Our first Camp Bestival as a family of four was everything we hoped it would be… and a little bit more chaotic than we perhaps anticipated!
There was so much to see, do, eat, and to and explore that we quickly realised you simply cannot do everything. And, actually, that’s probably the whole point.
Camp Bestival is one of those places where you have to leave your expectations at the entrance. Embrace the madness, let the kids be kids, stay up later than you normally would, eat something ridiculous, dance badly and just enjoy being there. No pressure, no rules!
We went as part of a group of friends, which I honestly think made a huge difference to our weekend. It meant more adults to share the load, more people to keep an eye on the children and more opportunities for everyone to get a little breather.
So, after our first family adventure, here are the five things we’d definitely recommend if you’re heading to Camp Bestival with children.
1. Pack food. Lots of food. 🥐 🍌
Or, as I like to call it: prepare for the snack apocalypse.
If your children are anything like ours, they will spend the entire weekend saying “I’m hungry” usually approximately 30 seconds after you’ve just bought them something to eat.
We took plenty of breakfast bits, snacks, cereal bars and fruit with us, and I would absolutely recommend doing the same. Although next year milk and cereal for my eldest is getting thrown in. He was obviously near death without it.
We also bought our eldest the extra food pass, which was £50 for the weekend. This included lunch and dinner from Friday to Sunday, unlimited fruit and water, plus a daily “sweet treat”.
It was actually really useful for us because it meant he was getting proper meals and, importantly, it helped reduce the constant requests for food every five minutes!
The downside was that the queues could be difficult, particularly when you’re juggling tired children, and the food choices were fairly basic. The lunches were a sandwhich/wrap/pasta along with a snack, fruit and a drink. Nothing exciting but it filled a hole! (albeit bottomless)
The evening meal voucher could be used at different food trucks, which was a nice touch, and the sweet treat could be chosen from various vendors. Henry enjoyed, mac and cheese, pizza, chicken and chips, ice cream and all the sweets! Such a treat!
Our verdict? The pass was handy, but we’d still absolutely recommend bringing your own breakfast and a serious supply of snacks. You’ll thank yourself later.
For adults, the options were endless, we tried so many different things! We also spent what felt like £500 on frozen margaritas. Because… Essential!
2. Prepare for the walk. 👟⛰️
Welcome to Leg Day: Festival Edition.
There is a LOT of walking at Camp Bestival. And there are hills.
We clocked up nearly 90,000 steps over the weekend, which is impressive I think!
Some of those steps involved chasing children who had spotted something exciting in the opposite direction. Some were dancing and some were trips to the bar and back. But most of them were the journey to and from the campsite to the main festival.
Proper footwear is a must.
We’re talking trainers or boots — shoes you can genuinely walk in all day. Leave the questionable festival footwear at home. Your feet will thank you. Although my trusty birkenstocks did do me well!
If you’re taking a trolley or pram, be careful not to overload it. It is very easy to look at your camping gear and think, “We’ll just put that in there too.” You will then find yourself pushing it up a hill while questioning every decision you’ve ever made.
Pack light where you can. You’ll be doing enough heavy lifting already.
I enjoyed stretching out my body at the ‘Slomo Village’ it was a little slice of heaven for my tired legs. There were yoga classes and sound baths running all day and a mini retreat with sauna and cold plunge (for an extra cost). Definitely a godsend if you need a moment of peace and to ground yourself in the chaos.
3. Go with friends. 👯♀️👯♂️
The more adults, the better.
Honestly, if you can go to Camp Bestival with friends, do it.
It’s brilliant having other adults around because you can tag-team the children, give each other breaks and share the general parenting workload. Everyone needs a solo shower at some point!
Someone can take the kids while someone else goes for a coffee. Someone can head back to the campsite for forgotten essentials. Someone can take the children to an activity while the others watch an act. And, perhaps most importantly, you get to enjoy it together.
