Festival Survival Guide

Weather Proof Products

Packing for a festival means packing for any and all weather, because in Ireland, you will invariably experience any and all weather, usually all in one day. Sunscreen is an absolute must to ensure that your trip is defined by a great time, not a lobster-red burn and dodgy tan lines for the rest of the summer. Due to festivals’ uncanny ability to become a vortex for your most valuable items, spending a tenner on a disposable pair of sunglasses is also a good idea, so that you aren’t left squinting at your favourite bands – but don’t lose your expensive frames in a mosh pit. Also prepare for sudden showers and the cold: wellies are the wise footwear choice, protecting you from rain and mud should the weather turn sour, and muck even if it remains sunny. Don’t forget to keep a spare pair of socks and a hoodie in your tent, in case you get rained on and need some dry, warm clothes. Rain ponchos can be wrapped up in tiny packages that easily fit in a pocket or bag, and will keep you dry if it lashes down, and a fashionable hat will shield you from both the sun and rain, and hide any dishevelled hair-dos on your second or third festival day!

Pocket-sized products

Let’s address the frivolities first: while you’ll hopefully be having far too much fun to worry about what you look like, it’s always nice to feel like your make-up is on-point without lugging around a big make-up bag, or worrying that you’ll lose your favourite products while dancing to your favourite tunes. This is where samples and travel-size products come in: many beauty counters offer sample sizes of your favourite make-up free to try, or they might come as a free gift with another purchase. Tiny, free and high-quality? Perfect for doing your festival face! Keep an eye out around Christmas in particular: gift sets and beauty advent calendars are goldmines for pocket-sized products – not just make-up, but other festival life-savers that will protect your hair and skin in all kinds of conditions. Stock up on sunscreen, dry shampoo, hand sanitiser and moisturiser and thank us later. And as for specific must-have products…

Cetriz

Allergies can be a pain at the best of times, but having them ruin a festival you’ve been waiting all year for is just unacceptable. Enter Cetriz! Centriz Hayfever tablets are a non-drowsy, over the counter antihistamine used to treat symptoms caused by hay fever and other allergies such as; runny nose, watery eyes, sneezing, itchy throat or nose. Cetrizine is also effective in treating hives and itchiness, leaving you free to focus on having fun, not battling sneezing and discomfort.

Cymex

Cymex can be used for cold-sores and dry-cracked lips, so it’s a lifesaver at a festival where it’s easy to become dehydrated. Its triple action formula relieves and promotes the healing of painful and unsightly cold-sores and cracked lips, which no-one needs ruining their festival experience. Small, light and a lifesaver, Cymex is a a must for your festival survival kit!

Wipes

Any and all kinds! Baby wipes are an absolute must for festival life. From wiping off mud, spilled beer and that stubborn neon face-paint that seemed like such a good idea on day one, to cleaning off your shoes before you get into your tent, baby wipes help you feel clean, fresh and vaguely human no matter how hard you party! And if you’re at a festival for a few days without easy access to a shower, baby wipes are a lifesaver: combined with a splash of water and a drop of shower gel from a travel size bottle, a baby wipe shower can go a long way! (And ensuring all of your tent-mates do the same will make staying in close quarters much more pleasant for everyone involved.) Deodorant wipes are also available and very handy for keeping fresh during those dance-filled days that extend into party-filled nights.

Power Banks

There’s nothing worse than getting separated from your friends only for one or all of your phones dying, or bumping into your favourite musician in the line for food at 3am and not having enough battery to take photographic evidence that you saw your erstwhile-hero eating their burritos from the middle-out, like a monster. Power banks are key to ensuring your phones and electronics survive and you’re not left stranded. For a pro tip, invest in a more expensive, powerful charger that can charge several gadgets at once, a few times over. As these chargers can be heavy, designate this as your tent charger and leave it there during the day, but use it to charge your gadgets and small, lightweight, travel-friendly power banks that hold a single charge. Doubling-down means that everyone in your tent will be kept in battery power, and can have a mini power bank on-hand for emergencies.

Port-a-Loo Survival Kit

It’s the humbling experience we all must endure at festivals, so let’s try make it as bearable as possible. Of course, a stash of toilet roll or packet of tissues is a basic survival item, but level-up by bringing your own bottle of hand-sanitiser and a mini key-ring torch so that any late-night trips to the loos doesn’t leave you stumbling in the dark. And because being stricken ill with a dodgy stomach is unpleasant enough without having to cope with a Port-a-Loo, pack some Imodium and Motilium to combat any digestive issues that may arise. For anyone who uses tampons or pads, don’t forget to pack a few, even if you don’t think you’ll need them. Unscheduled periods happen to the best of us – if not to you, then to some other emergency-stricken festival goer, who will be very grateful when you have spares on hand.

Sudocrem

Trusted by generations of Irish, this product is a staple in pretty much every household in the country! Sudocrem has now launched a special handy 15mg pot, which is the ideal size for a festival survival kit. Sudocrem can be used to soothe, protect and restore your skin on the go. It will also help you out with all manner of complaints during festivals: it’s great for dealing with itchy insect bites; it provides relief from sunburn; it acts as an antiseptic on any nicks or cuts, and it’s also great for soothing blisters, incurred from your brand new boots, or chafing from those oh-so-fashionable shorts you just had to wear! In short (or in shorts!) Sudocrem is a small miracle. Make sure to have it handy!

GLITTERBUGS

Nothing signals the start of festival season quite like glitter. But before you prepare to bathe yourself in a sea of the sparkly stuff, you should consider that most glitter, however pretty, is in fact a harmful microplastic, which can cause serious damage to the environment. That’s where The Glitter Bugs’ 100% plastic-free, biodegradable glitter comes in.

The only biodegradable glitter brand that promises zero waste and plastic-free packaging, The Glitter Bugs are the perfect new addition to your festival packing list. They’re just as reflective and pigmented as conventional plastic glitter, but are actually based on plants with a eucalyptus coating, meaning that their glitter will be much more comfortable on your skin.

Unlike many other brands, whose glitter is often manufactured and packaged in factories where workers are subject to chemical dyes, inhalation of glitter particles, poor air quality and other horrendous working conditions, the Glitter Bugs’ product is produced in a lab in Ireland – which means EU protection, fair wages and very safe conditions. So, if you’re looking to add plenty of guilt-free sparkle to your weekend, consider The Glitter Bugs, for an ethnically sourced, biodegradable glitter that uses plastic-free packing – but will still have you looking fabulous. For more on Glitterbugs, check out their Instagram: theglitter_bugs