but sometimes we are very different. This is never a problem though, they know that and accept it. They'd have no issue if I decide not to "play".

So, would you and if so what are your best creative ideas?

They have lots of props on Amazon, an umberella which will hold drink and bags with hidden compartments, for example, but surely the organisers are wise to those?

If I were in charge I'd make a law stopping any venues and particularly outdoor festivals from preventing people from bringing their own food and drink.

People would still buy stuff.

Exactly.

@ExplodingCarrots most people like a couple of drinks at a festival.

Sorry @ExplodingCarrots I meant @Needmorelego

I buy the breast milk pouches from Amazon ... they seal really well and don't leak and you can fold them into your bra/pants .... classy me 😁

Obv a raging alcoholic by MN standards ...

Normal in my circle.

To answer the question about warm alcohol ... I put gin in the breast milk bags and then just buy cold tonic or lemonade once inside.

The festival I use to go to costs £400 a ticket, we then have to take time off work, travel, buy camping equipment etc... It cost a fucking fortune without food/drink.

Your allowed food/drink (but no ways to cook anything) in the campsite but not the festival site (not even water). You have to walk between the two sites and its a LONG walk you cant just 'pop back' to get a drink. Food and drink onsite is outrageously priced even just for basic bottles of water and adds up quickly.

Damn right people try to smuggle stuff in, not remotely guilty about it either, they get more than enough of our money.

@AppleTurnover1000Degrees you can drink all the alcohol you want. I really don’t care.
As I have said several times on this thread I simply don’t understand why.
As yet no one has really said what difference to the festival experience drinking some warm (🤮) booze out your bra actually makes.

Being tipsy with your friends feels great and is brilliant fun. Particularly if you’re in the sort of environment where it’s perfectly okay to sing and dance and forget that you are usually Chief Actuary at an insurance firm and lose your inhibitions and have a ball. That’s why. I don’t personally find warm booze unpleasant; people who do tend to buy chilled mixers and ice on site. And pro tip: if you’re a serious festival camper buy a really good quality Eski, fill it with ice when you arrive on site, and your drinks will stay cool for days (yes, even when you are in the middle of the Nevada desert at 40 degrees in the shade.)

@ComtesseDeSpair booze has never made me feel “tipsy” though. Just weird and queasy.
I went to what was voted Best Music Gig 2005 (Green Day Milton Keynes). I had the BEST time ever. I sang, I jumped up and down, I got emotional…..but I didn’t “need” alcohol to do that. That’s what I don’t understand. If an event is enjoyable it should be enjoyable without the need to have alcohol (or other stimulants).
Anyway. Maybe you aren’t all “childish”. I apologise for using that word.
You do you - as they say.
Drink your warm (🤮😂) booze. I don’t care. I will never understand it.

They charge these prices because its getting harder and harder to make money from these events. Relying on bar income helps plug the gap.

I don't think I would care about a sneaky bottle of vodka down a bra but you are really unreasonable to not even get some mixers etc.

If they cant break even then they don't run the event. Have you not noticed scores of festivals being cancelled?

Are you still allowed to bring in a bottle of sunscreen at festivals?.....?

Isn't that chicken and egg? If they charged normal pub prices and sold decent quality beer we'd buy it.

I get what you mean, but prices are calculated based on keeping records of how much people spent the year before/how many drinks they buy. Not to mention, you don't want people getting smashed on cheap drinks resulting in anti-social behaviour, rising cases of violence or first aid needed. That then negatively affects the festival too. If you then have lots of cases of drunken behaviour, then your police costs will go up the following year etc.

Honestly, the last festival I went to was £8 a pint, for cheap shitty lager.

I part fill freezer bags with alcohol, 1 in each boob and 1 down each Welly.

🤣🤣🤣🤣

People enjoy it. There's your explanation why.

I don't understand why you can't just accept people enjoy something you don't without making sanctimonious comments. Look forward to your explanation of that

@LT1982 I am not being sanctimonious. I simply do not understand what alcohol actually does to people to make something more enjoyable. My body must be immune to whatever chemical reaction it is that make alcohol do “something”.
I really don’t care if people drink alcohol (as long as it doesn’t make them behave like arseholes or aggressive). I just don’t understand it.
What do you not understand about that?
I was probably wrong to say it’s childish to try and sneak booze in. It just wouldn’t be something that would even be on my radar to think about when going to an event.

This reply contradicts your "I'm not being sanctimonious" claim

all the festivals i go to allow you to bring in your own booze?

You can bring booze into the camping areas, not the main site typically. It isn't hard to smuggle alcohol though.

I must say, the best smuggle device I ever saw was at the Rewind Festival a year or 2 ago (80's themed). A guy turned up with a full American Indian costume, complete with feathered staff (hollow and full to the brim of vodka)!

As PPs have been saying, it's utterly extortionate to buy really quite shit alcohol at these places. I've smuggled in a small bottle of spirits before now to have with mixers (which I bought at the event). I'm quite happy to pay for food etc on site but don't want to drink cheap crap.

I think you are overthinking this massively.

If you are caught, they will just take them off you, that's it. Similar to airports. They don't ban you from entering the airplane, just the drinks.

I would go along with it to be honest. But if you are not comfortable, don't. The only person who will be affected is you.

@theyareonlynoodlesmichael I was at body and soul and Glastonbury this year and both allow your own booze into the actual festival (well Glastonbury you camp within the site the festival is anyway.) I dont think id bother going to one where you can't bring your own booze in to be honest.