Festival Camping tips & advice

Festival Camping Tips & Advice

Having spent many years and lots of different festival’s worth of experience we thought it would be helpful to pass on some of the knowledge we have learnt ( often the hard way) to ensure you don’t make the same mistakes. We have listed down our top 10 tips for festival camping and hope it helps those of you who are festival virgins through those muddy fields , missing hours and sleep deprivation to enjoy your experience just a little more.

1. Choose a bigger tent then you need

This is probably the biggest mistake people make, a 2-man tent is for 2 people lying side by side in sleeping bags it does not account for the mountains of stuff you will be bringing along with you! Always go 1 bigger as a minimum after all you can never have enough room and it means you can give a space to the random you’ll meet along the way.

2. Choose your spot carefully

Arrive early for the best choice of pitches. Try and choose a spot that is within site of landmarks you’ll remember and will be visible when you wake up to a field full of tents as far as the eye can see. Whatever you do stay clear of the toilets and anything down hill of the toilets unless you like the smell! Also steer clear of the security towers and lights unless you like the constant noise of a generator and bright light shinning through your tent all night.

3. Claim you spot

Do whatever you can to mark out your territory if you don’t want to wake up to the side of someone’s tent in the morning. Remember this is festival camping so the usual rules don’t apply people will pitch anywhere and everywhere in desperation.

4. Form a circle

If you go as a group then the “circle” is a good approach it worked for the cowboys so it will work for you. Make sure all your openings face inwards that way if it does chuck it down you can sit in your tents with the flaps open chatting to each other. I would also suggest using windbreaks or tape in between the gaps to try and deter people strolling through your “camp”.

5. Identify your tent

It might seem stupid after all you know what your tent looks like right? Wrong! After a day of cider they will all look the same so try adding a flag or a spinner on a pole or anything you can do to make your tent stand out. Writing “free sex, see inside” will do the trick but you might not like the people who come knocking, then again maybe you will (let me know how that works for you).

6. Make friends with you neighbours

Getting to know the people who have pitched their tents near yours it will add to your festival experience and also to the amount of eyes that will watch over your camp when your not there.

7. Don’t lock you tent

Don’t be tempted to put a lock on your tent whilst it might seem like a good idea it simply highlights to any would be thieves that you have something worth stealing inside. Lets face it a knife will cut through the side of any tent so your also wasting your time. To be safe don’t take anything with you that you are not prepared to lose.

8. Hide your valuables when asleep

Don’t make it easy for thieves by stuffing your wallet/money or valuables in your boots by the front of the tent put them inside you sleeping bag or by your head so they are the furthest away from the entrance.

9. Plan for disaster

Drunk people tend to fall over and tents don’t offer a lot of support so when the 2 meet poles tend to get broken so take some Gaffa tape with you to try and patch up any broken poles.

10. Enjoy yourself

Lets remember your there to enjoy yourself so do just that, drink lots, meet new friends and party your arse off!

Festival Essentials Kit

Festival Essentials Kit

Despite the obvious of your tent, money and tickets, I would say these are the top 12 ( we couldn’t agree on just 10 ) tips for gear you should consider taking. We have found this out the hard way over many years of festival going so you don’t have to , We hope it helps those festival virgins of you experiencing the joys of muddy fields and missing hours for the first time.

Ear Plugs

Might sound silly but trust me when your trying to get to sleep with people snoring, talking and playing music you’ll be glad you’ve got them.

Travel John Pee Bags

These fantastic bags will mean you don’t have to leave your tent in the middle of the night in the dark, cold & wet weather for some stinking toilets.

Head Torch

You might look like a miner but trust me you’ll be glad you’ve got your hands free when your scrabbling around trying to find things.

Poncho

The good old British summer time always likes to throw in a shower or 2 so be prepared.

Bin bags

You will need somewhere to put your dirty clothes and they are great for keeping your clean clothes dry should your tent leak.

Body Wipes/ Wet Wipes

You don’t have the luxury of a shower so you’ll need something to freshen you up and these are the best solution.

Hand Gel

If you do use the Toilets then the free Hand Gel in them will run out in hours so don’t forget to take your own.

Folding Chair

Trust me you will want one to sit in first thing in the morning and last thing at night as you all sit around chatting about the day.

Good Quality Sleeping Bag

It might be summer time but it will get cold at night so spend an extra few quid and invest it in a decent sleeping bag

Mobile Phone Charger

The only way of getting hold of your mates is you phone so ensure you have something to recharge your phone while your there.

Wellies

Even if it looks sunny take some there is nothing worse than soaking wet feet after a day of standing about with mud upto your ankles.

Suncream

You won’t stand out for 12 hours in Spain without any cream on so don’t do it in the UK , You will already be dehydrated from all the booze you’ve consumed so don’t add sun stroke/ sun burn to it , trust me it will ruin you weekend.

