Nervous about taking DD to our first festival - tips please!

[TomWambsgansSwans]

This summer I have finally been persuaded to try going to a festival and i don't know what to pack for our DD6!

My DH has been to loads of festivals but I never fancied it.

We've been camping before but never a full weekend festival together. My DH is very laidback and says we'll just eat from stalls but surely that will be insanely expensive for all three of us for the four days, and we'll be thirsty when we wake up etc?!

Aside from the obvious, does anyone have any tips for festivals with kids? DD and I both love our sleep ☹️ and we will take a cool box and camping stove but I am not sure what else to take. I thought: sun cream, wellies, powerpack, shorts, cover up, torch, all out camping gear, snacks, water bottles, eye mask/ear plugs, loo roll - any tips welcome!

Any tips from anyone cooler than me?!

Bump for the evening crowd before I resign myself to feeding my kid chips all weekend 😂

What festival? Makes a difference!

Loads of wipes including anti-bac hand wipes.
A Chilly bottle or similar to fill from the camping field tap. You may not be able to take it to the festival field. At many festivals bottles sold in the performance areas are sold without the caps (it’s a scandal).

Portable food that doesn’t need refrigeration: biscuits, cereal bars, porridge pots, cans of dolmades….

However, don’t take tons of stuff: you will have to carry or otherwise cart it from your car, could be a long way.

Whatever you take / don’t take it will be unspeakably awful, IMO, but hundreds of thousands disagree with me, so what do I know?

Take loads of snacks and a big bottle of mineral water and reusable bottle for dd. What drink allowance do they give you? Some festivals are very strict about what liquids you can bring in. The festival food will be very salty so if you can take eg. A bag of wholemeal rolls, apples, stuff you know she will eat you won't need to worry about her eating only chips. 😄. Take sunscreen even if the weather is changeable. Plenty of dry socks, wellies, sunhat, waterproofs (jacket and trousers) and thick enough sleeping bags. Also a blanket for the evening.

Take wet wipes, sunscreen, hat, waterproof jacket and trousers, boots, trainers, fleece's. For food I would take cereal bars, crisps, haribo, crackers, juice boxes, long life milkshake, perhaps a bag of long life croissants or waffles ... in other words breakfast you don't have to cook and snacks then buy food for lunch and dinner. Perhaps take food for the first night too.

As far as best buying dinner options, scout out who is there on the first day eg do the local WI or charity have a stall as they might have cheap sandwiches, is there a farmers market to buy food? At Camp Bestival the WI was great (I'm going back quite a few years, mine are now adults) as they had cheap bacon rolls and basic sandwiches for a reasonable price. At Reading (teens by then) we went to the supermarket and even ate in a nearby restaurant. Now kids gone we choose sedate festivals, the last one was held in a 4 star hotel and was half board, my kind

The one thing we dropped as soon as finances allowed was smuggling in drink, warm cold drinks aren't nice!

Check if you can park with your tent and if not be prepared to carry everything for quite a long way or invest in a little pulling cart thing.
Wipes
Frubes
Juice cartons
Babybel
Crisps/biscuits
Breakfast and snacks box really.
Loo roll, antibac gel, first aid,
Check weather and perhaps have extra blankets/clothes in your boot. Suncream/hats
I would take camping chairs and a picnic blanket but I hate grovelling on the floor when camping.
Easy brekkie i have taken those pancake bottle things you just add milk. Eggs/bacon and some wraps as they keep well.
Water bottles each.

Thanks all! It's Ynot festival near to us in Derbyshire.

I second the extra blankets in boot.
I was camping this month and I was sleeping in three layers plus my coat. I was absolutely freezing at night.
Have fun !!

Check the weather but it looks like you will probably have a dry one - which is good.

Clothes - jeans, sturdy and comfortable shoes, different tops, a warm hoodie, a large warm wrap (cotton or similar), a secure cross body bag that zips up.

Take - loo roll, hand sanitiser, wet wipes, water bottles, deoderant, sun cream, soap, dry shampoo, a blanket/large throw, a torch, portable power bank for your mobiles

Food - snacks that don't need chilling, some durable fruit (apples, little oranges).

First aid kit and duct tape. My first festival it poured down and we mended both the tent and two pairs of wellies with the tape.

One of those big flexible trugs is useful for bathing muddy children, washing clothes or just playing in.

You will probably want a trolley for carrying stuff and DD can sleep in it if she's tired. Depends on the festival whether that works or not I guess.

So much money! You will want to buy food etc to keep everyone going.

Fun onesies are a must. Or fleece pyjamas, but onesies are great as you can go back to your tent in the evening and they put on their pjs or thermals and then throw the onesie over the top before it gets too cold and they are ready for bed.

Crocs or wellies for the morning as the grass will always be wet in the morning even if it hasn't rained. If you don't have camping chairs then a waterproof picnic rug or a tarp for the floor to sit on outside the tent.

Facepaint is good to take. Something that lights up or glow sticks to put on her in the dark so you can see her easily, or a high Vis vest.

