To say if your child is going to a Festival for the first time, do not, under any circumstances

[Eeepsh]

Allow them to open the fucking tent in the living room to. "See what it's like"

It's a fucking tent and regardless of how many times you watch the fucking video, Part A might fold into Part B eventually but it certainly wont then fit in the fucking bag. Believe me.

Any other helpful (ha) tips for Festival Virgins?!!

Please, pretty please

Don’t let them take anything you remotely wish to ever see again.

Recommend they do not take a wheelie case. They will be mocked.

Expect to have to nurse them back to health for a week or so post festival.

highlight for me when some women on the beach could not fold up their pop up tent, i still chuckle

I always tuck a spare black bag in the tent bag when I go camping incase I can't get it back in. Why can't they make the bag a tiny bit bigger and add compression straps?

do not lend them your cheap mobile, never to be seen again

If others are sleeping in the tent with you, go to the toilet in shifts. DO NOT leave the tent unattended unless you want to come back and see an empty space. Where the tent was.

This was my DD at Reading Festival a long time ago. It hasn't put her off festivals, she's just been to one sleeping in a tent whilst 7 months pregnant!

Get them to take large extra strong bin bags , they can fling all the tent bits back in (there for you to sort out when they get home 🙄) .
They can also be used as make shift ponchos .
Don't use them as bin bags once they have been made into ponchos ( guess how I know this )

Definitely don't let them open the tent in the living room when they return either.

Do get them to sleep with their valuables at the bottom of their sleep bag so no one can steal them by putting their hands inside the tent when sleeping

We used to leave a decoy bag in the porch area of the tent. Figured if anyone pokes their head in the tent to steal anything they’ll take the first thing they’ll see, so we’d leave an empty handbag out.

hahhaha.first time i heaard my generlly so laid back hes horizontl adult son swear.dont think tent came home lol.

I'd be tempted to fill it with poo so they get a treat when they put their hand inside

Expect them to return really filthy with only the clothes they stand up in and their phone. Therefore, tell them under no circumstances should they take anything of any value and probably not even a change of clothes. If they do bring anything home, it should be taken straight to the tip!

If you do give them useful things like wet wipes, loo roll, snacks, paracetamol, sun cream etc these items will come back completely unused at the bottom of a bag that looks like it has been repeatedly trampled into the ground and smells of piss, poo or vomit or possibly all three.

(DS had to disrobe before entering the house, as he had definitely soiled his clothes in ways that none of us want to remember clearly.)

Don't offer to bring 6 of them home in the car unless you have really good aircon.

Make sure they note where they left their car, remembering that other cars might have moved by the time they get back, so they don't spend three hours looking for it (DD, Boardmasters). If this happens, sitting in the car park field crying doesn't help.

I think that’s a rather extreme example. You can’t always leave someone back at the camp site alone to guard the tent while you’re in the arena all day/night - it simply isn’t safe, nor enjoyable! Million’s of people go to festivals every year and leave thier tents unattended and return to them exactly as they left them.

These responses are making my day 😂 thankfully DD is going to Reading just for the day! Latitude camping has given her enough memories 😫

Sitting in the car park crying can help if they do it long enough

The carpark eventually thins out to only those who have lost their cars …… and there’s less traffic by that time

It just takes hours - or perhaps a couple of days - as long as they are in the right car park of major festivals

If you are collecting them from the festival/train station/bus station then put some plastic sheets or dust sheets in the car. Even in dry weather they will be filthy and it can takes months to get the car back to normal.... oh and definitely wind down the windows!!

Avoid the convenience of setting up tent beside a clear pathway - everyone will stumble on it, and if it’s a fully enforced clear pathway that might be because it’s the route used by security / bin / fire patrols in mini vehicles riding past all night long

Don’t ’remember’ that you’re is the blue tent near the beige tent, or that it’s near to the pole by the crossroads.
Campsites change totally in minutes

Do not spend more than 20 quid on the tent. It will get set alight..
Ime.

Don't agree to take them or bring them back. Took my DD and her friend to a festival 2 weeks ago, 6 hours there and back, even worse 9 hours picking them up.

Don't actually expect the tent to come home! There are tons and tons of them left at festivals each year.

Reading Festival: Abandoned tents and rubbish left in several fields after event | UK News | Sky News

What3Words is your friend for this type of situation. Unfortunately I only discovered this after coming close to your daughter’s situation at Latitude last year - very many years past my teens!

Plus if they take generic cheap tent, so will lots of other people! Customise it in some way so you can recognise it.