Festival Security & Scams

Festival Security & Scams

Our tips are designed to give festival goers tips & advice on festival security & Scams , festival camping & essential festival kit.This site is owned by one of the UK’s leading independent online festival equipment suppliers M2C Innovation Ltd.

We thought we would just share a common  scam/theft that has been happening at just about every festival around the country for many years so you don’t become a victim this year.

On the first night of your festival when you are still very excited and have probably consumed to much alcohol and maybe some other treats you have taken along you will no doubt hit your tent without a care in the world full of the festival spirit. You will get undressed and stuff you wallet / purse / phone into your boots by your tent door or maybe leave them in the jeans / clothes you have thrown off in your worse for ware state.

While you sleep blissfully unaware someone will unzip your tent feel around for your boots / jeans and remove you of all your money and phone , remember because this is your first night you will have ALL your cash on you. Should you wake to find someone unzipping your tent they will shine a torch in your eyes ( so you cant see their face ) and claim to be looking for Bob/Fred/Harry or who ever and say “sorry wrong tent”. You won’t think anything of this until you wake up in the morning and find your stuff gone.

These are organised gangs who have perfected this over many years so please do not fall victim to them , This only generally happens on the first night as this is the night you have all your money on you.

All you have to do to stop this is either A – keep everything on you or B – stuff your valuables into the bottom of your sleeping bag / under your head , Please Please do not make the mistake of leaving them in your boots or in the porch of your tent.

Please pass on this tip to as many festival goers as possible so we can stop these %&(*@ from ruining any ones else’s festival experience and always keep an eye out for your neighbours and hope they will do the same for you !

 

What’s new in the Festival world

We find people are always trying to invent new thing to improve our festival experiences and the best part is that normally these inventions come from actual festival goers who’ve experience a need for something that doesn’t exist.  As a festival supplier we are contacted all the time by these mad people and love seeing what they have come up with.

Our policy is only ever to sell items on our sites that we have tried and tested ourselves , if it’s good enough for us then, and only then do we offer them to you . We thought we would list a few of our favorites below , we will be adding these items  to the range for this season and we would love to hear from you if you are a mad inventor or have a product you think the festival world just can’t do without.

Feetz www.feetz.co.uk

After going to many festivals, music events and sporting events we had enough of being caught out without wellies. They are brilliant and worth carrying if the weather report is right and the planned downpour is as predicted, but how often does that happen? We found that the events we went to with good weather forecasts were the ones that left us wishing we had lugged our boots along.

So, Feetz Pocket Wellies were born as an alternative, to waterproof your feet at a moment’s notice!

We tested the Pocket Wellies at some of the festivals late this year and more recently at a tough mudder event. They are as happy in water as they are in mud and we are excited having launched in the UK in November 2013.

boots-pocket-wellies-range

POD Tents  – www.podtents.com

The world’s first modular camping experience, exclusively designed and engineered in the UK, breaks cover this week with the launch of POD interconnecting tents. As British as a Sunday Roast, the POD adds a fun new twist to the iconic summer staple, with two sizes to choose from, a refreshingly simple build process and pocket friendly pricing.
Totally innovative and created to transform the traditional camping experience, POD is a range of beautifully original tents that are built to be connected together. A social camping experience, users can POD their space with interconnecting tents to build a bespoke accommodation layout on the fly.
By reimagining the concept of form and function, POD has solved a number of common issues with the traditional tent. Perfect for those who want to express their individuality, the POD is the antithesis of standard tents with the two sizes, POD Maxi and POD Mini able to be connected in a multitude of ways. There are no complicated set up instructions to wrestle with making pitching quick and easy and inhabitants do not need to crouch and stoop. Designed to be enjoyed, the POD Maxi and POD Mini unite seamlessly to give endless community opportunities.
Jason Thorpe director of designers M2C Innovation said, “We believe the POD is the first truly versatile social camping tent experience. It is the tent reinterpreted for a new generation. As much social experience as a way of enjoying the great outdoors, the fun of POD is that each unit can be joined together with any other, in any way, to build whatever the user wants. We wanted to put the fun back into camping and with this groundbreaking range, we think we have achieved this. We have worked hard to refine the design and construction of POD, incorporating features such as twin windows, higher wall vents and increased ventilation from user trials to create a 2014 collection that is second to none. Whether you’re off to a festival in a field or foreign shores, POD is an essential companion for friends and families who want to holiday together and have the option of privacy.”
In addition to its external adaptability, the POD Maxi is also internally flexible with an interior that can be created, adjusted and personally designed on demand. An eight man tent, it can sleep eight people spaciously in an open plan sleeping area or, be configured to sleep four with personal sleeping cells and communal living space.

POD_Maxix2_+POD_Minix2_web_size