Parenting at festivals

[Crazyfool01]

3 minutes ago, BlueDaze said:

 

in 2039 you'll need them 😉

Takes note about taking notes 📝 

[amfy]

On 7/26/2021 at 1:26 PM, Barry Fish said:

Myself and wife where adamant when we had kids that we would take them to Glastonbury.  After having them and the reality of parenthood etc kicked in, I have to say I could think of a 100 things better to do as a family to be honest - and I haven't really changed my view point on that.

The conclusion we came too is it would just be constant week of limitations and trade offs when we could go do something which the whole family could do better as a family with our valuable and limited time off from work.

Its probably not the advice you are look for but I think it's worthy of being said.  

Good luck whatever you decide.  Obviously depends on your family dynamics etc.

Beautiful Days is a fantastic family festival. It’s not as big as Glastonbury so getting around isn’t such an issue with small children in tow. Even at the main stage there is always room and it’s easy enough to get in and out even at headline times.with some kind of buggy/trolley contraption....

...but more than that it is a great festival for adults which is absolutely made for kids. It is a joy to see kids running round loving having old fashioned childhood summers - listening to story time in the woods, climbing trees, learning magic, enjoying fancy dress...

.....& it’s quiet at night, & there are showers in the campsites which aren’t miles away, which have queues, but not ones that are miles long.

 

.....sometime between about maybe 4/5 to 8/9 years old is a lovely times for kids to experience Beautiful Days.....& a year or two later they’ll be ready for Glastonbury.

I know lots of people take Kids to Glastonbury a lots sooner, but the OP & others will find far less compromise necessary at Beautiful Days, even with a baby.

[watsonjm]

We're just starting to look at this for next year as well.  Current thinking from the boss is Camp Bestival, daughter will be 2.

We'll be in tents so I was looking for sleeping advise.  Travel cot seems excess so was thinking a few think roll matts?

 

[blutarsky]

2 hours ago, watsonjm said:

We're just starting to look at this for next year as well.  Current thinking from the boss is Camp Bestival, daughter will be 2.

We'll be in tents so I was looking for sleeping advise.  Travel cot seems excess so was thinking a few think roll matts?

 

We were at Beautiful Days this weekend with Baby Blutarsky, aged 10 months, for her first festival. 

I’d take her again, but the conclusion we reached is that we wouldn’t take her to Glastonbury until she’s quite a bit older. This is mainly because of the amount we’d have to miss out on if we had her there. At BD it wasn’t such an issue as there wasn’t very much on we were massively fussed about seeing. 
Luckily for us she’s a very curious and sociable baby so she was entertained at all times, regardless of what we were doing. She enjoyed the baby sensory area but was equally happy using her buggy as a climbing frame for an hour! 
We also had the luxury of a spacious camper van which meant she had her proper cot and room to crawl and play. Given the muddy conditions I wouldn’t have fancied a tent. 
We also concluded that for future festivals with her in tow, we’d want to be mob-handed to share the caring load and free us up for at least one night of proper partying - so we’d want to go with parent friends of similar aged children or grandparents (my parents go to Glasto). 
 

As far as advice for you goes, I’d say the travel cot probably isn’t excessive, in my view. In a tent everything is going to be in reach for your list one so a cot is a safe sleeping space for them, plus a play space that’s dry and secure. It’ll also be comfortable and relatively familiar which should help with sleep. Baby Blutarsky isn’t a great sleeper so I know from bitter experience that the better you get your baby to sleep at night the easier they are to care for the following day. 
 

We’re also looking at Camp Bestival next year, but with Mrs B being at the end of a year maternity leave £206 per person is looking a bit steep atm. 

 

[watsonjm]

14 hours ago, blutarsky said:

We were at Beautiful Days this weekend with Baby Blutarsky, aged 10 months, for her first festival. 

