Top tips for taking kids to Glastonbury Festival

Music, art, games, fields and "lots of fun". It is no wonder that festivals are an increasingly popular choice for families looking for summer adventures.

With Glastonbury Festival a go-to for adults and children alike, we spoke to three mums about their top tips for keeping all the generations happy.

Transport was a popular choice - not the kind you get to the festival in, but the kind you can trundle your children around in, because festivals are very big spaces for little legs.

And key advice is a healthy dollop of patience for parents and a comfy pair of shoes for, well, everyone.

Kelly and her husband, both 41, from Weston-super-Mare, are planning their eighth and 10th visit to Glastonbury Festival this year. Their children, aged six and 10, are looking forward to their fourth visit.

Kelly said they are "incredibly lucky" to be able to enjoy two days of the festival before the children's grandparents bring them to the site on Saturday morning.

It means the adults have two days before the children arrive, and the children do not miss school.

She said her top tips would be: Be flexible, don't over-plan, relax and most importantly, have fun!

"Your festival experience is completely different when you take your children, so don't try and get them to fit into your schedule... go at their pace, explore with them and experience the festival through their eyes."

Kelly's other tips include:

• Put a wristband with your mobile number on your child's wrist (or pick one up from the kidzfield)
• Create a meeting point in each space
• Take ear defenders for children
• Avoid big acts on small stages as crowds are overwhelming. If you go, stay at the back where there is space to dance
• See as much as possible with your children. Kidzfield, Greenpeace, Glastonbury-on-sea, circus and theatre
• Explore the South-East corner during the day – there's lots of great stuff to see there and you'll avoid the crowds. And hunt down the dragon in the woods by the Stone Circle

Melissa, 42, and her partner Ben, 37, live near Woolavington, in Somerset, and are taking their daughter Lexi for the third time this summer and Ben's son for the second time.

Melissa has been to almost every Glastonbury Festival since she was 16-years-old, adding it must be about her 20th time going. She said life as a mum can get extremely busy, "so it's nice to wear what you want, be covered in glitter, make friends with strangers and party in a field".

Melissa said that like Kelly, they also split Glastonbury week in two - allowing them to set everything up and catch up with friends before going home to pick up "some very excited children" on Saturday, have a shower and head back to the festival.

She said her top tip for taking babies is a good carrier.

"When Lexi was tiny she loved being in the carrier and we could just take her everywhere with us - even dancing," she said.

She said a solid pushchair is also a must and that the festival's Little Kids R&R tent is "amazing" as it has facilities for children and babies with bottle cleaning, sterilising and baby changing.

Melissa's other tips include:

• Let the kids explore - there's so much for all the senses with the Kidzfield, circus, theatre and cabaret and "the pier is like another world"
• Take snacks - lots of snacks!
• Bubbles for the kids to play with
• Take a couple of changes of clothing for the days, and layers and onesies for evening
• A big blanket to put over the pushchair once babies/toddlers are asleep

Vicky, 41, from Windsor, Berkshire, took her two daughters to Glastonbury Festival in 2023, when they were aged two and three, and said most people thought they were crazy, "but we had a lot of fun".

Although unsuccessful getting tickets this year, she said she would love to take them again, and she is an admin of Glasto Families Facebook group.

Vicky and her husband had previously attended the festival about five times and said key to the success of taking their children was hiring a camper van and going on the Tuesday so they were able to settle before a lot of people arrived.

Her key piece of advice is to have a good mode of transport to take young kids around the site - with big wheels, "so if it is muddy, it can still manoeuvre well".

"An all-terrain buggy or wagon, is vital, especially when you have young children," she said.

Vicky's tips include:

• Be flexible - you never know when children may have a meltdown or need the loo
• Take food, snacks and easy breakfast things - we took porridge pots which means they started the day with full bellies
• If you want to see bands, take games, sticker books and colouring books so the children have something for when they get bored

And, she said, see the festival through your children's eyes. Her four-year-old daughter watched the Foo Fighters and Guns N' Roses and now wants to join the rock band at school and play the drums.

"It inspires them to do things they wouldn't do otherwise," Vicky added.

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