7 Festival Camping Hacks to Make Your Life Easier

Stress less with these camping hacks.

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Summer music festival season has officially begun! While you're bound to have the time of your life at a music festival, there's a lot to consider when planning, especially if it's your first time. Before you go, you'll need to think about what to pack, how you'll stay cool in the sweltering summer heat, what the shower situation will be, how to keep your stuff safe and more.

If you're heading to Bonnaroo, another festival or really any camping trip this summer, let these simple hacks make your trip a little more stress-free.

1. Balloon to Spot Your Tent

Photo by: Jennie Andrews

Jennie Andrews

At music festivals where most attendees opt for on-site camping for lodging, it's easy to forget where your campsite is when the tents seem to go on forever, just like when you can't seem to place your car after a long day of shopping at the mall. A simple solution is to clip on a colorful, inflated balloon to the top of your tent. You'll find your way home in no time.

2. Keep It Cool

Photo by: Jennie Andrews

Jennie Andrews

Staying cool and hydrated in the summer is hard enough, especially in the South, but add thousands of bodies to the mix, and you'll be burning up. Besides drinking plenty of water, especially if you're drinking alcohol that can cause dehydration, keep a few items in your cooler to provide instant relief throughout the festival. Keep deodorant, baby wipes, a cooling neck towel and a spray bottle of eucalyptus oil and water in your cooler. Taking a break to sprtiz your face and wipe down with cool wipes will feel amazing after standing in the sun for hours.

3. Inflatable for an Open Cooler

Photo by: Jennie Andrews

Jennie Andrews

At times during the festival when everyone will be reaching for drinks, use an inexpensive pool inflatable to serve as an open cooler, so you can keep your primary cooler closed, preventing the ice from melting. Plus, who doesn't love adorable floats like this magical unicorn?

4. Pool Float as Inexpensive Air Mattress

Photo by: Jennie Andrews

Jennie Andrews

Speaking of pool floats, while you're shopping for an open cooler in the pool section of your big box store, pick up an inexpensive float to serve as an air mattress, too. You never know what will get spilled or stepped on at a crowded music festival, so leave the nice queen-sized air mattress at home and use a mattress that you won't care about if it needs to go in the trash when it's time to leave.

5. Hanging Organizer for Accessible Storage

Photo by: Jennie Andrews

Jennie Andrews

When camping with large groups of people, it's easy to mix up belongings and lose important items like chargers, money or medicine. Keep smaller items accessible and easy to find by putting a hanging organizer inside your tent. A shoe organizer from a dollar store works like a charm.

6. Shampoo + Soap Necklaces for Portable Shower

Photo by: Jennie Andrews

Jennie Andrews

You probably want to take the fastest shower possible while camping at a music festival. Avoid dropping shampoo bottles or carrying a toiletry bag with this soap-on-a-rope trick. Make a shower necklace by tying travel-size containers of shampoo and soap to ropes or attaching to a lanyard. So easy!

7. Headlamp + Water Jug = DIY Lantern

Photo by: Jennie Andrews

Jennie Andrews

The fewer items you can pack when traveling to a music festival, the better. Leave multiple flashlights and lanterns at home, and make a DIY lantern instead by wrapping a head lamp around a water jug. You can use the water jug to hydrate by day and light up the campsite by night.

Music Festival Camping Hacks
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