It’s festival season here in the UK. I have even been to one already. Yes, it was very cold at night!

Mr LGD and I have been regular festival goers for years. Here are some tips that help us have a more enjoyable, more sustainable and less stressful festival.

Outfit Planning

We start planning our outfits for a festival early. Usually a festival will release any themes in good time to help. Then it’s time to get creative, chatting to our friends going to event and seeing what we already have that can be repurposed, or adapted. For days that don’t have a formal theme we often decide on something for our group, or just the two of us.

Shambala’s Friday theme was announced in March as PINK.

The new Rumage search engine is great low cost way of finding any extra bits we might need. Check out my blog post about how it works. Then there is always Etsy for a handmade item. Plus we check out charity shops, both locally and when away.

It is critical for me to plan the “warm proofing” of a new outfit, as it can get pretty cold in a field, even in August. Warm proofing means any clothing what will go over, or under, my outfit, once it gets cold in the evening. But we still want to be in the festival spirit. Examples would be; tights, leggings, thermal top, extra socks, gloves, festival jacket, hat. But layering is critical as it can be cold outside and boiling inside a venue!

Festival Packing

A packing list makes the process a lot easier. For years I have listed the items (electronically) in each outfit, for each day, at each festival. So I can search back through them and see what I have worn before, what worked, and which accessories / cold proofing I need. This enables the creation of the packing list for the current festival. Done at least a few days before the festival, I find it makes the packing so much easier as I know what I am gathering. Rather than still working out what is even needed.

Extract from festival packing list from Shindig Festival 2024 (this makes sense to me!)

There is also an “extra items” list. Things that we will need at most, if not all, festivals. Sometimes it’s easy to forget the obvious.

As anyone who has spent any time in a tent knows, things get lost, and vanish with alarming speed and regularity. To facilitate getting ready, items for 1 day are in 1 cloth bag. Including pants, socks, warm proofing and accessories (not jewellery). Labelling the bags makes it even easier. I use cardboard luggage tags and reuse each year. We don’t want to be making wardrobe decisions, and then finding the items, after not much sleep in a hot tent!

Wellies

Some kind of waterproof footwear is a festival essential. Here is my post about extending the life of your wellies. Now Hunter have stopped making wellies in the UK (and have been bought out) there are no ethical new wellies that I am aware of. Second hand has been my best option.

Travel

Some festivals have cheaper tickets for those travelling by train, such as Shambala. We find this a great option as we can book well in advance to get a cheaper rate. However we are always careful to give ourselves enough time to get off site if we have a set train for the way home!

If public transport if not going to be an option, part train, part car sharing, reduces the impact of our travel, and splits the cost of the car park pass.

Food 

Festival food can add up. A big saver is bringing our own cereal. We pimp this (before we leave) with extra nuts, dried fruit and seeds to boost the fibre and vitamins. Needed for a big festival weekend! Using oat m*lk means it doesn’t need to be kept cold.

While some festivals are going fully vegetarian e.g. Shambala. When at an omnivorous festival I choose the vegetarian and vegan places to keep my impact lower, and ensure my fibre intake stays up.

We bring our own bamboo cutlery and napkins to reduce waste. Sometimes there is even an unofficial napkin discount, or we get the biggest piece of cake!

Buying the bigger meal options and sharing with Mr LGD also helps reduce costs and waste.

Sometimes there are even real plates and cutlery! But our own cups (right and left).

Drink

A couple of reusable water bottles each mean we have enough water in the tent for coffee, flannels (see below) and drinking. All UK festivals legally have to have readily available drinking water.

Another money saver is the coffee essential, an AeroPress and camping stove. We are often in a group, so only couple of people need to bring a stove to share. A reusable coffee cup for drinking the coffee, plus if we want to buy other hot drinks, no disposable cup needed. These are not recyclable in most of the UK. Shambala even has a tax on disposable hot drink cups.

Finally we always take our own reusable cups with the legal pint measures on them. Even if the festival does reusable cups, the non alcohol stalls eg juice and iced coffee, will often not be using the reusables.

Flannels

Our total festival game changer is the humble flannel! No more wet wipes. Saving money and waste.

Find out why they are amazing and have multiple uses in my post here.

The Vague Plan

This one started as a bit of a joke and turned into a great idea. Sometimes we are at a festival with quite a few, or a lot, of people. It is impossible to keep everyone together, and with limited phone signal, it can be handy to know where people might be.

On a daily basis a vague plan is crowd sourced by everyone’s suggestions of what they are planning to go to. This is shared with the group, so if people go off, or get lost, they have a chance of finding some of the rest of the group.

Vague plan under construction!

Happy Festival Season 2024!

What are your top tips, or must have festival essentials? 

Please share below.