You definitely don't want to eat at vans for every meal, it will be extortionate. We take things like pot noodles, pot porridge, cup a soups, Idahoan packet mash with tinned stewed steak or corned beef. When you boil the kettle for hot drinks in the morning, fill an insulated flask for later and you can make noodles/hot chocolate etc while you are in the arena without having to go back to your tent.

Definitely pack marshmallows, kebab sticks and chocolate digestives, there is usually a communal fire at festivals you can toast them at. A cheaper treat than crepes from a van every night.

A picnic blanket for sitting to watch bands, or those foldable travel seats with the back rest are great.

Marvel powdered milk is great for hot drinks or mixing with water for cereal, doesn't have added sugar. Take lots of cereal bars, apples or other fruit that doesn't bruise easily, crisps, crackers, oatcakes, pain au chocolate, brioche etc

Fun clothes/novelty hats, tutus, paper and pens (we use the IKEA kids art cases). Head torch is very handy, especially for portaloos at night.

Baby wipes are handy, but my top tip is take a bar of soap and a sponge or flannel and a mini nail brush in a ziplock bag. Often festival toilets just have hand sanitizer and their hands will get absolutely filthy at a dusty festival. Don't underestimate how nice it is to be able to wash your hands properly after using festival toilets. Home Bargains/B&M usually sell soap filled sponges which are great for this. There are usually taps dotted around and water bottle filling stations, so I just give their hands a good wash when we pass those.

Go camping at least once before you go so you know how to put the tent up etc

Oh I agree with the proper hand washing thing. I have gone soft in My old age. Last time I brought a big shallow Tupperware with a bar of soap inside, for proper hand washing in the campsite. We even filled it with warm water from the kettle.

It's worth remembering that finger food like crisps is sooo disappointing when your hands taste if handsan so don't plan any finger licking type snacks unless you can wash with real water first.

There will be water points everywhere to fill your bottles

God it sounds awful.

I was just thinking that!

But I know plenty of people enjoy them.

I went to one just before my daughter turned four. She loved it, and thankfully we went with friends who were seasoned campers and festival goers.

Take your own face paint/glitter tattoos - saved a fortune and long queues! Also baby wipes for removal (and an old pillowcase because you’ll never get it all off).
The brightest clothes you can find for your child - makes them easier to spot! I also wrote my phone number of my daughter’s arm (but she never strayed, all was fine).
Child sized ear defenders are a must.
We took a few travel sized games too.
Some sort of flag/ribbon/aerial to tie to your tent so you can find it with a little more ease! Make a game of plotting landmarks the first day.
Socks and a hat to sleep in. We were roasting during the day (August) but I couldn’t believe how cold it was at night.

Definitely have food supplies. I took carrots because I knew I’d be desperate for something crunchy. We had baked beans with veggie sausages (all in a tin), bread, precooked rice, individual cartons of juice.

The last couple of festivals haven’t done disposable cups - if you have a plastic or metal beer/beverage of choice glass, take it! You could also buy a festival glass, but there were separate (long) queues for this.

Long reply alert! I've been to numerous festivals with my son since he wasc18months old, he's now almost a teenager.
Firstly write a detailed list forceach person. Sounds obvious but it will really help and avoid thise " oh crap, i forgot..." Try to pack as light as possible to avoid multiple trips back to the car. We learnt that the hard way one year!
Medications - prescription or things like paracetamol/calpol. Hay-fever tablets/spray.
Sanitary items incase the dreaded AF decides to pay a visit 😑
Clothing - clean underwear and socks, t-shirts. Trousers/leggings/dresses that can be reworn several times, warm pjs/onesie, a warm jumper/fleece. Waterproof coat and good comfortable footwear as there will be a lot of walking avoid sandals if you value your toes!
Toiletries - wipes or flannels for cleaning hands/ faces etc, hand gel, dry shampoo, sun cream, sun hats/glasses, deodorant/body spray.
Simple First aid kit - plasters, antiseptic cream etc
Food/snacks - invest in a cooking stove and pans/kettle, good quality water bottles so you can refill for free and an ice box: bring things such as instant porridge, sterilised/uht milk, dried fruit, babybels, apples, mini squeezy squash to add to water, satsumas - avoid bananas as they always end up getting squashed! Lots of bread rolls, ready sliced cheddar, houmous, cucumber, oatcakes ( the biscuit kind not pancakes), fruit puree pouches, yogurt pouches, malt loaf, trail mix.
You could make breakfast at the campsite, then pack a simple lunch to bring in such as cheese rolls, fruit, snack bars and malt loaf. Admittedly there might be a bit more processed food - however it will be cheaper than the stalls. Maybe compromise and get one meal in the arena. If you look around there will be lots of options - pasta stalls are good for children, tacos, wraps which will have more fresh ingredients.
Tent, Don't forget to bring good quality sleeping bags and blankets and a torch or lantern for when you get back to the tent and trying to find Teddy in the dark 😅
Optional extras - solar fairy lights, general festivally decorations.

Most of all have fun, enjoy the music, people and ambience. 🤩

Top tip: bring an empty lenor fabric softener bottle (the one with the wide opening) for an emergency tent wee in the night.