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Family Friendly Festivals are amazing and wonderful for children and adults alike but here are 10 Top Tips for Surviving a Festival with Kids and making it even better!
We love a Family Friendly Festival here at Mini Travellers and have some great reviews on the site linked to this post, Dates of the Top Family Friendly Festivals
Choose Carefully
There are some amazing festivals out there that are very family friendly, but read reviews carefully. Work out what will be best for you and your family? Do you want bands late into the night, or do you want a child focused event which is pretty much done by 10pm?
Could you be more ECO Friendly?
Here are 12 Ways to have a sustainable eco-friendly festival!
Go with Friends
Festivals are more fun I think in bigger groups, particularly if it rains! You can band together, share toilet trips with kids, share the trips to the bar and generally enjoy the fun together making memories.
Pack the right clothes!
With British Summer as it is you are going to need Wellies, raincoats, sun hats and suncream as a starter for 10. If you’re camping think about it getting colder at night, if you’re not think about where you will put everything during the day as it turns from sunshine to rain or vice versa.
Don’t overpack
Whilst advising above that you need to take all the right clothes, I am separately advising that you need to try hard not to overpack. If you’re camping think about how you will get your kit from your car to your tent. Your car is very unlikely to be next to your tent unlike when you camp normally. A recent festival trip saw a friend of mine taking a LOT of trips from car to tent and back again!
Pack Piriton & Calpol
English Summers and fields can bring with them midges and bites. Piriton is my go to item to pack, just in case. Together with Calpol which can also cure a multitude of sins.
Food & Drink
Think about food and drink. Do you want to buy food at the festival? If you do consider the cost and make sure you’re happy with this? Most festivals won’t prevent you taking in picnics or even alcohol – just check the rules for each festival yourself. It makes sense to take water and snacks, particularly with young children who may not always appreciate the selection on offer.
Ear Defenders
Consider taking some ear defenders with you. Even the older kids might find the music loud at some festivals and will welcome the ‘break’ from the noise. My very nearly 7 year old found the music a little too loud at a small music stage at Nozstock 2017, whilst the younger twins got on the stage itself so you can never be sure which children might need them.
Pushchair/Trolley/Sling?
Consider what you want to take with you? Read reviews from other festival goers who have attended before, see what they recommend. Is the ground too bump for a pram, would a sling be better?
Check out our bumper post about Baby Carriers!
Would a pram help them sleep at night? Would a trolley work better all round.
Check out this ‘festival’ trolley that was decorated by one of our team for the recent Deer Shed festival.
A plan if they get lost?
Festivals can be busy chaotic places. You need a plan in case they get separated from you. Most festivals will suggest you write the kids number on their festival wrist band, We have from time to time done this on their shoes too. If they are too little for the bands, as they can come off, think about decorating an old plain t-shirt with your phone number on the front.
Have Fun and Relax
Music will go on until later. Campfires will burn. Sweets will be used to get an extra hour out of the kids, and marshmellows will be roasted over the bbq. The kids might even get their first taste of a fizzy drink. But most importantly you will have fun and so will they, if you relax and settle into the festival spirit!
Now just to decide which one to book!
Dates of the Top Family Friendly Festivals
1 - Join our Reviews and Recommendations Facebook Group here which includes lots of ideas for things to do - you can post your own recommendations too.
2 - Buy our debut novel for boys and girls ages 7-11 The Little Museum (an exciting adventure set in France)
3 - Click here to leave Mini Travellers a Google Review.
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Totally agree that you should go with friends – the best family festival experiences we’ve had have been when our friends from school have joined us!
Fab advice as always Karen. I can’t imagine having to take more than one trip back to the car for luggage so always try and keep packing to a minimum. I do make my poor kids carry quite a bit though! Luckily the two festivals we enjoyed last year had a car park right next to the camping field – this is definitely not always the case though!
I always pack snacks (and sometimes sneak them in if food is not allowed) as festival food can cost a fortune and my three seem to be constantly hungry! We tend to eat breakfast in the tent, homemade sandwiches for lunch and buy our evening meal and one snack per day from the food stands.
I would also add – take your own water. My three don’t like drinking from a tap in a field and say it tastes of poo! Their words not mine! haha!
Fabulous tips too Sam, thanks
We’ve just ordered a trolley for our first family festival. It seems like the most versatile option especially as we plan to pack a picnic for some meals during the event
Great tips! I was kicking myself for not sorting a trolly for our last festival. It would have saved us time and money!
These are great tips, Karen. We’ve only been to one festival with our kids, and I don’t think we’d have enjoyed it anywhere near as much if we hadn’t gone with about four other families. The distraction of other children helped our kids forget the rain!