I’d take her again, but the conclusion we reached is that we wouldn’t take her to Glastonbury until she’s quite a bit older. This is mainly because of the amount we’d have to miss out on if we had her there. At BD it wasn’t such an issue as there wasn’t very much on we were massively fussed about seeing. 
Luckily for us she’s a very curious and sociable baby so she was entertained at all times, regardless of what we were doing. She enjoyed the baby sensory area but was equally happy using her buggy as a climbing frame for an hour! 
We also had the luxury of a spacious camper van which meant she had her proper cot and room to crawl and play. Given the muddy conditions I wouldn’t have fancied a tent. 
We also concluded that for future festivals with her in tow, we’d want to be mob-handed to share the caring load and free us up for at least one night of proper partying - so we’d want to go with parent friends of similar aged children or grandparents (my parents go to Glasto). 
 

As far as advice for you goes, I’d say the travel cot probably isn’t excessive, in my view. In a tent everything is going to be in reach for your list one so a cot is a safe sleeping space for them, plus a play space that’s dry and secure. It’ll also be comfortable and relatively familiar which should help with sleep. Baby Blutarsky isn’t a great sleeper so I know from bitter experience that the better you get your baby to sleep at night the easier they are to care for the following day. 
 

We’re also looking at Camp Bestival next year, but with Mrs B being at the end of a year maternity leave £206 per person is looking a bit steep atm. 

 

 

Glad you had a good weekend and the little one enjoyed it! 

Thanks for posting the above really helpful.  I wish we'd made more effort to get to something this summer now!  I think someone posted it earlier but just in case I've found this site really useful https://www.festivalkidz.com/

From that we're now thinking either something a bit smaller and less music focused or Victorious which gets good write ups for little ones and is a bit cheaper than CB which we didn't release was £200+ 

[Simsy]

1 hour ago, watsonjm said:

 

Glad you had a good weekend and the little one enjoyed it! 

Thanks for posting the above really helpful.  I wish we'd made more effort to get to something this summer now!  I think someone posted it earlier but just in case I've found this site really useful https://www.festivalkidz.com/

From that we're now thinking either something a bit smaller and less music focused or Victorious which gets good write ups for little ones and is a bit cheaper than CB which we didn't release was £200+ 

Don't know if you've done Victorious before, but the campsite is off-site so you can't just pop back to your tent. I assume that's more of a faff if you've got little ones. You might be better off getting a b&b or something in Southsea, but that'll obviously bump the price up.

[Gnomicide]

I might be taking my youngest next year, if we can get him a ticket. He'll be the perfect age to start, having taken his A Levels a month earlier. The rule was always "you can come when you're old enough to carry and drink your own beer". 

[watsonjm]

2 hours ago, Simsy said:

Don't know if you've done Victorious before, but the campsite is off-site so you can't just pop back to your tent. I assume that's more of a faff if you've got little ones. You might be better off getting a b&b or something in Southsea, but that'll obviously bump the price up.

No didn't realise this. thanks for the heads up.  How far are we talking about?

[Simsy]

11 minutes ago, watsonjm said:

No didn't realise this. thanks for the heads up.  How far are we talking about?

Website says the shuttle bus takes 30-40 mins (it's about a 20 min drive in non-festival traffic).

I've not camped at Victorious (I live in Southsea) and I don't have kids so I can't give much advice on this, but it's something to be aware of before making a decision.

[watsonjm]

1 hour ago, Simsy said:

Website says the shuttle bus takes 30-40 mins (it's about a 20 min drive in non-festival traffic).

I've not camped at Victorious (I live in Southsea) and I don't have kids so I can't give much advice on this, but it's something to be aware of before making a decision.

Hmmm that does change things.  Thank you 

[Ted Dansons Wig]

Both ours been going with us since they were 7 and 10 respectively. Still going now with us now theyre 23 and 26.

Slightly more independent nowadays

[Ayrshire Chris]

Regret not taking our kids to Glastonbury though things are a lot more kid friendly now than they we’re a few decades ago.  It’s great seeing the decorated lit carts occupied by grinning 4 year olds munching crisps being dragged around the farm by happy but exhausted parents!  Thing is, these incredible memories will live with them forever.