Whether you like to hit the outdoors with the bare essentials or pack an extensive bag to make your experience more luxurious, we’ve all been there and left something important behind.

In order to avoid such miserable times, we’ve put together an outdoor festival checklist, compromising of everything and anything that might be useful at any festival around the globe.

CAMPING SUPPLIES

If you’re planning on sleeping over, setting up a proper camping area and have the correct supplies is crucially important, and should be one of the first steps when arriving at a music festival.

Tent

You will want a tent that is lightweight and easy to pitch. It sucks packing up a tent at the end of a music festival. The Coleman Sundome Tent comes in 2 – 6 person and is weatherproof, wind and rain tested and can be setup in less than 10 minutes.

Camping Hammer

A high-quality camping hammer will come in use for pitching your tent, but will also be useful when putting up other accessories around your camping area.

Cable Ties

A pack of high-quality cable ties will be useful around the camping area.

Sleeping Bag

A premium sleeping bag will allow you to sleep at festivals much better, and even at airports during lay-overs if it comes to that. You want something that is lightweight and keeps a good temperature. The Kelty Cosmic 20 is affordable and ultralight for backpacking.

Camping Mattress

This Therm-a-Rest self-inflating mattress takes out the hassle of having to blow up a mattress with your mouth, and the XX-Large version is big enough to fit two full-size adults.

Camping Pillow

Therm-a-Rest also make a fantastic camping pillow that makes it feel like your head is resting on a cloud. It’s ultralight and packs down which makes it perfect for backpacking and festivals. It’s also available in 13 different designs – whatever tickles your fancy!

Trash bags

It’s important to be a responsible festival attendee, so going up with a bunch of trash bags is important. You can purchase them for very cheap. Take up extra to encourage your tent neighbours to partake.

Head Torch

Festival areas and walkways and generally poorly lit, that’s why it’s important to have a head torch to navigate during the night easily. The BioLite HeadLamp 200 Lumen head torch can easily be recharged via microUSB and has 40 hours of light on time.

Camping Lantern

While a head torch is sufficient for one person, a camping lantern will provide additional lumens that can light up an entire camping area. The UST 30-Day Duro LED camping lantern is 700 lumens bright, can be hung downright and is weather resistant (because we’ve all left a light outside before).

Camping Chairs

It might not be the risk spending too much on camping chairs that could get stolen at a festival, but the Kijaro Dual Lock Portable Camping chair is affordable enough and provides decent comfort for the price. It’s also quick drying and has large cup-golders.

Lock for tent

It’s up to you what type of lock you want for your tent. Combination locks are a lot easier to use in comparison to a key, which is likely to disappear during a music festival. Sure Lock have TSA approved locks which come in a pack of 4, that can also be used for your backpack and other luggage.

PERSONAL CARE

While you might suck it up and not put personal care too high on the list at music festivals, it’s important to have the correct clothing and personal hygiene products for the duration.

We have included a bunch of products below, besides your personal preferences which will include a change of clothing, underwear, slip-slops, extra socks, swimming costume, insect repellent, a warm jacket, umbrella, sunglasses, scarf/hat, deoderant, eye drops, medication, lip balm, chewing gum and vitamin pills.

Umbrella

An umbrella will protect you from the suns UV rays and the rain, plus allow you to be identified in large crowds by your friends.

Hand sanitizer

Music festivals aren’t the most hygienic places to start, so a waterless hand sanitizer will help you keep clean before and after eating meals in the food court, going to the public toilets and at the festival bar.

Rehydration Packs

If you’re dancing or consuming alcohol, chances are you’ll benefit from a rehydration pack containing electrolytes during a music festival. Since you’re drinking a lot of fluids, you’ll be flushing out a number of important salts in your body.

Magnesium supplements

If you suffer from stiff muscles or jaw-clench at music festivals, magnesium supplements will help alleviate the symptoms somewhat. Just take them during the festival and you should feel quite a bit better than usual!

Ear plugs

Music festivals are incredibly loud areas, and sleeping can be troublesome. A set of ear plugs will allow you to sleep a bit easier, leaving you refreshed for the next day of festival. Mack’s Ultra Soft Foam Earplugs include 50 pairs in the box and will reduce noise by 33dB.

Biodegradable soap

If you’ve attended a music festival, chances are you’ve skipped the shower queue and found an alternative source to clean in. However, it’s important to not ruin the land, and a biodegradable soap is crucial for not harming the environment.

Wet Wipes

Most definitely one of our favourite festival hacks, wet wipes can be used to clean your face, body, services and devices at any given point. They’ll keep you refreshed without having to go for a shower or wash your face. The ones below are unscented and feel great.

Sunscreen / Sunblock

Protecting yourself from the sun at festivals is important. You’ll be dancing in the sun for hours, and chances are you won’t realize the extend of your sunburn. Hawaiian Tropic AntiOxidant+ Sunscreen Lotion is our favourite at the moment and is rated SPF 50 Broad Spectrum.

Condoms

If you’re sleeping with a partner or just a random hook-up at a festival, having condoms and practicing safe sex should be a priority. You can purchase them for cheap, and it will save you unwanted festival pregnancies, like at Woodstock 1969.

Eye Drops

Music festival venues in the outdoors can sometimes be dusty with a lot of wind. Your eyes can generally take quite a bad beating. Having eye drops on hand to moisturize your red-eyes can be quite a lifesaver!

Quick-dry towel

A microfiber travel towel will allow you to shower and clean at music festivals without having to worry if your towel will dry quick enough. Youphoria’s towel is super absorbent and literally dries in seconds. Plus it comes in a bunch of neat colours too!

FOOD & BOOZE

If you’re planning to pack your own eat and drink for the weekend, there are a number of products that will make your music festival experience just a bit better.

Coolerbox

We love the Igloo Maxcold Quantum 52 Cooler because it fits a ton of food and drink, plus it can keep everything cool for up to 5 days. It includes a set of wheels, which makes easier to transport around festival grounds.

Camping Flask

In general, you aren’t allowed glass in a festival area and you should decanter all your drinks. A camping flask like the Hydro Flask Rocks Cup is made from stainless steel and is vacuum insulated. Better yet, it allows you to make cocktails on-the-go!

Portable Ashtray

If you’re a smoker, making sure you don’t your cigarette butts littered all over the festival grounds is an important consideration. A portable ashtray will allow you to throw away butts without having to find the nearest ashtray – which are usually lacking at festivals.

TECHNOLOGY

AUX Cable

Everyone needs an aux cable to make the ride more fun, right?

Jumper Cables

Once you’ve driven to enough festivals, you’re bound to require jumper cables at some point. Make sure you have them on hand, instead of awkwardly asking someone at a festival on the last day.

Power Bank

A portable power bank will allow you to charge a number of devices at the festival including your cellphone, head lamp, camera and more.