We love camping and we love, love, love festivals, so with the festy season upon us I thought I’d share my top tips to enjoying festivals with littlies!
Safety first:
Talk to your children, especially older ones about keeping safe. Staying in sight and not wandering off through large crowds is especially easy to do when you’re having fun or have seen something amazing!
Arrange a meeting point incase you become separated.
We always write our phone number on the littlies arms in marker pen but there’s some fab kids tattoos you can buy too.
Fires and camping stoves: It goes without saying really – littlies and hot things are not a great combination so be very careful when lighting fires or using a stove. Also be aware of boiled water in kettles or hot pans.
Safety in the sun: Sunhats are for the cool – my two know it and have never complained about wearing a hat in the sun. Our rule is: no hat? No fun in the sun. It’s as simple as that.
Use a high factor suncream on your littlies and don’t forget to follow the sun safe rules above for yourself! Sunstroke isn’t fun at all.
Fab First aid kits are essential: Take a practical first aid kit with you containing plasters, dressings, disinfectant, insect repellent, and any medicines like child nurofen and infant paracetemol for any unexpected illness while you’re away. Also take piriton – great for allergies!
Clothes
The UK is a rollercoaster of weather – rainy and cold one minute and scorch up the next so pack for all weathers.
Having said that you don’t want to overload your tent so think layers. Shorts, t shirts and jumpers or hoodies are ideal. Ignore the festival fashion features in magazines – comfy outweighs fashion following anyday!
Invest in some awesome wellies, a decent waterproof, some fun head gear and the above mentioned and you’re pretty much sorted.
Avoid hot pants and boob tubes (?!) Glitzy sandals, leather jackets or designer jeans and jumpsuits (portaloos need I say more?) are no-no’s – just opt for comfort!
Top tip: Invest in welly socks to avoid welly slap. It hurts and don’t be chicken to join the festival vibe – tutus, glow bands, face painting fun and funky outfit colours! Enjoy!
Note: Wet wipes are essential for those face painting fun days.
You don’t need a palace…
It’s nice having a good size tent for your family but you don’t need to spend a fortune on a palace.
Tesco and Asda offer pretty reasonably priced tents that’ll sleep 4-6 people and you can often find some second hand fabulous tents on eBay. (If you’re buying second hand – check everything is ok with the tent first! A friend of mine once bought a tent without reading one of the pokes had snapped hence the fabulous price!)
If you think camping will become a regular thing then it’s worth investing in a better quality tent – Our 4 man tent is spacious, and dry – it’s not eye candy but it does the job over and over again.
Invest in a trolley!
Trolleys are awesome and start at around £45. Not only do they help you lug all of that heavy camping stuff across fields – they double up as a festival wagon for tired little legs.
Pop blankets, ribbons and fairy lights on and you’ve got yourself a beautiful festy-mobile! The one below is £50 from eBay – you can even funk it up with paints to make it extra awesome!
Prepare for boredom!
There may be super-rainy times when you’ll need to have have some tent time. Rain rarely stops play for us but there’s those downpours when you need to take cover!
Putting up a tent is fun for older kids but little ones will get restless and bored so think in advance and set up something fun for them to do while you set up camp. Puzzles, books, crayons and paper or if you want to really cheat – bring an iPad or phone with a fave TV show or movie loaded. My two will quite happily sit watching a movie while we set up camp.
Of course the downside to this is you’ll need to keep it with you all the time at the festival so it’s not lost or stolen, but many festivals have safety deposit tents where you can store valuables at a small cost.
Food packing!
Take snacks and drinks but font go over the top
Camping is awesome fun and festivals ofer a wide range of food and drink, but littlies are often hungry so pack their fave snacks, fruit and drinks. Don’t go overboard because you’ll already have lots to carry. Also pack non perishable foods unless you’re planning to cook over a camp stove (check first if the festival you’re attending allows fires or camp stoves!)
Keep dry/cool
The great British summer can often surprise us at festivals with it’s hot glare so ensure you pack sun creams, sunhats and sunglasses!
For the traditional summer rain invest in a good waterproof and umbrella. For the littlies – an all in one splashy it is ideal and keeps those clothes mud and wet free!
Noisy noisy!
Let’s face it – festivals are not the place to relax, they’re a bundle of awesome fun, and that fun is noisy!
For very little ones it’s worth investing in some ear defenders. Ours are from eBay but you can buy them from pretty much anywhere!
Dark nights
Torches are essential for finding your way back to the tent so invest in some good ones for each of you!
Solar fairy lights are a sound investment for hanging on guy ropes to avoid tripping up in the dark. Solar lights to guide a path are even better and are often available at pound shops!
Camp in a great spot!
Right by the loo may seem like a good idea for your recently toilet train tot but the sunshine sure brings with it the festival loo smell and it’s not pretty, let me tell you!
You’ll also be constantly disturbed by toilet visitors and noise so camp close enough but not too close. Take a travel potty with you if you’re worried your little one won’t make it. They’re also handy to have for those frequent night wees littlies always want!
Camp away from the noise but not so far that each day you’ve a full on trek to get to the fun, food and fabness that festivals offer.
Avoid camping at the bottom of a hill unless you like damp-camping and find a flat spot rather than a slope.
Sticks for your wellies!
this awesome trick I learnt as a girl guide and has served me well on many camping trips and festivals! Two long sticks for your wellies! Pop them into the ground outside your tent door and turn your wellies upside down on them! No muddy tent and no soggy wellies! Fabulous!
Have fun!
Festivals are fabulous fun – we love spending time together and enjoying everything festivals have to offer.
Dressing up, blowing bubbles, toasting marshmallows, dancing to our favourite bands – it’s a truly magical experience!
We’re lucky enough to be heading to Camp Bestival this summer as their official bloggers! There’s still tickets available so if you fancy giving family festivals a go – it’s a great place to start!
For fab camping tips including awesome camping items worth buying head on over to my friends camping with style blog! If you’ve any top tips to enjoying festivals with littlies I’d love to hear them! Pop your comments below.
July 1, 2014
Shell - Camping With Style
Love this article Fi and thanks for linking to my blog, much appreciated!
I’ve never been to Bestival but have friends with small people who have been and loved it and couldn’t recommend it highly enough!
I hope you have an amazing time and I look forward to seeing pics!