Festival Essentials

It’s festival season! There’s so much good music coming our way. Madeleine Brighouse is off to Parachute as our Thread teen blogger. Madz tells us her thirteen essentials to get through a weekend away at Parachute – or any Festival for that matter…

It’s festival season! There’s so much good music coming our way.

Madeleine Brighouse is off to Parachute as our Thread teen blogger. Madz tells us her thirteen essentials to get through a weekend away at Parachute – or any Festival for that matter…

1/ You will need sun block. I am stealing my Mum’s Neutrogena Fresh Cooling Body Mist Sun block because it is so cooling! (And you spray it on.)

2/ Raincoat – Even though it’s hot one day, it can be raining the next, so make sure you have a waterproof raincoat not a flimsy plastic bag one!

3/ Hat – Take a hat for obvious reasons – you will get hot! But there is always the mist walk that sprays you if you want to cool down!

4/ Camera – To take funny photos of you and your friends, and just in case you see someone famous there (I will be looking out for ELEMENOP and Late Eighties Mercedes). Stan Walker will be there too if you like him. I have a loan of a POLAROID 300.

5/ Make-up – I see no point in wearing too much make-up (any of the time), so I am just taking a simple lip-gloss (poetic from Top Shop) and my favourite nail polish (denim from Top Shop) – perrrrfect!

6/ Dry Shampoo – if you sleep in, just spray it in and comb it out and you are ready for the morning. Fudge Dry Shampoo is the most brilliant invention.

7/ Footwear – My Doc Marten’s are coming because I can’t live without them. They are waterproof, mud proof, and stood-on proof (if I end up in the pit being squashed). Also, a pair of jandals/sandals as the pathways can get REALLY hot.

8/ Earplugs – you need those for going to sleep at night and for general use if you are in the pit. (Please note – the grown up accompanying this 13 year old will be taking earplugs for DURING the day. She is obviously getting too old!)

9/ Clothes – in general make sure you have something to keep you warm in the evening (like a little cardy or a sweatshirt), and keep you cool during the day. I have a Ruby jumper for the nights, and my favourite cut-off camo pants so I don’t have to worry about my butt getting dirty when I am sitting up on the bank for the Mainstage at night.

10/ Face stuff – there is a long queue for the shower in the morning for showers so try to keep your toilet bag as small as possible. I get to take the small and colourful Dermalogica Clean Start travel kit for teen skins. Perfect.

11/ Sunglasses – to look cool and keep the sun out of your eyes! And so no-one knows who you are! Everyone wears sunglasses. I’m taking Ray Ban Wayfarer metro map.

12/ Spare change – there are goods everywhere to buy, and there are lots of food stalls. There was a guy who supplied showers last year for $2 a go. They were really nice. They are always looking for donations for World Vision and I gave some last year for Rwanda. And there is a waterslide, which is two bucks as well.

13/ Good sense of humour – you’ve got to have a good sense of humour cos you could get wet and muddy and you have just got to go with it. You could be sprayed by water guns, and you just have to be happy standing in queues and know you will just get there in the end. Just go for it and enjoy it. I have nothing more to say except go and have fun!

Madeleine Brighouse, 28 January 2011.

Photography Anya Brighouse.