Go to Glastonbury? Don’t forget to pack these

The tickets are sold, and in June approximately 200,000 wellie-wearing festival goers will descend on Worthy Farm in Somerset for four days of the best music, great parties, good food, and sleeping on the ground without showering. Welcome to Glastonbury, but have you packed the right festival gear?

Packing for Glastonbury for the first time can be confusing. Glastonbury Festival in 2017 was my first Glastonbury, and I had very little experience with festivals beforehand. There was a group of about 10 of us, including two of my housemates at the time that had a bit of a wager going on how well I’d cope. I’m not exactly known for “roughing it”. I had to put a lot of thought into what to take beyond my outfits. If you are one of the lucky ones to have a ticket this year, you may already be thinking about what to take with you.

Here’s my list of Glastonbury Festival packing essentials to have the best possible experience.

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The Ultimate Glastonbury Packing List

Packing the Glastonbury basics

• A sturdy, comfortable backpack (this is the one I use)
• Sleeping bag
• Air mattress – you may think all you need is a sleeping bag but I lasted one night before I picked one up at the festival (£5). It’s coming with me again next time!
• Wellies – Invest in comfy ones and I’d recommend putting some gel inserts in them. The festival involves a lot of walking and standing and even my Hunter wellies were hurting my feet by Sunday night. I am quite lucky with size 3 feet as I can buy kid’s ones!
• Hiking boots – After 2016 brought feet of mud to the festival, 2017 was the opposite – hot and almost completely dry. It’s best to have a pair of sturdy shoes that you can wear in the heat too.
• Tent – go for something lightweight and easy to assemble, but something you can use again (don’t be that person that leaves their tent there please).
• Collapsible jerry can for getting water (tip – fill it at night so you don’t have to queue up in the morning with a hangover!
• Tape – broken tents, wellies etc just happen!

Go green by packing eco-friendly essentials

Glastonbury Festival has a great reputation for trying to be as sustainable as possible, but it can only really achieve that if its festival-goers do their part. And, for the first time, its organisers have banned the use of single use plastic, meaning having reusable bottle/cups is more important than ever. Here’s a few things you can take to Glastonbury Festival to be a more eco-friendly attendee:

• A reusable water bottle (like these cute ones!)
• A reusable cup
• Bamboo toothbrush
• Compostable bin bags
• Eco-friendly glitter – you might not think about how your glitter is also plastic waste, but luckily biodegradable options are available

Recommended essentials to pack for Glastonbury

• Toiletries including toothpaste, deodorant, body sprays
• Hand sanitizer (a lot of it!)
• Sunscreen
• Snacks
• A pair of flip flops – great for walking around the campsite and it was so hot and try when we went that I wore them around the festival a bit too.
• Hip flask – for carrying around a bit of extra drink

Beauty and girly must-haves to pack for festivals

• A cleansing face cloth  – a must when washing your face is difficult. But just accept most of that glitter is staying on there no matter how much you scrub.
• Dry shampoo – you are likely going to spend about 4 days not showering, dry shampoo is a must! One of the girls in our group and myself did break and get our hair washed on Saturday. After, t felt great but it is so overpriced!
• A she wee – Right, easily the worst part of Glastonbury is the loos and by Sunday you are not going to want to go anywhere near them. I also managed to find some female urinals at one point, so so much better! There were flowers and scented sprays in them.

Other things to consider packing for Glastonbury Festival

A flag

If you’ve watch Glastonbury on television, you may have thought like me that the flags were just a way of people wanting to express themselves and spot themselves on television. Turns out its the only way to locate your friends if you need to go for a wee before the headline act. Also really useful for finding your tent at the end of the night!

A camp chair

At first, I though packing a camp chair seemed like unnecessary extra weight and I regretted bringing it about halfway to the campsite. But it came in handy, whether it was at quieter stages/acts or when we were grouping back at the tent. On Sunday I was so exhausted I took a nap in mine by the Pyrimid stage between acts.

First aid

• Berocca or multivitamins – You won’t be sleeping much, you might be drinking, and you’ll probably need to keep your immune system in tact somehow
• Medicines – definitely take some stuff to help with any stomach issues and paracetamol
• Include a small first aid kit with bandaids as well!

A trolley

A fold-up trolley– great for a big group – chuck as much stuff a possible inside to make the walk to the campsite more pleasant.

And what not to pack for Glastonbury

• Anything too heavy – it’s a long trek to the campsites
• Playsuits (again, bathroom situation isn’t great!)
• Large coolers. my friends brought one when we went and I feel like we hardly used it/any beers inside still went warm on day one. It was just an annoyance as all 5’0 of me was then needed to carry the tent.
• Lots of food. Definitely take snacks and if you are on a super budget, bring some, but the food stalls are just so nice I don’t even think we ate most of the stuff we took. I still dream about some of the lovely food I ate there!
• Anything glass isn’t allowed into the festival for safety reasons. Decant any extra tipple you want to take into a reusable bottle or hip flask.
• Items you plan to leave behind! Don’t leave your rubbish, tents, or anything like that behind/on the ground.
• Single use plastic (as mentioned above).

From all the stuff I’ve listed to ‘survive’ the festival, you’d almost think that it wasn’t for me. But, even though I was exhausted and probably smelly, the moment after I was home I wanted to go back! It really is a completely other world and an unforgettable experience. Hopefully being prepared with everything you need will help you enjoy it as much as I did!

Need more packing tips for your next trip? Check out my tips for long flights here.