Glastonbury Festival Survival Guide: What Do I Pack!?

Sunday 22 June 2014

Last year I went to Glastonbury for the first time! The week before, I was frantically Googling 'what to pack for Glastonbury' and 'where to camp at Glastonbury'. I did stumble across a few good blogs but I didn't find any that were written by fashion bloggers. I didn't want sensible clothing advice, I needed to know what somebody cares about outfits should wear. 

Glastonbury packing list

Although this guide is aimed at Glasto goers, I'm sure it's good for any type of camping festival. So here goes, here are 5 points I think any stylish girl should know before heading to Worthy Farm.

1. Where should I camp? 
I think this is the most important piece of knowledge I can pass on! Camping is important. Do your research, don't just wing this one on the day. Firstly, you need to get there early to get a good spot. We arrived at 7am on Wednesday and the car parks were packed. We then had to queue (with thousands of others) until 8am when the gates opened. It took us 2 hours to walk to our campsite because there were so many people! GlastoEarth is an incredible website with tons of info. I recommend reading their in-depth camping guide. We opted for a quiet-ish spot a little out of the way and away from the toliets haha.

By Thursday morning there was little camping space!

2. What camping gear do I need?

Us girly girls don't tend to know a great deal about camping. Don't buy a cheap tent and hope for the best. If it rains, you will get wet. Do your research and get one with a decent hydrostatic head. I recommend taking a self-inflating mat (at least 5cm thick) if you want a decent night's sleep! Don't bother with an air bed, my friend's got a hole in and it was game over. They do however sell air mattress at Glastonbury, they just aren't that affordable!

My recommended camping list:

  • Tent - huge tents are acceptable if you arrive on day 1 and camp somewhere a little quieter. A 3 man tent was roomy enough for 2 of us, try to get one with an inside porch!
  • Gas stove - if you want cups of tea/pasta snacks etc.
  • Cheap cutlery set - I nabbed some in the pound shop.
  • Camping chair - a must.
  • Picnic blanket - for sitting when out and about. Poundland had some great ones
  • Lots of baby wipes. Buy a portable solar shower if you're a clean freak.
  • Toilet rolls - You'll need them.
  • Torch/head torch - for navigating your way back at night.
  • Lantern - for the tent.
  • Backpack - to carry everything in!
  • Self-inflating roll mat.
  • Sleeping bag.
  • Pillow - I took my own pillow and it felt amazing. You could always use a blow up one/your clothes.
  • Microfibre towel.
  • Ear plugs and an eye-mask - If you need quiet and darkness like me, you'll need these.
  • Water carrier - Poundland sold these last year but this year I bought one from the Range.
  • Black bin bags - for rubbish and muddy wellies.
  • Suncream.
  • Money wallet that goes around your waist (easily hidden)- so you can keep your cash/cards safe.

2. Should I take my car or should I get the coach?
This is obviously up to you but I would never get the coach unless I was rich/didn't drink alcohol. We used our cars to store booze/food so it was easy to make lots of little trips to the car. Camping equipment is heavy so carrying all your alcohol and clothes etc can be tricky. Unless you buy a fancy wagon of course (make sure it's fancy and not cheap, so many get abandoned on route).

3. How bad are the toliets?
Bad, real bad. I've done a fair bit of travelling, I've used squat toilets in Southeast Asia, stinky toilets in South America and even some shocking ones in Australia but nothing could prepare me for the Glasto toilets. It was all good on Wednesday, the porta loos were clean and there were no issues! By Thursday things started to get slightly worse and then when everyone arrived on Friday, things got bad, fast. I recommend buying a Shewee or a Whizz Freedom so you don't have to touch the toilets if you don't need to! Always carry baby wipes and toilet paper. You never know what you might find...

The flushable porta loos are the best but there aren't many on site. Make a note of them as you browse the grounds. Second best are the open air toilets. They're long drop so they don't smell so much. Porta loos are to be avoided from Friday onwards... unless they were just cleaned! WAH.

4. What do I wear!?
It was my first festival and I wasn't sure what the weather would be like, so I tried to take cheaper items in case they got wrecked. I felt like a scruff. Turns out most girls just wear normal clothes that they plucked from their wardrobe. Actually, most girls looked like they'd made a huge effort to look super stylish! Wear your cute little dresses and favourite jackets. Bring your favourite jewels (I'd still only take costume jewellery). A hat is a MUST. Next year I'm taking 2 so I can mix it up a bit.

