When it comes to music festivals, you can never be too prepared. You can ensure a better experience for yourself if you remember to bring along these essentials:
- Water
Boat loads of water. Water is one of the most useful things to have at a festival, especially if it is hot. Dancing out in the blistering sun all day can wear you down faster than you realize so plan ahead. Bring so much water that you'll ask yourself “is this too much water?” The answer is "never." Water should become your new best friend. Not only will it hydrate you, it will come in handy when you need boil to cook with or rinse off the layer of dirt you acquired from your festival adventures. - Dry Shampoo
By day two of a music festival, you should have worked up quite a sweat, leaving you all kinds of dirty. No access to a shower? No worries. Dry shampoo will at least give you the illusion of cleanliness. All you have to do is spray it on your hair, and it magically soaks up the oils that are making you look dirty. Some wet wipes wouldn’t hurt either. Nobody wants to ruin a show with pungent body odor. You will be glad you smell nice when you are squished shoulder-to-shoulder in the crowd. - Snacks
Snacks are the perfect pick-me-up to give you that extra boost of energy. Bring protein bars, trail mix, and whatever else you feel like eating! I like to bring freeze-dried fruit and nuts, but any snacks will do. This will help you save money. The food vendors at music festivals tempt everyone with their delicious choices, but you basically have to promise them your first-born child to afford any of it. A $10 slice of pizza is some kind of cruel joke, so avoid the insane food prices with a stash of your own goodies. - Friends
Having people there to share memories with will make the entire experience more enjoyable. With more friends in your party, you will have more people to help out around the campsite. If you are a lone wolf type of person, that’s cool too, but chances are you are going to make at least a few friends while at a music festival. People are so friendly it would probably be a challenge not to make any friends. Strike up a conversation; festivals are a great opportunity to network with some interesting people. - An Open Mind
If you go to a music festival with a closed mind, chances are you are not going to have a good time. To get the true music festival experience, you must surrender to the weirdness that inevitably happens when enough people are in such close proximity. People tend to let go of their inhibitions at music festivals, and accepting this will help you let go of yours as well, or at the very least provide you with some great people-watching material. After just one day at Wakarusa, a five-day festival in the mountains of Arkansas, I saw a girl pulling a fake lizard on a leash, a group of gypsy women on stilts, several topless ladies, and a naked guy swinging from a tree like a monkey.
If you keep these basic essentials in mind, you will be well on your way to having the time of your life!
