How To Pack For a Festival

There are a gazillion lists out there on the tinterweb telling you what essentials to pack for a weekend at a festival. But when I was frantically packing last week for my trip to Womad Festival 2012, I couldn’t find just one comprehensive list to tell me exactly what to pack.

Yeah, sometimes I like to think for myself. But sometimes you just want someone else to do the hard thinking for you. So this ‘What to pack for a festival’ list is just as much a reference point for me to look back on in future as it might be helpful to you, dear reader.

Top Tips for Packing for a Festival

• Before leaving on camping trip, make sure tent is in good working order
• Freeze ice packs
• Wrap glass bottles in tea towels, it prevents clanging and tea towels always useful
• Roll your clothes
• Bear in mind that the car park might be long way from the campsite – use easy-to-carry bags etc.
• Use a granny trolley if you have one
• If you’re a girl, tights are super useful to throw under skirts, dresses and shorts if it gets cold.
• Remember that denim doesn’t make friends with water. If you’re wearing jeans and it rains you will be inching around rather than walking. (wet jeans = chaffing)
• Always make sure your have clean, dry clothes for travelling home in (it could be a long journey)

What to Pack for a Festival

• Tent
• Mallet (we forgot this an jamming tent pegs into hard ground was … well, hard)
• Spare ground sheet (for sitting on outside tent – blankets will get soggy on dewy grass)
• Sleeping bags
• Blankets, lots of them (good for nighttime warmth and daytime picnics)
• Proper pillow (I can sleep on the ground if at least I have a good pillow)
• Sleeping mat or airbed if you have one
• Pump of airbed (manual or battery powered)
• Camping folding chair
• Camping stove (we got a great deal in Blacks including 4 gas canisters)
• Small pan and Frying pan
• Spatula / Wooden Spoon / Tongs
• Plates / Mugs / Cutlery / Utensils (think can opener, bottle opener etc)
• Lighter / Matches
• Paper kitchen towels
• Loo roll (lots of it)
• Wet wipes (good for cleaning equipment and bodies)
• Ziploc bags (keep all food wrapped up to avoid ‘visitors’ and handy to keep things separated)
• Lots of spare plastic bags (ideal for makeshift waste disposal, carrying wet clothes etc)
• Bin liners for the clear-up
• Spare empty water bottles (take your own water rather than spend quids on it)
• Anti-bacterial hand gel (good hygiene is your friend)
• First aid kit (include plasters, antiseptic cream, Compeed, painkillers, Imodium and anti-histamine – don’t forget your daily medication too)
• Sunscreen
• Dry Shampoo (and lots of hairbands and kirby grips)
• Toiletries (keep it simple and sensible 0 but don’t forget moisturiser your skin is battling elements all day)
• Torches, with spare batteries (a headtorch is perfect for those night time visits to the portaloos – holding a torch between your teeth is tricky)
• Washing up bowl, sponge and liquid (we got an Ecover sample which is perfect for keeping chemicals out the ground – biodegradable is rad)
• Gaffa tape (just in case your tent springs a leak)
• Coolbox and icepacks (the better packed it is, the longer your food will stay cold)
• Cash! (although Womad had an ATM, you don’t want to be caught without)

• Wellies and socks (it’s England, chances are you will be living in these all weekend)
• Flip flops / Sandals (good for about the tent stuff and the small chance of English sunshine)
• Clothes (think layers – tops, cardies, plaid shirts, shorts, tights, dresses, jumpers)
• Waterproof jacket (roll up kagols are perfect handbag fodder)
• Bikini/Swimsuit (sounds odd, but there was a spa at Womad, and in the olden days at Reading festival I would wear this under my tops, because mosh pits are sweaty)
• Travel towel (the fast drying is where it’s at)
• Ear plugs
• Hat
• Sunglasses
• Sarong (I rarely travel without one, useful for all sorts – blanket, scarf, shawl, modesty cover etc)
• Pyjamas (again, think layers, it gets darn cold when camping)
• Clean underwear (festivals are smelly enough as it is!)
• Jewellery (have something fun, or bling, or cute to get into the festival spirit)
• Day bag (you’ll need to carry your daily supplies in something)
• Flag, bunting, colourful string or something to make your tent distinguishable from all the other black, navy, green tents

Food and Drink To Pack For A Festival

• Bottled water
• Juice with straw (love my cartons)
• Booze (optional)
• Teabags (just take a handful in a ziploc bag)
• Sugar (again in a ziploc bag or small tupperware box)
• Bread Rolls
• Bacon (one of my five day)
• Ham slices
• Sausage Rolls (can you see a theme here?)
• Scotch Eggs
• Cereal bars
• Crisps (pretty much my staple for the whole weekend)
• Apples
• Biscuits
• Dried noodles
• Soup
• Anything you can cook on a camping stove…

As you can see, my food packing was a little uninspired. We used the Aldi vouchers I won to buy a stash of food for the trip and ended up just buying a huge bag full of junk food! Oops. I think I need to get some camping food inspiration for the next trip.

 

More packing lists:

• What to pack for a spa day
• What to pack for a ski trip