Off to first festival with DD 8mths... not camping, but what do I need to take for each day?!

[Gonkster]

So finally I have bitten the bullet and decided that we can take DD to a festival - it's a relatively tame one with music, but also comedy, arts, poetry, a childrens area etc etc. Am very excited! We are not camping overnight as we have a house to stay in nearby, BUT we will be at the festival from early morning to, well, whenever we can in the evening before DD completely loses her sense of humour. She is a routine baby (hers happened to agree with mine) and always naps in her cot. But obviously this isn't possible when we are at the festival. She has slept in her ellaroo sling once before so we'll be trying that.

BUT, sorry it's taken me such a long preamble to get to the point but essentially, we are packing for a full day with lots of sitting on the ground etc...

... What would you recommend I make sure I take with me each day to make it as pleasurable/ok as possible for her?

Fanks!

Hmmm - is she crawling yet??? If so lots of changes of clothes for the "Oh look you took your eyes of me for 3 nano-seconds and I found a lovely muddy puddle moments!" Obv food and drink and nappies for the day, small washable/wipeable toys - see above puddle moments!, sunhat, suncream, some sort of waterproof for her, she should love it just watching the people, everything going on - both of mine did at that sort of age - wanted to get in the thick of it - hence the crawling into puddles!

which one are you going too

Thanks for this... off to Latitude in Suffolk in a couple of weeks time. Katylou25 - thanks for the advice! She's not crawling yet, although happy with a bum shuffle moving no more than 10cm ... but boy, can she roll, and roll and roll... she moves as much as our friend's baby who is crawling already, but just by rolling so the puddle scenario is still a situation we may face. Oh, and washable wipeable toys is such a good idea -her favourites are fluffy so I shall be leaving her plastic ones closer so she gets to know those ones better!

Katylou... did you sling your DCs and then put them on the ground, or did you take your buggy in when they were this age?

Take a 3-wheeler buggy if you have one or can borrow one (goes through mud/grass better). If you want to stay in the evening maybe she'll drop off to sleep in it and you can go crazy and have a beer or two. IME this is a good age to go to a festival - I took DS to the Glade at 9 months! Don't worry about toys - will be so much going on that she'll be entertained. Don't forget warm clothes and hat for the evenings.
Ear protection is also good idea. Think you can buy ear muffs online somewhere - we improvised with putting cotton wool in DS's ears (which he tolerated for about 2 minutes..)

Hi Snotbuster (great name btw). I wondered about the buggy situation - we have a stokke which I adore... but I don't think it would be very field friendly so I shall beg borrow etc a 3 wheeler if I can as I agree... she would sleep better in it in the evening. Oh, and thanks for the ear protection advice... hadn't thought about it and I guess we won't be near the stage like the old days, but it's been a while since I have festivaled, so I have forgotten it can still be quite loud. Oh, and the warm clothes etc for the evening... I was focussing so much on the day, that I had forgotten about the evening!

bumpity bump... any more fab advice??

lol lol sorry but just can not help at "sling your dc and then put them on the ground" am imagine a rugby ball as a child being thrown across feild before being carefully put on the grass to play

have not been to a festival so no advice to share, just a strange sense of humour- sorry

Dylsmum... it may well come to that, let's face it!!

Message withdrawn

Hi Gonkster - have been away from MN for a few days! Don't know what a stokke is but if you can't get a 3 wheeler a good old maclaren will survive the horrors of a festival field (unless it's very wet). Are you taking a blanket to sit on? And extra baby blanket to cover DD up with at night? Think when I took DS at that age I took jars of baby food and cartons of ready made formula (and you can get disposable bottles). Have a good time!

oooo jars of baby food. I'm a home-cook mum but it would be SO much easier to take stuff I can just open on the day and not have to store in a cool bag. I've been offered a quinny zapp which looks like it might be ok for the pram. And yes, I've got an old sheepskin for her to lie on, and then there's a waterproof lined picnic blanket which has fleece on the other side, so I thought i might double it's use and use it as a blanket for DD.

Must admit, I am VERY excited.