My recommended clothing packing list:

  • Long wellies.
  • Short wellies (or ankle boots/something to wear if it's not muddy, the ground is very hard).
  • Flip flops (if it's sunny you'll feet will want to breathe, especially when you're by your tent).
  • Hat.
  • Sunglasses.
  • Waterproof jacket (I failed here, my cute khaki jacket wasn't waterproof so I had to wear a cheap plastic thing over the top).
  • Decent day backpack (I took a cheap Primark back that 10,000 other girls had. Take a relatively heavy duty backpack that you can fit your drink in).
  • Cardigan.
  • Jumper (I took too many knits, one jumper is enough).
  • Cheap digital camera (I took an old one, I don't recommend taking a DSLR).
  • An old phone (for when your smart phone runs out of battery).
  • Lots of socks - including long ones for avoiding wellie burn!
  • Day dresses.
  • Denim shorts and vests.
  • Jeans - gutted I didn't take any last year, it gets so chilly at night.
  • Leggings - for when it's a little breezy.
  • Big undies - in case there's a gust of wind!
5. What about my hair and make up?
Hair
Ugh. So non-fashion bloggers would probably just tell you not to bother. They'd say that everyone looks the same and perhaps you could hide your hair under a hat or a head scarf. Whatever! Braids are a good idea and I took dry shampoo and waterless foaming shampoo. Dry shampoo helped somewhat but by Saturday I wanted clean hair. I thought the Tresemme foaming shampoo would be just like washing my hair...I was wrong! It did remove the grease but it didn't really wet my hair that much. It helped but it didn't transform it.

If you want awesome hair, I recommend using an on-site hairdresser like Vanity Van. I didn't bother because I couldn't afford it, but if I could I would visit them at least twice throughout the festival. They recommend booking in advance and nearer the time you can do this via their website.

Make up
Keep it natural. Most girls had little make up on, just a bit of BB cream, some blush and lip gloss! The few girls who had shovelled the foundation on looked out of place and because it was so hot, their faces seemed to be melting off. Not attractive. I'd say falsies are a big no-no for the same reason.

I recommend gel nails if you can't be without polish! I used my Red Carpet Manicure home kit and survived the festival with minimal chips.

Gel nails for music festivals
Red carpet manicure gel nails.

So there you have it. I hope this was off use to someone! Glastonbury is a incredible experience and I can't wait to do it all over again on Wednesday. 

Are you heading to Glastonbury this year? Have you been to any festivals before?

T - EXCITED. 

10 comments:

  1. This is such a good guide!! Wish I was going to Glastonbury:( x

    Blushhx.blogspot.co.uk

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't think I could deal with Glasto...the toilets are enough to put me off and I'm one of those people who has to wash their hair daily! But this guide is brilliant, my friend is going this year so I'm going to send her this link! x

    Josie’s Journal

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  3. OH MY GOD it has been my dream for years to attend the Glastonbury festival! I really wanna go this year :( Isn't Arctic Monkeys playing? Ugh! </3

    http://itsthekyliebabii.blogspot.com

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  4. I don't think I could ever attend a camping festival, I like my bed way too much!
    This guide is really good though, I honestly didn't know that there are different types of toilets at glasto.
    Rubi
    The Den

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  5. Those were some really awesome tips, I bet I will take in account a lot of them, since I am attending a festival this summer! I would love attend Glastonbury festival so much, it sounds like a lot of fun!

    www.callmemaddie.com

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  6. great tips, like you said bin bags are so so handy! Used them for virtually everything last year at creamfields. Sitting on, staying out of the rain, putting dirty wellies in.

    Lola xx

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  7. Gosh, I think I'd do terribly at any festival! I hate not being able to wash my hair - it would drive me crazy! You are super adventurous and I totally admire you for it! xxx

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  8. Perfect list T! I'm pretty high maintenance in terms of beauty routine .etc so people are always surprised I like camping... Though I won't lie, when I go with Ollie we have a 2 room tent so I can use one for makeup/clothes/hair! Haha! Braids & tied up hair styles are definitely best after a few days, dry shampoo can only help so much. Though I find if you like your hair wavy & your hair will hold a bit of a wave, plaiting it at night & then shaking out with a bit of dry shampoo in the morning can make it look a lot better! :)

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  9. Brilliant post Tara! I am taking the coach this year so I can only pack what I can actually carry, sob! I'm a headscarf and braids girl all the way, but I might have to check out the Vanity Van while I'm there x

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