Music Festival Essentials

Music Festival season is here and we can't wait to spend endless nights dancing away in large crowds with loud music. Ah, bliss. While we've been planning out perfect OOTDs a few weeks in advance, it's important not to forget about the essentials that'll keep us alive and comfortable. Here's our must-have list that you can use while packing so that you can spend more time on the important things - like should I wear purple or green lipstick?

Reusable Water Bottle: Most music festivals provide water stations around the site to help keep you hydrated. We’ve found the best method is to grab yourself a reusable water and sip water continually throughout the day. It takes around 70-120 minutes for your body to absorb 300ml of water – anything beyond that gets kicked out of your body rapidly, so there’s no use in chugging water at the water stations. Doing this will kill three birds with one stone: keeping you hydrated and preventing you from having to visit the washroom every 30mins, as well as reducing the amount of waste from the festival.

Sunscreen: There is nowhere to hide from the sun at most musical festivals. It’s usually wide-open meadow with no tree cover, and the main stages are open-air. While most remember to pack sunscreen for your body, don’t forget about your face. The easy fix? Wearing foundation with SPF. The Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish Perfectly Satin 24HR Liquid Makeup SPF 15 ($50) blends effortlessly into skin and can withstand humidity, heat and moisture for up to 24hrs

Trash Bag: If you don’t want to huck a jacket around with you, stuff a trash bag in one of your pockets. Trash bags are great for a multitude of different things. You can tear holes in the sides and wear them as an emergency rain jacket, sit on them if the ground is wet, keep muddy/dirty clothes away from your clean clothes, and use them to clean up the trash at your camp on the way out.

Ziploc Bag: For your phone and wallet, should it rain. If you put your phone in a clear Ziplock bag and suck out all the air, you can get the bag to sit tight enough around the phone that you can still use the touchscreen and take photos. Bingo, who needs a GoPro?

Small Cash Bills: Because carrying around lots of coins is a nightmare, and paying in large bills annoys festival vendors (who only have so much change on-site).

Portable Phone Charger: We’ve seen a lot more charging stations popping up around festival sites but they’re way too far from the action! Save yourself the trip and purchase a small portable charger. BAN.DO has a whole bunch of Back Me Up Mobile Chargers ($35) that are as small as a lighter. https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/electronics/ban-do-back-me-up/825466939370-item.html?ikwsec=Electronics&ikwidx=1

Electrolyte Powder/ Vitamin Mix: Alcohol, dancing, sun, heat. Four things we all enjoy, but four things that can become very harmful (and ruin your festival) if you don’t keep hydrated. These little sachets or tablets will become your best friend. Drop half a Nuun into your water throughout the day, and (or) take a vitamin mix with some water before you hit the hay. You’ll wake up rehydrated and feeling as fresh as a daisy.

Snacks: Because we love food. No need to explain this any further. Granola bars, gummies, crackers, etc.

Baby Wipes: Preferably biodegradable. Festivals always turn in to a bit of a sweat/dust/mud-fest and these will definetly come in handy.

First-aid Kit: If you don’t end up using it, someone else will and they’ll really appreciate you. Just pack the basics like a disinfectant, polyspoirn and bandages. Besides, heel blisters are no joke.

Cross Body Bag: Unfortunately there are some people in the world who think they need your stuff more than you do. Backpacks with external pockets are a pick-pocket’s dream because the external pockets are where people store things they need quick access to, like phones and wallets. When you’re in a crowd of thousands, it’s easier to tell if someone is trying to get into a bag near your hip, than it is a bag on your back.

Ear Plugs: Yeah, it gets loud.

Hand Sanitizer: No one wants to get sick during the festival. Sanitizing your hands before eating, and after the washroom is a preventative method up there with keeping yourself hydrated.

Festival Hair: This is your opportune time to try that crazy colour hair style you’ve always wanted with no pressure. But, just in case you’re going back to your regular 9 to 5 once the weekend is over, maybe try something more temporary. The Joico InstaTint ($11) gives you an instant pop-of colour in multiple colours, as such: : Fiery Coral, Sapphire Blue, Orchid, Pink, and Mermaid Blue.

Sparkles and Glitter: This year we saw a huge trend of wearing “glitter tops” instead of shirts. That may be a little excessive for your tastes, but you can be-dazzle your eyelids, forehead and shoulders with Hard Candy’s Glitteratzi in Call Me Sparkles ($7). These multi-use shimmering glitters come in a non-sticky clear base, glide on and set. Wear alone or mix and match!