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.
Festival on a budget
Times are still tough for many of us but that shouldn’t stop us having fun, especially on the festival front. Even if we have to make a few compromises, and stick to a budget, go to a festival. Read more…
Essential Information and Advice
All the essential info sheets and tips for taking your family to a festival – all handily linked on one page!
If you are new to the world of festivals, or are taking your children for the very first time, it can be a bit daunting but we are here to help. Here at Festival Kidz, we have a wealth of knowledge and advice to share with families who want to experience the wonderful world of family friendly festivals but aren’t sure where to start… Read more…
Surviving the dreaded… festival toilets!
As much as you try not to think about it, your children will need to use the festival toilets.
I sometimes wonder how we coped with three small children. The truth is that I gritted my teeth and thought of all the good times we were having in exchange for a little bit of ‘messy’ work.
Isn’t that what parenting is all about?! We should all be able to cope with this – after all we’ve looked after newborns and nothing will ever be as much work as that! Read more…
Do kids need ear defenders at festivals?
YES THEY DO!!
I wish I could say, “Nah, they’ll be fine – it’s all just a marketing ploy to make us poor parents spend more money!” but sadly I don’t believe that’s true.
Noise-induced Hearing Loss is clearly the major concern here. But apart from the permanent damage loud environments can do to hearing, I have also noticed that being around loud music and lots of background noise for prolonged periods makes my children quite irritable! However, when they wear their ear defenders they find watching bands at festivals really enjoyable because it reduces the sound to a comfortable level for them.
Taking Toddlers to Festivals
Can it be done? Should it be done?
If we can enjoy a festival with a five year old and twin toddlers then you can enjoy one with your toddlers too, if you want to!
I read the FestivalKidz website extensively last year to get some tips and it was extremely useful. Now with a few festivals under my belt, I’ve joined the Festival Kidz team myself and I’d like to share some more advice that we have learned ourselves through trial and error. So here are my best tips, starting with…
Read more…
Where’s my child? – Diary of a Lost Kids Officer
I run Lost Kids and Child Welfare from our space, Angel Gardens, at a number of festivals and thought it would be of great use for you lovely festivaling parents to tell you what goes on behind the scenes and my tips for you and your children should you find yourself separated. This is a long and comprehensive post because all of the information in it is important and I urge you to read it, but if you haven’t got time right now then skip to the end where we have listed our TOP TIPS.
10 Reasons why festivals are best
Despite there now being well over a hundred different family friendly festivals to choose from in the UK, I’m still getting the same common reaction from the majority of people: “Why on earth would you want to take your children there?”
So if you are wondering what is so appealing to parents I’ve compiled this top ten list.
Read more…
Keeping Children Safe at Festivals
Being lost can be absolutely terrifying for young children (and parents) so getting reunited as swiftly as possible is really important. And although you know they will be OK in the end, the experience can still be pretty traumatic even if it’s only a few moments.
Rest assured that at any decent family-friendly festival, staff and stewards should be fully trained to deal with a missing child situation – in fact often it’s all over so quickly the children are unaware they had even been lost. The parent will be a gibbering wreck though!
Please read our fantastic guest blog Diary of a Lost Kids Officer from festival welfare expert and Angel Gardens founder, Angel Sam. With tips, and a full explanation of what goes on behind the scenes when children are separated from their parents at festivals, it’s well worth a read.
Festival Essentials for Babies
Becky from Munchies and Munchkins has kindly let us share her lovely post about her first festival experience with her baby Izzy. Here she shares her list of essentials…
“We have spent the last five days at Blissfields Festival in Winchester.. It was an unexpected success and we had a fantastic time. I say unexpected as even though I knew the festival would be fab (having attended last year) I was slightly worried about how Izzy would react to the crowds,noise,new place and most importantly how she would sleep.
Have I got everything? Speed packing for camping trips
How to pack for a family camping trip in 5 minutes!
How to pack for a family camping trip in 5 minutes!My husband and daughter set off yesterday for a camping trip with friends for the weekend. Due to feeling under the weather, my baby son and I are staying at home. To help out, I offered to pack the car with the camping gear while the children were napping so that they could get away as soon as my husband got home from work.
Due to excellent organisation of our camping gear this took less than 5 minutes. 1 adult sleeping bag, 1 single mattress, one child’s sleeping bag, 1 ready bed, our middle sized tent (we have 4) and THE BOX.
