Festival with a 2.5 year old and a nine month old…

[Hiphopopotamonster]

So next month my DH and I are taking our toddler and baby to a festival. It’s a medium size one (a few thousand people I think) and seems family friendly ish although it’s not particularly marketed at families. We’ll be camping in a tent. It’s seemed like a brilliant idea when we booked it a few months ago but im getting a bit jittery now and wondering if it’s just going to be awful.

So - is this a terrible idea? Will it all be ok? And does anyone have any tips to make it more ok…?

Haha good luck! It totally depends where you are because in my location it's predicted torrential rain for the next two weeks 🤣

I'm sure you'll be ok so long as you're not anywhere near the Midlands. We took our 9mo baby camping a few years back in the summer and it was great.

Eesh! I like festivals and we go to one every year as a family, but my youngest was about 4 the first time we went and we go to a very family-friendly festival with loads of activities for children.

Tips: wristband for you 2.5 yr old with your phone number on. Dress them in bright, distinctive clothing.

Keep your expectations REALLY low. My partner and I usually pick one act we each really want to see on the basis that for anything else, if the kids have had enough 1 or both of us can take them back to the tent.

Festival trolley. Essential!! Can carry all your stuff in it and 2.5 yr old can curl up and sleep in it. Try and get one with a canopy so that you can guarantee them a bit of shade.

Otherwise, just try and go with the flow. We have no fixed plans each day. We tend to mooch around. If we see something interesting we’ll stop and watch it. Otherwise we’ll mooch on somewhere else.

Good luck and enjoy!

Yikes, I wouldn't have attempted a festival with 2 under 3. Depends how chilled your kids are I guess!

Which festival? Does it have a kids field? If so just plan to hang out there for the majority of the time and lower expectations about what you get to see and do. If there’s family camping make sure you head there, people will generally be more considerate at night and more forgiving of noise early in the morning.

Loads of families at the Shrewsbury Folk Festival every year - August Bank Holiday weekend - plenty of activities for children there.

Do think about hearing protection for the children - you can get child-specific ear defenders.

Top tip would have been don’t do it but the ship has obviously sailed. Get/hire a trolley. With a sunshade. Take about 10x more snacks for the toddler as you think you’ll need.
Take a roll of thick bin bags. Can be used as make shift waterproofing, blackout blinds etc if you also bring gaffa tape (essential for emergency welly bolstering also)
Battery Fairy lights to step around your kid’s trolly. This is a good way to stop drunk adults lumbering into it in the dark.

I have been camping/festivalling since my kids were under six months so i am hardened. However, rain makes everyone miserable and it's really tricky to change that, we have left and come home early if the rain has set in. We usually plan to eat breakfast and lunch at the tent, cereal and then a picnic type stuff, then eat out at night.

As above, low expectations, you may not see the headliners if they are on late. If it is a good family friendly one there will be amps for the kids to do and yes to those annoying trolleys or wear the little one if you can.

Ear defendants are a must, we got proper builder grade ones and they were much cheaper than the fancy kids' makes.

I bet you have a ball though, festivals rock. Where are you going?

Went with friends and teens to a smallish festival in May and some of the “parenting” by parents with younger children was pretty awful. Even the teens were shocked.

Tiny kids out very late with lots of drunk / stoned adults swaying around /parents with primary aged kids listening to very very adult comedians totally inappropriate. Family in front of us at the late night headline act so around midnight with two primary aged kids looking exhausted and frankly scared surrounded by partying adults. Leave them with granny or go with them when they are 14 plus.

You must be bonkers. Can’t think of anything worse. If it’s hot it’ll be a Nightmare, if it’s rainy it’ll be a nightmare. Of the kids sleep, it’ll be a miracle.

I have an 8mo and agree. You must be insane to even think of doing this. I think it would be too overwhelming for such little children anyway. Urgh and imagine trying to bathe, sleep and entertain kids in a tent??

We've done with one baby then twice with one young child and one toddler or would have been a toddler if she wasn't so slow to walk (she was 20 months).

Always been great but we did skip the year they were the ages your two are now. Just seemed a bit too tiring. Although totally doable!

We did come home one day early once when it was raining so much but otherwise they've had an absolute ball watching puppet shows and running round the woods and eating ice-cream. A big trolley is fantastic. If you are going anywhere where there is a Mr Trolley stand you can hire their ones for the whole weekend with a canopy and cushions.

Which festival? Smaller ones where you can easily get back to your tent are easier.

8 month is exactly when we first took DC1.

First night was the longest stretch of sleep he'd ever done at that age. Collapsible wash bowl for a little wash which he sat in delightedly. Not overwhelming at all, just plenty to look at and be entertained by in the fresh air.

Just to pick up on this point - neither myself nor my DH drink and we’re definitely not going to be distressing the kids like this. At least one of us will be taking them back to the tents once they need to sleep - we’ll definitely be taking care of their needs before our own!

