Music festivals

Take loads of toilet paper with you.

I've done 8 Glastonburys, 4 Big Chills, 3 Vs and a whole bunch of Readings, as well as some smaller stuff. Are those the sort of festivals you mean?

My absolute toppest tip is get a decent tent. Something you can stand up in - it might be fun to stay in a 2-man dome tent when you're 18, but it's just wrongity-wrong in your 30s. Make sure said tent is waterproof before you go, and practice pitching it. It's a PITA to drag a massive tent miles from the car park to your camp site, but it's soooooooooooooo worth it when you get there. Get a fishing trolley or sack trolley to load it onto so you don't have to carry it

Take an air mattress. Not just for comfort, but for warmth too. it may be warm during the day, but it's *** freezing at night, even in August.

Sod cooking on camping stoves unless you're super-skint. festival food is fabby (unless you're at Reading/Leeds in which case it's utterly rank and you're better off with a Cup-a-soup.

Take cereal bars for a quick energy hit in the morning do you have the strength to go out and forage for breakfast

Take your own booze; festival booze is fearsomely priced. But do try the Brothers pear cider if it's on sale at your chosen festival. It's fab. We usually make cocktails at home, then freeze them in 2-litre bottles. Very civilized to have a nice cocktail outside your test after you've made camp.

Take clothing for every possible weather condition. And more socks than you think you need. And yes, you do need wellies. Always. Waterproofs aren't glam, but you'll be glad of them when the English Summer unleashes its worst.

Take sunscreen.

Camp with as many friends as you can. It's more fun, more sociable and safer.

Don't take valuables. Most festivals offer lock-ups for cameras, car keys etc. Use them.

The toilets aren't that bad. take packets of tissues in stead of loo roll, and packets of wet wipes so you can give the seat a wipe before using it. If your festival has open-air long-drop loos, use them every time, they're a million times better than portaloos.

Get off the beaten track and see stuff other than what's on at the main stages (esp at Glastonbury),

Don't try to see too many acts. You just get knackered and ratty. Pick a few "must sees" and work around them.

Don't camp down-wind or down-hill of the toilets!

Hope that helps!

AllyDrew, you're a genius - that's exactly the kind of thing I was after.

Can I credit you? Seriously - not sure if PMing is working but if you can let me know your real name I'd love to.

I've been to a few; Four Glastonburys, two Big Chills and three Vs.

Waterproof walking boots are a good alternative to wellies, and you don't get that 'stuck in the mud - foot come out of welly' nonsense ?

Wet wipes/baby wipes are a must, loo roll is too bulky and is minging and useless when it gets wet.

Soft drinks that are easy to pack (ie. capri sun - nice and squishable and excellent when dehydrated first thing in the morning). Freeze them first and they can act as cool blocks to keep your booze cool for a day or two.

Basic first aid kit - especially plasters and that gel handwash stuff that dries in seconds.

Perhaps I'm missing out but I never go up the front watching a band (too old for all that moshing). Sitting back and people watching is half the fun. We generally pick a specific-ish spot at each stage and folk know they can meet up with the rest of the group - mobiles can be a bit iffy, so don't rely on them. Reception generally isn't the problem it's actually hearing folk.

Having said that, if you get lost and need to text your position, go stand next to someone with a big flag (not PEACE - there'll be tonnes of them). This is a great way to get your bearings aswell, especially if you need to go to the loo.

Don't leave it until the last minute to go to the loo...nuff said!

Not really into comedy hats etc but one year it was so hot we had to all buy hats to cover up, was pretty useful later on when I got separated from my group by a few metres in a crush going from one stage to the next.

Watch out for your pals - falling asleep in the sun = bad idea, as is too much booze/drugs.

Go and see folk you've never heard of aswell as your must see's.

Camp uphill, never on the flat, if it does rain your campsite will dry out as the rain will all run away.

I can't go this year as couldn't get the time off work...and I'm saving for my wedding...gutted!

Have an ERV in case everybody gets lost.

It's very, very handy if you have a non-drinker/substance user on the team.

Wet wipes, Immodium & Vicks Vapo Rub

If noting position of tent etc. Do so in relation to something that CAN'T move.

If it gets & stays rainy. select a "Wet" outfit and wear it when on site. Change when you get back to tent/B&B/whatever and change back into it again when you go back to the mud and rain. Wet clothes aren't nice but it save rief in the long run.

Do NOT be afraid to tactfully tell arseholes to feck off.

Military ration packs are manna from the gods.

As said before - they look rank but these long drops are WAY preferable to portaloos - especially in the heat! (Also rain cleanes them).

General camping advice really, but Tesco do a value 4 pack of kitchen roll for pence - essential for keeping tent dry in an English summer. Take your shoes off outside the tent, always. That way you've always got a dry-ish, clean-ish floor for sitting on, getting dressed etc.

Take those foam rolls for putting under air mattress, especially this side of summer. The ground is really, really cold even through May and June and you will be freezing by 2am and unable to warm up again.

Festival with children tip - make them t-shirts with your mobile number on, in case they get lost.

Oh and be nice - tidy up before going home!

Is that a JW Tundra in the foreground?

Hmmmm....

You can scavenge pretty good leftovers as well (all this mess does give good pickings!) I've picked up some pretty good camping gear that folk have just left behind. Depends if you can be arsed lugging it all the way back to the car.

Yup, I should probably have suggested a £20 from Argos "festival tent". To be disposed of at the end of the gig.

Also why I asked the Q about what looks to be a good mid-range excusion tent.... Not really festival fodder.

Thanks everyone, some great tips there!

Ah, I think the JW Hingmy tent might be a friend of mine's. We go camping by Loch Lomond a fair bit so they just use the tents they've already got. Mine's a wee pokey thing but I still wouldn't leave it, but then I'm a hoarder ?

I discovered last year that ziploc bags can be used to make vodka fillets. I smuggled a ton of voddie into the arena that way. Classy.

My other festival camping musts - Gaffer tape (fixes everything), Kandoo foaming wash mitts (if you can still get them I brought up a few packs a couple of years ago when I started to find it hard to source them), hygiene hand gel, and rubber gloves for getting muddy wellies off when you are slaughtered (I always keep them in the same place so I know where to fumble for them).

HTH

Wise you are young padawan. Harry Black like the Force is. A Light side it has, Also a Dark side. And hold the universe together it does. Yes.

Oooh yeah! We used to use Johnsons Softwash cloths, then they stopped making them. You can have a sort of in-tent shower if you have a standy-uppy tent by peeling back a bit of your groundsheet so you're standing on the grass, and chucking a litre or so of water over yourself (pre-warm the water by leaving it in the sun for a bit) then a once-over with a softwash cloth, then another litre of water over self and voila, lovely and clean again. Then you peg your groundsheet back into place so you don't have to walk on the soggy bit.

Oh, and absolutely don't wash your hair at the running water points in the campsites. There's noyhing more annoying than having to queue for ages to fill your water bottle/rinse your hands because a horde of shrieking girls are hogging the taps and sinks to wash their hair. If you must wash your hair do it at your tent with water you fetched earlier, or just sack it off and wear a hat!

My camping hygiene obsession stops with the hair. I just get so unutterably drunk for the weekend that I forget about the hair by the Sunday, if not before.

ONE that is a very strange response, but I do love Gaffer. I have used it for some many different purposes over the years. I wonder if there is a Facebook 'I love Gaffer tape' group ?

Oooh, thanks.

Don't think PMs are working. Email is deleted as Sophie has seen it!

Hitched wasn't letting me post for some reason, but thanks so much everyone - much appreciated.