The festival packing list that actually works for a group

Most packing lists fail for the same reason: they're written for one person. A festival crew doesn't need twenty tent mallets and no shade — it needs one of some things, twenty of others, and a clear answer to which is which.

So this list is split in two: shared kit (one per camp, assigned to a specific human) and personal kit (everyone brings their own). The shared column is where trips go wrong.

Shared kit — assign every line to a person#

The rule: if a line doesn't have a name next to it, it doesn't exist. "Someone's bringing a cooler" is how a camp ends up with three coolers and no ice, or none at all.

Shelter and shade

• Shade structure or tarp — the single highest-impact item at any daytime festival
• Guy ropes, pegs, and a mallet (a real one; rocks lose)
• Ratchet straps or paracord
• Something to weigh the structure down in wind

Kitchen

• Cooler, plus a second one for ice only
• Ice — more than you think, and a plan for restocking
• Water: a large container plus refills
• Stove or burner, gas, and a lighter that isn't the only lighter
• Knife, board, tongs, a pot, a pan
• Bin bags. Then more bin bags.

Camp life

• Camp chairs (count them against the number of humans)
• A table, even a small one
• Lighting: string lights or a lantern, plus a spare
• Power bank per two people, ideally a big one
• A flag, inflatable, or absurd object on a pole — this is not a joke, see below

Admin

• Printed or offline copies of every ticket
• Basic first aid: plasters, painkillers, antihistamine, blister care, tweezers
• Sunscreen (shared bottles run out; bring two)
• Cash — some vendors won't take cards, and some card readers won't find signal

Personal kit#

Wearing

• Something warm for 3am. Deserts and fields both get cold; every year someone learns this personally.
• Rain layer, even in a dry forecast
• Two pairs of shoes, one of which you don't mind destroying
• More socks than days
• Hat, sunglasses

Sleeping

• Tent (or a slot in someone else's — decide this before you leave)
• Sleeping bag rated below the actual night temperature
• Sleeping mat or airbed. The ground takes more than you'd think.
• Earplugs and an eye mask. Non-negotiable if you plan to sleep at all.

Body

• Wet wipes, dry shampoo, toothbrush
• Reusable water bottle
• Any medication, in its box, with more than you need
• Hand sanitiser

Small things that save the weekend

• Phone cable that's actually yours
• Head torch — hands-free beats a phone light every time
• A small bag you can carry into the arena
• A pen. Someone always needs a pen.

The eight things every group forgets#

Not "commonly forgotten" in the generic sense. These are the ones that show up in the group chat at midnight, every year, at every festival.

1. A mallet. Everybody assumes someone brought one. Nobody brought one.
2. Enough ice for day two. The day-one plan is always sound. Day two is warm beer.
3. Bin bags. A camp without bin bags becomes unpleasant by Saturday afternoon and stays that way.
4. A shade structure. Tents are for sleeping. Without shade, the camp is uninhabitable from 11am to 5pm.
5. The camp marker. A flag, a giant inflatable, anything visible from 200 metres. At 3am, in the dark, every tent looks identical — and the pin on your map only gets you within about thirty metres.
6. Warm clothes. Packed for the forecast high, not the actual low.
7. A spare lighter. The lighter is a communal resource that leaves the camp and never comes back.
8. Cash. Small notes, in a pocket, for the vendor whose reader can't find a signal.

Do this before you lose signal#

Two things need to be on your phone before you arrive, because at a festival the network is the first thing to go:

Save the camp as a place the moment the tent is up. Not later. Later is 3am and you're describing a tree to someone. Drop the pin, name it, done.

Download every ticket and booking. Entry tickets, parking passes, the campsite confirmation. If they live in an email, they live behind a network connection you won't have at the gate. Anything stored on the device opens instantly; anything stored in the cloud does not.

If you're using an app that keeps documents offline, upload them while you're still on home wifi, and check they've actually downloaded before you leave.

The pre-departure ritual#

Fifteen minutes, the night before:

1. Read the shared list out loud, with names. Anything unassigned gets assigned now.
2. Everyone confirms tickets are on their phone, not just in an inbox.
3. Agree the arrival plan: who's driving with whom, and what the meeting point is if you arrive separately.
4. Agree the camp marker, so people arriving on day two can find you.
5. Take a photo of the car park row you left the car in. You will not remember.

That's it. It's not a complicated system, and it isn't glamorous. But the difference between a camp that runs itself and a camp that spends Saturday morning solving problems is almost entirely decided in that fifteen minutes.