Tent, sleeping bag, rucksack and ticket…you’ve got the bare necessities but there are a load of other bits and pieces you need to ensure a successful festival experience, and we don’t mean things like loo roll and wet wipes (though definitely pack those too). With festival season rapidly approaching, we’ve rounded up some of the essentials you need to make sure you spend your festival drinking, dancing and generally having a great time rather than stressing about how you’ll make it to the end in one piece.
Hunter Chelsea Boots
The weather at a British festival can change with alarming speed, and there’s nothing quite like being caught in the wrong shoes. You don’t wanna be that idiot wearing proper tall wellies on ground that’s dry as a bone but you also don’t wanna be sporting your fave shoes in a rainstorm. These Hunter Chelsea boots sit nicely in the middle – the vulcanised rubber is both sturdy and waterproof, and they’re short enough to let your legs breathe should there be sunshine.
Rains Ultralight Jacket
Never discount the possibly of showers at a British festival, even if the forecast is showing otherwise because you will be caught out. You could just sling a pac-a-mac in your bag and hope for the best, but for serious rain, you’ll need a proper jacket and you can’t do better than Rains. This jacket is lightweight but still sturdy enough to keep you dry and will see you through festivals year after year.
Philip Kingsley Dry Shampoo
If you’re going to a festival for longer than two days, you will need dry shampoo. Bar wet wipes, it may just be the most important beauty product you need to pack – no one has good hair at a festival but this’ll keep you from having terrible hair. Philip Kingsley’s One More Day not only refreshes your locks in between washes, it actually soothes the scalp too, tiding you over nicely until that epic post-fest shower.
Green People Sun Lotion
We all want the sun to be shining come festival time and if by some miracle it actually does, you’ll need some sun lotion – it’s bad enough not washing for days, you don’t wanna add sunburn into the mix too. The Holiday Starter Pack from Green People contains an SPF 30 lotion, an SPF 15 lotion with tan accelerator, and a hydrating after sun, all packed with plant actives and 84% organic ingredients, so you get all the protection with no irritation. And they’re all travel size meaning you’ll have room for that extra pair of shorts.
Aesop Rinse-Free Handwash
Hand sanitiser is an absolute must at a festival, even at the one-day ones, so don’t even think about camping without. Considering you won’t be washing for a few days you can splash out a posh one, like this Aesop Resurrection Rinse-Free Handwash – obvs it smells divine and it doesn’t dry out your hands either.
EcoStardust Biodegradable Glitter
Are you even at a festival if you don’t put glitter somewhere (everywhere) on your face or body? We say cover yourselves in the stuff, as long as you go for biodegradable glitter like the ones from EcoStardust. Sprinkling tiny bits of plastic everywhere just isn’t cute.
iMuto Portable Charger
Unless you’re happy to pay for and leave your phone at one of those charging tents, you’ll need a portable charger to make it through an entire festival with battery (even some tactical switch-offs won’t save you, unless you decide to resurrect your 3310 for the weekend, then you’re golden). This iMuto number will give you about five iPhone x charges (even more for older phone models), it has two ports so you can share your power, and the LED screen will let you know exactly how much juice you’ve got left.
Sipsmith G&T Cans
If you’re at a festival, you’re gonna be drinking tinnies at some point (or most of the time). Now you could go down the classic cheap cider route – we’ve all been there and had the hangovers to prove it – or you could class things up with these Sipsmith gins in tins.