Advice
Essential information, advice and tips to improve your festival experience. Your first family festival? Here are some things to consider before taking the plunge!
You’ll find answers to the problems of carting your kids around and choosing a festival trolley. As well as advice on the practical side of camping, washing, feeding your family , going solo, sleeping, coping with mud and surviving festival toilets!
It can be difficult to decide what camping equipment to get, so here’s our advice on buying tents, inflatable tents, camping chairs, flags and windsocks, ear defenders and portable fire pits.
Or maybe you’re worried about taking babies, toddlers or teenagers to festivals.
If you have nightmares about packing, make sure you download our handy family camping packing list and have a look at our parents’ top 5 packing tips.
Your Teenager’s first festival?
A parent wrote to us asking about teenager festivals:
Our 16 year old is off to their first festival this year with some friends. They are all pretty sensible but I can’t help worrying.
Any advice?
Letting our kids spread their wings and explore the world is something all parents will wrestle with at some stage.
Teenage years are tricky – everyone tells you so. We want to give them space to grow and freedom to develop, but most importantly we want to keep them safe. Read more…
Are festivals good for dogs?
With record high temperatures at festivals predicted this summer many of us will struggle with kids out in the sun. Essential festival kit for little ones included hats, water bottles, practical clothing and oodles of sunscreen. But did anyone think about what to pack for man’s best friend?
Festival sleeping know how
OK, so you’re pretty unlikely to have a great night’s sleep at a festival. Even in the family or quiet sleeping areas there will be unfamiliar noise, your bed is not going to be as comfortable as home and your children will still wake up well before you are ready to get up.
But there at least are things you can do to improve your chances of getting some rest… Read more…
How to choose the ideal camping pitch
Long gone are the days when I used to turn up to a festival with a two-man tent and a backpack, pitching at the first point I came across a friend or when the backpack got too heavy!
The Best Camping Chairs for Festivals
Comfort or practicality? Can you have it all?
Packing for a festival with kids can be a bit of a military operation. Weighing up what you can fit in the car and physically carry versus what you’d ideally like to take is a real balance. Luxury items like camping chairs can sometimes find themselves abandoned in the hall while parents frantically try and cram the last pillow on the parcel shelf as the kids go crazy in their seats.
Read more…
Festival Trolley and Wagon Guide
So you want a festival trolley but you’re not sure which to go for? Whether you want to buy a ready made one or make one yourself, here’s all the information you need!
Taking Babies to Festivals
Why you should take your baby to a festival – and what you’ll need to do it
We went to our first family festival when our youngest daughter, Martha, was nine months old. A lot of friends thought we were crazy taking a babies to festivals but we all loved it. The next year we did two, the year after that it was five so I guess you could say we caught the bug. Read more…
Festival Camping Gear & Gadgets
Remember the days when festival kit meant a tent, a sleeping bag and, if you’d really made the effort, some patterned wellies? When you could get 5 adults and all your gear into a two door Ford Fiesta? Well, if you’re like me, then the arrival of kids has changed all that. I now tend to start the festival season staring at the pile of equipment and gadgets and wondering which child I’ll have to leave behind if I’m going to fit it all in our seven seater car.
Going Solo – Why Should Single Parents Miss Out?
Last year at Blissfields we happened to be camping near some single parents having a fantastic time and by the end of the festival we were all great friends.
So what do you do if you’re a festival-loving person and you don’t have a partner, or if your partner hates camping and refuses to go with you? Do you give up on festivals? I know if you love festivals as much as we do here at Festival Kidz that is simply not an option. Read more…
Inflatable Tents Guide
Festival season is still a few months away, but if like me you’re already dreaming of cider in the sun and kids dancing themselves silly this is probably a good time to start thinking about camping kit and keeping an eye out for last season bargains.
In 2015 our big kit purchase was an inflatable tent – and we loved it! Read more…
Your Teenager’s first festival?
A parent wrote to us asking about teenager festivals:
Our 16 year old is off to their first festival this year with some friends. They are all pretty sensible but I can’t help worrying.
Any advice?
Letting our kids spread their wings and explore the world is something all parents will wrestle with at some stage.
Teenage years are tricky – everyone tells you so. We want to give them space to grow and freedom to develop, but most importantly we want to keep them safe. Read more…
Festival sleeping know how
OK, so you’re pretty unlikely to have a great night’s sleep at a festival. Even in the family or quiet sleeping areas there will be unfamiliar noise, your bed is not going to be as comfortable as home and your children will still wake up well before you are ready to get up.
But there at least are things you can do to improve your chances of getting some rest… Read more…
The Best Camping Chairs for Festivals
Comfort or practicality? Can you have it all?
Packing for a festival with kids can be a bit of a military operation. Weighing up what you can fit in the car and physically carry versus what you’d ideally like to take is a real balance. Luxury items like camping chairs can sometimes find themselves abandoned in the hall while parents frantically try and cram the last pillow on the parcel shelf as the kids go crazy in their seats.
Read more…
Taking Babies to Festivals
Why you should take your baby to a festival – and what you’ll need to do it
We went to our first family festival when our youngest daughter, Martha, was nine months old. A lot of friends thought we were crazy taking a babies to festivals but we all loved it. The next year we did two, the year after that it was five so I guess you could say we caught the bug. Read more…
Going Solo – Why Should Single Parents Miss Out?
Last year at Blissfields we happened to be camping near some single parents having a fantastic time and by the end of the festival we were all great friends.
So what do you do if you’re a festival-loving person and you don’t have a partner, or if your partner hates camping and refuses to go with you? Do you give up on festivals? I know if you love festivals as much as we do here at Festival Kidz that is simply not an option. Read more…
Are festivals good for dogs?
With record high temperatures at festivals predicted this summer many of us will struggle with kids out in the sun. Essential festival kit for little ones included hats, water bottles, practical clothing and oodles of sunscreen. But did anyone think about what to pack for man’s best friend?
How to choose the ideal camping pitch
Long gone are the days when I used to turn up to a festival with a two-man tent and a backpack, pitching at the first point I came across a friend or when the backpack got too heavy!
Festival Trolley and Wagon Guide
So you want a festival trolley but you’re not sure which to go for? Whether you want to buy a ready made one or make one yourself, here’s all the information you need!
Festival Camping Gear & Gadgets
Remember the days when festival kit meant a tent, a sleeping bag and, if you’d really made the effort, some patterned wellies? When you could get 5 adults and all your gear into a two door Ford Fiesta? Well, if you’re like me, then the arrival of kids has changed all that. I now tend to start the festival season staring at the pile of equipment and gadgets and wondering which child I’ll have to leave behind if I’m going to fit it all in our seven seater car.
Inflatable Tents Guide
Festival season is still a few months away, but if like me you’re already dreaming of cider in the sun and kids dancing themselves silly this is probably a good time to start thinking about camping kit and keeping an eye out for last season bargains.
In 2015 our big kit purchase was an inflatable tent – and we loved it! Read more…