We are well in the midst of festival season, and maybe you’ve already had your fill of partying until sunrise, dancing while lights flash, and eating from food trucks. If, however, you’re still gearing up for the festival of the year, this one’s for you.
It can be tricky to plan for a festival. If you’re getting together a group of friends, everyone has to pitch in to make the whole thing go off without a hitch. Whether you’re the group organizer or just the fun-loving friend along for the ride, it’s good to know what you can do to help the group before the big event.
People can be quite tricky to pin down, especially when it comes down to a big event that requires plunking down a large amount of money. But you don’t want to wait for everyone to be on board before buying tickets, for fear they might sell out. There are a few ways you could do it. Everyone could buy their own ticket in their own time, ensuring that no one can blame another person if they don’t get to go. Or one person can buy a block of tickets, then acting as the group leader. That means everyone has to either be responsible to pay the group leader back in a timely manner or find another person to take their spot. You can also make it easy on yourself and use WeTravel to create your group trip to a festival, ensuring that everyone who wants to go puts in the right amount of money.
Once you know who’s in your group, you can make a list of things to buy. Make sure you get enough supplies for everyone who’s coming. If the festival you’re going to will have food there, maybe you’ll want to bring less than at a festival where food is a BYO affair. Also considering food, you’ll want to have a way to cook it, store it, and make sure it doesn’t go bad. Also you should get enough trash bags to keep garbage together for easier removal at the end of the festival. Consider where you’ll be sleeping. Do you need to buy or rent a tent? Will you be renting a recreational vehicle specifically for the festival? What will you be sleeping on? Sleeping bags? Air mattresses? Make sure you have everything you might need.
After you make your list of supplies, divide the list by how many people there are in the group. Everyone can be responsible for buying or bringing some things from the list. That way no one feels too put out. When you make your list, keep in mind things that people in the group may have already.
No one wants to feel like they’ve contributed more than someone else in the group. Keep accurate records of what was spent by whom. You can either have everyone chip in an equal amount in the beginning and then add as necessary, or one person can buy everything and get reimbursed afterwards. If you organize your trip using WeTravel, our platform will take care of all of that for you.
Festivals can be inherently wasteful. What is supposed to be a celebration ends with loads of garbage strewn about the festival site. That leaves workers to clean up your mess. To say nothing of the single use items you may be consuming during the festival. There are ways to make your festival experience as eco-friendly as possible, though. Instead of buying lots of smaller water bottles, buy a few large jugs and reusable water bottles to keep refilling. Try to buy the recycled version of disposable eating supplies. And speaking of recycling, make sure you separate out your recyclables from your garbage so you can make sure to send them to the right facility after the festival is over.
Will you be coming from near or far? Will you be meeting in one spot to travel to the festival together or all meeting there? You might want to have a set meeting spot to ensure that everyone comes together at the right time and eliminate confusion. Everyone likes to experience a festival in different ways. Some people like to sleep all day and party all night. Some people like to get everything they can out of the daylight hours. Some people don’t like to miss even one moment! Just because you’re traveling to the festival and staying together as a group doesn’t mean you all need to do the exact same thing at the same time. Or maybe that’s exactly what you’d like to do! Just make sure that everyone in the group has a say in how their festival experience goes. It doesn’t hurt to have a conversation before the festival about everyone’s expectations. That way you can respect one another’s independence to have their own agenda.
There are a lot of moving parts to figure out when you get a group together to attend a festival. To make your job easier, you should consider using WeTravel’s planning platform to plan for a festival group trip. WeTravel will take care of everything from counting how many people are coming to ensuring everyone pays their fair share. It takes away a lot of the stress of planning a group trip to a festival, so that you can just show up and enjoy the experience with your friends!