Festival Camping Checklist: What to Pack for a Festival in Ireland

There is a knack to festival camping, and most of it comes down to what you put in your bag before you leave the house. Get the packing right and a weekend in a field is one of the best things you can do all summer. Get it wrong and you spend three days cold, damp and borrowing other people's chargers. This festival camping checklist runs through everything you need to pack for a festival, from the tent and sleeping kit to the small essentials that quietly save the weekend, all with an Irish summer in mind, which is to say plan for sun and rain in equal measure.

The trick is to pack for comfort and for weather, not for the festival you are hoping for. Plenty of it can be cheap and cheerful, but a few things are worth getting right, because they are the difference between a brilliant weekend and a long, soggy one. Here is what to pack for a festival, grouped so you can tick it off as you go.

Start with the tent

The tent is the one thing you cannot improvise once you are on site, so sort it first. For a festival you are not after an expedition tent, you want something affordable, quick to pitch after a long journey, and roomy enough to be comfortable for a few nights. A small dome or adventure tent does exactly that, and the rule worth following is to size up by a person, so a couple is far happier in a three-person tent with room to store bags and get changed out of the rain. The Vango Tay 300 is a textbook festival tent, cheap, quick up and easy to live with, and the wider adventure tents range covers two to four people. If you want to weigh up the options properly, our guide on how to choose a tent goes into more detail.

A proper night's sleep

Festivals are tiring, and the difference between a good day and a write-off is usually the night before. A two-season sleeping bag is plenty for an Irish summer, where the daytime heat disappears fast once the sun goes down and tent nights get colder than people expect. Underneath it, a sleeping mat matters more than the bag itself, because it stops the cold, hard ground drawing the heat straight out of you, and it makes the difference between sleeping and just lying there. Add a small pillow and you will be a far happier camper than the crowd who brought a bag and nothing else. Our guide on how to choose a sleeping bag covers the ratings if you want to get it right.

Somewhere to sit

It sounds minor until day two, when your legs have had enough and there is nowhere to sit but damp grass. A folding camping chair is the quiet hero of any festival, somewhere to eat, rest and watch the world go by back at the tent. If you are walking any distance from the car park, a packable chair like the ones from Helinox folds down small and weighs almost nothing, which is worth a lot when you are carrying everything in one trip.

Light for when the sun goes down

A festival campsite is pitch dark at night, and finding your tent, or anything inside it, without a light is a miserable game. A head torch is the single most useful thing you can pack after the tent itself, because it keeps your hands free for carrying, pitching and everything else. Brands like LEDLENSER do bright, reliable ones, and a small lantern hung inside the tent makes getting ready far easier. Throw in spare batteries, because a dead torch on the first night is a long weekend.

Food, drink and staying hydrated

Staying fed, watered and caffeinated keeps a festival fun. A refillable water bottle is the first thing to pack, since most festivals have water points and the queues for everything else are long. A cool box keeps food and drinks fresh through the weekend, and if the event allows it, a compact camping stove and a kettle turn a grim early morning into a decent coffee. Check the festival rules first, as many allow small gas stoves in the campsite but not in the arena. A spork and an unbreakable mug finish the kit, and both pack down to nothing.

Dressing for Irish weather

An Irish festival will usually give you sunburn and a downpour in the same afternoon, so pack for both. A waterproof jacket is non-negotiable, and a pair of wellies or sturdy boots will save your weekend the moment a field of thousands turns to mud. Bring warm layers for the evening, when the temperature drops more than you would think, and at the other extreme pack sun cream, sunglasses and a hat for the bright spells. A few bin bags weigh nothing and double as emergency ponchos, ground sheets and a dry place to stuff wet clothes.

The festival essentials that save the weekend

Then there is the small stuff, the bits you never think about until you need them. A power bank and a charging cable are near the top of the list, because your phone is your ticket, your wallet, your camera and your way of finding your friends, and the battery will not last three days on its own. Pack insect repellent for the midges, plenty of wet wipes and hand sanitiser, a basic first aid kit with plasters and painkillers, ear plugs for sleeping, and a small dry bag to keep your phone and documents safe from the rain. None of it is glamorous, and all of it gets used. Our festival essentials range pulls the most-forgotten bits together in one place.

Packing it all in

Last, think about how you will carry the lot. A large holdall or a sturdy rucksack beats a fragile suitcase across a muddy field, and if you have a long walk from the car park, a folding trolley earns its keep with one trip instead of three. Keep anything valuable to a minimum, take a photo of where your tent is pitched before you wander off, and tie something bright to it so you can find it again in a sea of identical domes at two in the morning. Pack the things you will want first, your chair, your torch and your waterproof, near the top.

Ready when you are

With the right kit in the bag, festival camping is one of the best weekends of the summer, and the prep is half the fun. Pack for rain and shine, sort the tent and sleep first, and do not forget the small things that quietly hold it all together. If you would rather see any of it in person before you go, pop into your nearest 53 Degrees North store and the team will help you put a kit together. Order online for free Click & Collect, or free home delivery over €100 across Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, usually 1 to 2 working days with DPD. Browse the festival essentials and the rest of the camping range when you are ready, and have a brilliant weekend.