We were able to camp on our friends’ campervan pitch, which meant we could all be together. If you fit within their designated pitch area, this is allowed, so it’s definitely worth looking into if you’re travelling with friends who have a campervan.
The campervan field did have one slight issue, though… There were only 10 showers for the whole thing.
Ten.
For everyone.
We quickly discovered that around 4pm was the magic shower time because there was no queue. It actually worked brilliantly for us. We’d head back for a little “refresh”, get everyone showered and changed, and then let the children have some downtime before heading back out for the evening.
It gave everyone a chance to reset before the late nights.
And believe me, you need those little resets.
Camp Bestival is magical, but it can also be very busy and overwhelming, especially for younger children. Having friends around made everything feel much more manageable.
4. Find your spot — and make an itinerary. 📍🎶
One thing we learned very quickly was that you cannot do everything.
There is simply too much going on.
There are shows, music, crafts, activities, food, dancing, characters, performances and things you didn’t even know existed until you walked past them.
We spent quite a lot of the weekend saying, “Oh, we’ll come back and do that later.”
Spoiler: we didn’t.
Next year, we’re definitely going to make better use of the Camp Bestival app. You can like the different shows, acts and events you want to see, and it creates an ordered itinerary for you.
We’re also going to deliberately schedule some downtime for the amazing arts and crafts on offer. There were so many things we wanted to stop and do, but when you’re rushing from one thing to another, it’s easy to miss them.
And then there’s the main stage.
Find your spot early. If you’re a group with children of different ages, finding a place to stand together later in the day can be really difficult when it’s busy.
We figured out on Saturday that the best approach was to set up our spot early with chairs and blankets. Then, throughout the afternoon, the adults could take turns going back for a “refresh” or heading off to grab drinks while someone stayed with the children.
By the evening, we had a comfortable little space where we could all watch the main stage together. We stayed quite far back because it was simply too loud for our youngest closer to the front, but honestly, it didn’t matter. We could still see the stage, the children had room to move around and we could all enjoy a dance together.
Sometimes you don’t need to be right at the front to have the best time.
5. Stay the extra night. 🌙✨
If you can stay until Monday, do it.
This is probably our biggest regret from the weekend.
We unfortunately had to leave on Sunday night because our youngest had reached the point where it was all becoming a little too much.
We packed up early on Sunday morning and then tried to stay until the headline act, Fatboy Slim, who was on very late that evening. In hindsight… that was probably ambitious.
By Sunday evening, everyone was tired, we’d already had an enormous weekend and the thought of packing everything up after a late-night headline act was not exactly appealing.
Next year, we’re staying the extra night.
The plan is to have a slower Monday morning. Have breakfast. Let the children roam around. Have one last wander. Take our time packing up.
No rushing.
No trying to squeeze every last drop out of the weekend.
Just one more slow morning to enjoy the magic.
And finally… leave your expectations at the entrance.
If there’s one thing I’d tell another family going to Camp Bestival, it’s this:
Don’t try to make it perfect.
You won’t see every act.
You won’t make every activity.
Someone will probably have a meltdown.
Someone will definitely be hungry.
You’ll forget something.
You’ll get tired.
You’ll queue.
You’ll walk up a hill and wonder why you brought so much stuff.
And then you’ll turn around and see your children dancing, laughing or completely fascinated by something you’ve never seen before — and you’ll remember why you came.
Camp Bestival feels like a little world of its own.
It’s busy and chaotic and sometimes overwhelming, but it’s also incredibly joyful. We found everyone we met to be so kind and happy, and what really stood out was how much the children were thought of.
So let the kids be kids.
Stay up late.
Eat the ice cream.
Dance.
Get involved.
Take the silly photos.
Let your hair down.
And embrace the madness.
Because somewhere between the hills, the tired feet, the queues and the snack negotiations, there’s a whole lot of magic happening.
And we can’t wait to do it all again next year. 🎪❤️
P.S pack hand sanitiser like it’s going out of fashion 😂 IYKYK
Mamas life adventures 