Festival on a budget
Times are still tough for many of us but that shouldn’t stop us having fun, especially on the festival front. Even if we have to make a few compromises, and stick to a budget, go to a festival. Read more…
Surviving the dreaded… festival toilets!
As much as you try not to think about it, your children will need to use the festival toilets.
I sometimes wonder how we coped with three small children. The truth is that I gritted my teeth and thought of all the good times we were having in exchange for a little bit of ‘messy’ work.
Isn’t that what parenting is all about?! We should all be able to cope with this – after all we’ve looked after newborns and nothing will ever be as much work as that! Read more…
Taking Toddlers to Festivals
Can it be done? Should it be done?
If we can enjoy a festival with a five year old and twin toddlers then you can enjoy one with your toddlers too, if you want to!
I read the FestivalKidz website extensively last year to get some tips and it was extremely useful. Now with a few festivals under my belt, I’ve joined the Festival Kidz team myself and I’d like to share some more advice that we have learned ourselves through trial and error. So here are my best tips, starting with…
Read more…
10 Reasons why festivals are best
Despite there now being well over a hundred different family friendly festivals to choose from in the UK, I’m still getting the same common reaction from the majority of people: “Why on earth would you want to take your children there?”
So if you are wondering what is so appealing to parents I’ve compiled this top ten list.
Read more…
Festival Essentials for Babies
Becky from Munchies and Munchkins has kindly let us share her lovely post about her first festival experience with her baby Izzy. Here she shares her list of essentials…
“We have spent the last five days at Blissfields Festival in Winchester.. It was an unexpected success and we had a fantastic time. I say unexpected as even though I knew the festival would be fab (having attended last year) I was slightly worried about how Izzy would react to the crowds,noise,new place and most importantly how she would sleep.
Essential Information and Advice
All the essential info sheets and tips for taking your family to a festival – all handily linked on one page!
If you are new to the world of festivals, or are taking your children for the very first time, it can be a bit daunting but we are here to help. Here at Festival Kidz, we have a wealth of knowledge and advice to share with families who want to experience the wonderful world of family friendly festivals but aren’t sure where to start… Read more…
Do kids need ear defenders at festivals?
YES THEY DO!!
I wish I could say, “Nah, they’ll be fine – it’s all just a marketing ploy to make us poor parents spend more money!” but sadly I don’t believe that’s true.
Noise-induced Hearing Loss is clearly the major concern here. But apart from the permanent damage loud environments can do to hearing, I have also noticed that being around loud music and lots of background noise for prolonged periods makes my children quite irritable! However, when they wear their ear defenders they find watching bands at festivals really enjoyable because it reduces the sound to a comfortable level for them.
Where’s my child? – Diary of a Lost Kids Officer
I run Lost Kids and Child Welfare from our space, Angel Gardens, at a number of festivals and thought it would be of great use for you lovely festivaling parents to tell you what goes on behind the scenes and my tips for you and your children should you find yourself separated. This is a long and comprehensive post because all of the information in it is important and I urge you to read it, but if you haven’t got time right now then skip to the end where we have listed our TOP TIPS.
Keeping Children Safe at Festivals
Being lost can be absolutely terrifying for young children (and parents) so getting reunited as swiftly as possible is really important. And although you know they will be OK in the end, the experience can still be pretty traumatic even if it’s only a few moments.
Rest assured that at any decent family-friendly festival, staff and stewards should be fully trained to deal with a missing child situation – in fact often it’s all over so quickly the children are unaware they had even been lost. The parent will be a gibbering wreck though!
Please read our fantastic guest blog Diary of a Lost Kids Officer from festival welfare expert and Angel Gardens founder, Angel Sam. With tips, and a full explanation of what goes on behind the scenes when children are separated from their parents at festivals, it’s well worth a read.
Have I got everything? Speed packing for camping trips
How to pack for a family camping trip in 5 minutes!
My husband and daughter set off yesterday for a camping trip with friends for the weekend. Due to feeling under the weather, my baby son and I are staying at home. To help out, I offered to pack the car with the camping gear while the children were napping so that they could get away as soon as my husband got home from work.
Due to excellent organisation of our camping gear this took less than 5 minutes. 1 adult sleeping bag, 1 single mattress, one child’s sleeping bag, 1 ready bed, our middle sized tent (we have 4) and THE BOX.