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

There is now a charity who collect all the abandoned tents etc. & they get sent to displaced persons camps, whilst still wasteful of the UK it is of benefit elsewhere...

The seven festival essentials: bog roll, baby wipes, antibacterial hand wash, a roll of black bin bags, gaffer tape, a pair of scissors and string.

These will save you in most festival scenarios.

Chuck an AirTag (or similar) in your tent. Makes finding it easier

Haha, I was at Glasto '98 & my mum did the same to me!

Gen Z-ers are not wholly responsible for the shit left over at the end of festivals and it’s unfair to call them lazy and blame them.

There is an article in the Times today about festivals and how they are becoming increasingly dangerous. The Boardmasters crowd crush, drugs deaths at leads and reading and sexual assaults.

My kids aren't old enough yet but tbh I'd be very unsure about sending them.

I'll try to link but think it's behind a paywall.

‘There were kids high on drugs climbing up fire towers’

www.thetimes.com/article/df64cd65-b480-4c50-855a-bf8e6c179ee9?shareToken=2b135aafb72979e43c1ff91aed1bcc83

Leeds! Obviously, not leads

No they do not collect ALL the tents.

This is a myth.

Several festivals work with charities to salvage as much as possible but lots is still landfilled and the sheer volume of stuff is too much to use for other purposes. It is still expensive too - the collection and storage isn't a small amount.

It looks like the are a few people who now use the existence of these charities as an excuse to say 'oh it doesn't matter if I leave the tent'.

Yes it bloody well does matter and no you still shouldn't leave it.

Don't hold on to your wish to relive your youth vicariously- your child might go to one festival at 18 ,hate it and never go again. Even if you offer to buy the tickets. 😢

Festivals (as in all festivals) becoming increasingly dangerous or one particular festival which has been particularly badly mismanaged and attracts a particularly high risk audience?

I don't believe it is the former.

Every festival has it's own character and its own atmosphere. Even Reading and Leeds which are a pair with the same bands and same organisation different. (I've been to both several times over the years - despite living in the North and Leeds being much easier for me, I'd much rather day ticket it than camp for a while number of reasons. Reading is a better festival overall).

Glastonbury isn't a music festival as such. It's a life experience. It's more than just the music.

Why people have picked a particular festival matters much more than non-festival goers realise.

Some are much more commercial and middle class than others. Some have a generally older crowd. Some are a mix and some are for a particular young crowd. Some are more sanitised than others (and I don't mean the state of the toilets). Others have a bigger drug problem than most.

Know your festival when you go!

Get those tablets that save them if they OD

I didn't say it didn't matter.
As a millennial festival goer I always brought everything home with me

My son downloaded the EasyID app :
https://www.postoffice.co.uk/identity/easyid
You can scan your passport if it has a machine readable chip. It only takes a few minutes.

I've volunteered with a charity that collects tents (and mats, sleeping bags, chairs) from festival sites. However we cannot do it for every festival because...
permission has to be sought and given from the festival organizers.
transport to/from venue organized (van, estate car, trailer).
Storage for the stuff collected.
Then each item has to be checked to see if it is in good condition, which means literally erecting the tents and counting tentpegs etc.
Each item has to be cleaned/washed. And aired or dried.
Then stored again once clean and checked.
Only then can it be packed and dispatched and transported to where it is needed.

So I hope you now are more aware of the enormous amount of voluntary work that has to go into getting the abandoned equipment out to people in need.

I have a question about festival toilets.

I have never been to a music festival (and at 62 am unlikely to start!) nor has my adult DC. But one always hears such horror stories about the state of the toilets so, genuine question, why is it that they become so dreadful? Is it simply that the organisers do not make adequate provision?

Although I have never been to a festival, there are a couple of events I visit most years. Both of these events attract very large crowds and run for several days, albeit they only run during the day, nobody stays the night. In both cases there are always large banks of good quality portaloo type things. You never need to queue for very long at all and I have never yet found one that wasn't clean and in good condition. There is always soap in the dispensers, no overflowing bins, generally well maintained.

So it seems it is possible to provide mass, temporary toilet provision that is in good order. Why then doesn't this happen at festivals? Is it just the organisers know that festival goers will accept squalid conditions because that is what they have come to expect, whereas at the events I go to people would be appalled at those conditions and probably complain?

It's the attendees if you ask me.

I've just come back from a four day festival. I didn't see one single piece of rubbish on the ground and the campsite was left spotless after the festival. Any tents that needed to be abandoned were folded up and left in the refuse areas.

The loos there were as close to spotless as can be for a portaloo. There was only one I saw that didn't have neat stacks of toilet paper.

If you go somewhere where people don't give a shit, add in drunkenness, rain, and mud, the loos quickly become chaotic.

Thank you so much that is perfect. I will get him to do that today

Another question please:

where do their backpacks go at night? DS seems to think he'll leave it outside the tent which seems risky to me.

Inside the tent or it will be gone.

They don't. Please everyone make sure your teens take all their stuff home with them. So disrespectful and wasteful the amount of crap left behind at festivals.

Inside the tent.

Make sure he sleeps with his valuables inside his sleeping bag with him. Preferably belted around his body.

You can buy luxury loo packages through a company called Refresh Retreat - well worth it.

Take baby wipes, toilet rolls, bin bags. Something to tie to tent to make it easier to spot ( flag, bunting, cuddly toy etc). DO NOT WEAR EXPENSIVE SHOES!!!

Spare tent pegs.

Simple answer - Some people are disgusting

Bring a head torch, and always look first on opening the door. When there’s a queue at a line of toilets watch the reactions as others open the door - and stay far away from those that people are rejecting.

Toilets will be getting serviced thoughout, but could be multiple times a day or late night/early morning. This involves hoovering out the waste and ideally a pressure wash hosing down the remnants of festival animals

Keep an eye out for the toilet service vehicles and try to plan using them after cleaning

Scope out and plan which toilets to use.
Those at music stages & main walkthroughs get used by everyone, those on camp sites get used by the campers
Camp site toilets on the way to the festival area get used by almost every camper on that site as they walk back & forth, but those at the back of the camp site get hardly used

Assume there is no toilet paper and no hand gel, so carry some always. Supplement with wet wipes