Taking children to music festivals?

[NotUmbongoUnchained]

Am considering doing this next year, but need to prepare for the stress levels!

Those who have done this before, did you camp? Or did you stay in a hotel near by?
How much of the music did they actually watch?
Did they enjoy it?
Will you do it again?
I always see you loads of young kids whenever I go so I know lots of people do it but I’m a little anxious about it.

Also if, if you wouldn’t do it again, why?
Also considering a stadium concert but think festival would be better as there would be more there for kids and a more relaxed atmosphere.

Yes, camped and the kids LOVED it! They love the freedom of it all in my experience, but it’s a completely different experience than festivals pre-kids. You have to go with the flow, go at a kids pace, and make sure they have enough to eat, drink, have enough shade or are dry depending on the weather. If there’s a late band that you REaLLY want to see then negotiation with your DP or other adults to make sure you can see them and someone else will look after kids if they aren’t up for it/too tired etc.

I would do a festival with kids over a stadium gig any day - my kids are young though. There are also some festivals better than others good for kids. Glastonbury, Camp bestival, green man latitude - all fab. Smaller boutique one? Fab. Reading type festival, dance festivals - not so much.

We want to do download. I didn’t think about the late gigs, that’s something me and husband will have to seriously consider! Maybe we could hire and au pair to come with us for the weekend

We went to Deershed festival in Yorkshire which is aimed at families. There's loads to do for all ages and the facilities were great. There were different areas for music, art, science, sport but still had the feel of a festival. It might be worth going to something like that first if you're nervous.

My children have been going to festivals since my eldest was 8 months old. Currently pregnant with baby number 3 and baby will be 9 weeks old when they go to their first festival.
Most have kids corners and activities for them to do. I've been camp bestival, Isle of Wight, Kendal calling, ynot and beautiful days which were all great for kids. I'd avoid Leeds and reading as they don't have much to do for kids.
Most festivals have a family camping field too. I've always camped it adds to the experience.

I’m probably more nervous about my first sober festival

We took ours to beautiful days when they were almost 6 & 8.

They loved it, and we had a good time, but I won’t take them again until they’re old enough to do their own thing, as they weren’t really interested in just sitting and watching bands - which was kind of the point of us going!

It is too expensive for me to do without seeing enough bands.

I always thought I would do a festival with my children, namely Kendal calling as I've been a good few times pre kids and they have family entertainment and things for kids . however last time I went I was sat on the grass watching a band and next to me in full public view, broad daylight were a group of people doing cocaine, passing it round snorting it off a CD, no attempt to hide it whatsoever! it made me think I'll never take them, I don't want them to be exposed to that.

My husbands all for it but I’m not sure. Part of the fun for me is getting drunk and being in the mosh pits which i won’t be able to do.

We've taken our daughter to Glastonbury and Green Man every year since she was 6months old. We love going with her. Download has an age restriction, think they have to be over 5.

Ah. Well that’s that decided for us then!

Years ago, dp and I took dd to Womad which is very family friendly. As an aside I was amazed with the state of the toilets there and how often they were cleaned.

I have friends who regularly go to Camp Bestival which is also great for children. Definitely go camping - kids usually love it.

Depending on your children, I wouldn't expect to be able to see any late bands. We saw plenty of children - much younger than ours - enjoying the late nights, but our dd asked to go to bed!

From my experience taking kids to a festival is a very stressful and expensive thing. You have kids getting bored, needing the toilet halfway through concert, constantly wanting expensive food, and the whole risk of them getting lost.

We've been to quite a few with our DC over the years since babies . My personal tips 1) smaller local festivals much better than big ones for lots of reasons including more maneagable size campsites, smaller loo queues, cleaner loos (I have found!), can see the bands/artists closer - not just on screens. 2) 'acoustic' type festivals better than loud rock/pop ones for younger kids IMO. 3)Often loads of great activities for kids and some great memories made BUT you have to swallow that you just can't always see all the acts on your wishlist! 4) Good excuse for everybody to be a bit grubby for a few days and it doesn't matter 5) biggest down side for us is sleep - by end of weekend my DC get obnoxious as they are so tired and we've had some awful Sunday festival meltdowns - even if we get them in the tent at an ok time, the excitement etc means they get less sleep than normal. 6) Go with other friends with kids, you can share childcare/seeing best bands and kids have someone else to play with.

PS take your own food and snacks!

I have done Camp Bestival twice with my two as a single parent. First time they were five and four and last year six and five. It is stressful but then it is also wonderful. The stress and fun seem to be vamped up to much higher levels I find! But it is worth it, we have some brilliant memories. A trolley to lug around sleepy younger kids is a life saver, and just going with the flow. My two were definitely more interested in running around/doing the activities than just chilling and watching music but I did drag them to the front of the stage for Leftfield a couple of years back and it was amazing :) We are doing blue dot festival next summer and we can't wait - festivals for us are our yearly holiday. They are expensive but I find the kids get so much out of them that it's worth every penny. We have definitely had some ropey moments, but I can laugh about them now!

I took my (then) 4 and 6 year olds and never again. They hated the loud music, hated the roads, wanted to go on the bouncy castle all the time (at £3.50 a go), I spent a fortune on food, couldn’t have a drink, couldn’t see any the bands I wanted too, couldn’t sleep as other folks were up late drinking enjoying themselves.
Never again.

We went to a local day festival which went on into the evening and there were people there with tiny kids - seemed really inappropriate lots of drunk people, dark. We judged abit tbh.

I have no experience of taking a child myself but please make sure you give your child/ren something like a laminate with all your details on. I say this because I found a lost 10 year old boy at Download a few years back. He didn’t know his parents’ numbers and had no way of contacting them. He was sat in the lost-and-found tent for two hours before his mum turned up. It would have been a much less traumatic experience for everyone if there’d been an easy way to contact his family.

(No judgement to anybody- I can fully appreciate how easy it would be to get separated)

I've taken mine every year to a family friendly music festival. We all love it. A few basic rules, a wrist band with your mobile number on & go with the flow. If youre anxious & stressy it won't work.

I really don’t see the point taking very young kids. Just sounds so stressful and pointless

I’ve seen lots of kids running around before at sonisphete with mobile numbers sharpied on their arms. They run around and collect the dropped plastic cups because the bar give them a free coke!

Their fave band is playing at a stadium and they desperately want to go but I just think a festival would be better because you can get away for a bit when you need to and your not stuck in one place.

Yes eldest was three and youngest under a year. Never to download though, we are lucky and they went to grandmas... that being said I am way to stingy to pay download prices these days. Bearded Theory on the bloodstock site is brilliant and good variety of music genres plus amazing for families.

Yes, loads since they were babies, and it's great - but you do have to let go of whatever it was you used to get out of festivals pre-kids and be prepared to just follow them around most of the time. Bigger festivals with fairs/junk food/loads of tat for sale are a nightmare cod it just turns into a massive whingefest and having to say "no" a million times an hour. Little, family-oriented folky things with lots of space to run around and not too many munters work best for us (kids 2 and 4).