Outdoors Shop | Festival Guide

Make this your first ever stress-free festival!

Each summer thousands of people head off for weekends of music, celebration and nights under canvas. At Outdoors we know a little about camping and we decided to get our best heads together to come up with a foolproof guide to getting you through your festival unscathed. Whether this is your first or fiftieth festival, we hope you find something that will make your life easier!

What to take

Time spent carefully packing your festival survival bag is time well spent. Here are a few of the essentials:

Wet-wipes

If you take nothing else, take wet-wipes. When a trip to the loo or even water tap is a potentially traumatising experience, these make life just a little more bearable.

Sleeping bag

Unless you're very unlucky, it should be quite mild for your summer adventure, so a 1-2 season sleeping bag should do the trick.

Washbowl

Bring a washbowl, fill it with water and keep it outside your tent; this will save you endless queuing at the watertap. Result: increased happiness. Remember to cover it up though, or a thirsty dog might just come along and drain the lot!

Sun cream

Put on plenty of sun-cream and remember, don't bother with anything below Factor 15.

Loo roll

Our festival-goers recommend that you take one and half loo rolls. Why the half? Well, it fits easily into your pocket and makes your 'mission' slightly less obvious . . .

Hat

Obviously, this can be as silly as you like. Just make sure it keeps off the sun (and doesn't block anyone's view!)

Bottled water

Be realistic - you can't drink beer all the time!

Folding chair

This isn't just for the older festival-goer either! Serious pogoing requires serious recuperation. Make sure it's low or leg-less so you aren't in anyone's way. If you aren't legless, your chair should be!

Mobile phone

You'll find a mobile useful for tracking down friends who are also at the event. But don't waste vital battery power phoning other friends while you're there. Make new ones instead. If you have a 'pay as you go' mobile, make sure that you've got plenty of credit. A spare battery is also a good idea. Although there are now normally places where you can charge-up, the phone companies will also charge you!

Grub

Instant noodles, cereal bars and other spacefoods really come into their own at festivals. There's next to no preparation time and no cleaning up afterwards, which leaves you with plenty of time to enjoy yourself! Stock up now!

You could do much worse than to pack a lightweight methylated spirit stove (basically a simple cooking device) to heat up your water and beans. Click here for a full stove range.

Tarpaulin

Another great idea is to bring along a tarpaulin or plastic sheet. If you're going with a number of friends, pitch your tents in a circle and peg the tarpaulin over the top to keep off the rain. Hey presto, your own mini-marquee! Check with the stewards first, though

Something to read

It won't be non-stop partying, so take along something to read for the quieter moments. It might also take your mind off the smell in the loo!

Musical instruments

Okay, it depends on how good you are. If you want a campfire moment at the end of the day, then a guitar or mandolin can be great. Just make sure you can play!

Expensive stuff

The simple advice is don't bring any. The last thing you want to do is spend the whole weekend worrying about where you've put your digital camcorder. Your best souvenirs are likely to be your memories.

What to wear

Footwear

Sandals are a great idea for the day, particularly if it's hot and dry, but don't risk your toes in a crowd. Take a pair of trainers or comfortable boots to wear to the gigs themselves. Just make sure you can dance in them! View our footwear range

Wet weather gear

Summer festivals, particularly Glastonbury, are notorious for their rain. Lightweight waterproofs are a much better idea than an umbrella - if by some miracle the heavens don't open, you can also roll them up and stash them away without taking up too much space. Oh, and take some plastic bags too. View our range of waterproofs and other clothing

Who to go with

Well, friends, obviously. Chances are you are going to be sharing a very confined space. It's better to go on your own rather than with someone who's not keen. As far as moving around the festival goes, you'll find that you're much more manoeuvrable when you're in groups of three or even two. Any more and decisions start to become difficult. Two is ideal. This will also make you much less intimidating when you meet new people.

Where to pitch

Go early. Try and get to the site the day before the festival begins. This will give you plenty of time to pick your spot and get set up. You don't want to be still putting your tent up while Radiohead is playing on the main stage. It's not fun having people come up and tell you they had a life changing experience while you were still hammering your pegs into the ground. Getting there early also means you won't have to pitch in the middle of the gangway, or even worse, next to the loos.

Choosing your site

Enormous care should go into this vital task! Pitch your tent near enough to the loos so you don't have to traipse miles, but not so near that you'll have drunken revellers tripping over your guy ropes on the way. You might also want to check which way the wind's blowing...

Find some level ground. Check for loose stones and dips in the ground before you pitch your tent. You might think a few pebbles won't make much difference, but at three in the morning you might have other ideas!

What to see

Be adventurous! Don't mill around the main stage all day. The whole point of a festival is to see lots of different things, so don't stay in one place. Otherwise, you may as well have just gone along to a normal gig. Check out unusual things and listen to the word of mouth. Most festivals now have comedy tents, street entertainment, arts and crafts as well as music.

Getting to the front

Obviously, you are going to want to be down the front when your favorite band is playing. The only problem is, how do you get there? Festival veterans recommend that a little politeness gets you a long way. Say hello as you pass! But be warned, holding three overflowing pints of beer over your head will not make you popular. And if you get to the front... there are consequences. The last thing you want to do is spend your time gasping for breath, crushed against the barrier, so the best place is probably second from the front. You might also want to introduce yourself to the person standing behind you! If you know the band well, you'll know which songs they come down to the front of the stage for; and if you want to shake Damon Albarn's hand, don't start waving madly, just hold your hand out.

What to eat

Obviously this differs from place to place, but unfortunately most festival food is normally of the fast variety. Rather than living on chips and pizza, head for the stands selling ethnic food such as noodles or stir-fry. A top tip is to try places where there are longer queues - the food is likely to be fresher!

Things to avoid

Well drugs and too much alcohol are the obvious things. Most festival arrests are drug related, so don't take any risks, even if you think everyone else is doing it. Besides, you want to be able to remember the experience. Don't do something you might regret after the Red Stripe has worn off. Henna tattoos are much easier to remove than real ones...

When you get home

After a hot bath, a long sleep and reaquainting yourself with the luxuries of a flushing loo, you might start looking for what to do next. Here's an ideas, send us your memories of the festival, what worked well for you, tips you learnt etc. and help future festival goers have as great a time as you did!

Useful links

Take a look at these websites for more information on this year's events.

Festivals

www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk
www.readingfestivalonline.co.uk
www.thisisessex.co.uk/essex/vfestival/
www.camfolk-fest.co.uk
www.isleofwightfestival.com
www.efestivals.co.uk
www.themusichype.com/uk/festivals/

Charities

www.wateraid.org.uk
www.oxfam.org.uk
www.kidsoutdoors.com
www.actionzone.cc