We’re going with another couple of (childless) friends. There is a family camping but with stuff on for the kids and my thinking is that one of us can hang there with the toddler as much as she wants and potter and treat it as a more normal camping holiday rather than a hardcore festival. We’ve got super low expectations on seeing acts and headliners and things - anything is a bonus and we’re hoping we can juggle it between us.

I have to say I’m not feeling massively reassured by the responses though…🙈

This is sort of what I’m imagining! Like, I’m not going to have the most relaxing weekend of my life but I’m hoping the toddler will have a good time and enjoy the atmosphere and stuff going on and it’ll be a bit of a different experience.

Ooh, yeah a collapsible camping bucket is a really good shout. Can use it for water play outside the tent, baths and washing, keeping drinks cool…

I do see where you’re coming from and I do think the toddler would enjoy…mine would. He loves the fairground, Country fayres etc. not phased by crowds or noise. However, he’d enjoy it during the day and then appreciate coming back to a proper bed and having some quiet/routine. I think the evening/night is where it would go tits up.

If its Solfest, YANBU. Can't comment on others but you'd be fine at Solfest.

We've been taking our two to a festival every year since they were those exact ages and they're now in their teens!

Greatest thing in the world is a trolley! Cushions and blankets, something to soften the bottom. They would both sleep in there come the evening and have day time naps in it too. All rules on food / showers etc go out of the window for the weekend and just go with the flow. Most festivals, even tiny ones, have great kiddy areas now with activities and events especially for them.

OK, we weren't down the front leaping around when they were little, normally more around the edges so people wouldn't fall over the trolley (glo sticks or fairy lights on it to make it visible when dark is a top tip - decorating your trolley is quite the competitive sport at festivals too!). Camping chairs are a must - a few times I ended up watching a band on a big screen while trapped under a sleeping child!

Oh, and if they have a family camping field, try and camp there as you're much less likely to have the late night / early morning partiers!

And re wristband with phone number for toddler.. I sharpied my phone number onto one arm, and a "if I am lost, take me to first aid tent please" onto other arm as mobile signal at festivals isn't great!

Oh, and a really good cool box - an icy tek, or coleman xtreme - is a god send!

If you go with an open mind you will have a blast! Like I say, we just relax all rules for the weekend

Ok - I’m starting to find it more reassuring that the people who have actually done this don’t think it’s a terrible idea!

Great tips on the trolly - I’ll find out if the festival has one available for hire and if not I’ll look at buying one (though no clue how I’ll fit it in the full-to-bursting car)

Is this for you, or for the kids? Sounds like it’s for you, and the kids will be miserable out of their routine and it will affect your enjoyment of the fest.

Tbh I think the LOs should be left with granny for the weekend imho.

Get a folding trolley - not as comfy as a solid one (we did start with a solid one that came apart and we had to slot back together when we got there) - now the kids are older we still use it to transport chairs etc etc! One with a canopy is ideal as it protects from sun and from rain. And a roof box for the car is also a requirement for us to be able to fit everything we need in!

Take plenty of favourite snacks for them.. and use ready prepared formula if your 9 month old still had formula. If the 2.5 year old lives on chips for the weekend, it's only one weekend!

Honestly, we've never found it arduous - and we've done it in hot hot weather and pouring with rain weather! Now they're stroppy teens it's the highlight of their year :)

Look you've booked it now. Go to the festival, take easy travel toys/ aids for the kids. Worst case scenario your kids absolutely hate it, won't settle and are miserable and you go straight home! One crap night isn't the end of the world. Best case scenario they have a really fun time, they're out of routine yes but they take in everything going on and have lots of fun.

Pack plenty of snacks, various all-weather clothes and just strap in. Maybe take the wrist reigns type thing for the toddler so they're always connected to you when it gets busy?

We’ve not done festivals with that age but have with a 4 year old and younger children in our party and they absolutely loved the change of routine - no screens, no baths, no rushing from here to there. They hung out in the kids field and had a ball while we took turns seeing the bands we wanted to see. Only footnote to that is the weather has been great every time we’ve been! We go to one close enough that we could go home if the weather really turned. Out in the fresh air all day meant they slept like logs, and always ask to go back. It’s actually got harder as they’ve got older as kids field is less aimed at their interests but they’re not quite old enough to go off exploring by themselves.

We do go to one that’s well renowned for being family friendly though - I wouldn’t be doing Reading and Leeds with kids 😁

Where does it sound like that? When I said we’re staying in the family area and that I’m happy to potter there with the kids and miss headline acts? Or when I said we’d make sure the kids went to bed as soon as they want to and need to and I’ll be putting their needs before my own?

Look, I’m feeling nervous and jittery about the logistics but this is absolutely a weekend that I’m planning as a fun family thing, not an adults thing with the kids tagging along. I’m doing this more for my toddler than myself!

Not necessarily depending on parking