A tent and a beer keg are hardly all that you need nowadays to enjoy attending a festival. In fact, festivals have evolved into fairly expensive and elaborate affairs that require careful planning. Once you have sorted your travel with Wightlink, it’s time to get planning. The following advice will help you budget properly for your first Isle of Wight festival (or any other festival in the works).
Before packing your bags and heading on your way, it’s important to set some spending boundaries for your outing. You can choose to create a tight budget with very little wiggle room, but if you want to splurge and truly enjoy your day, then having the budget is a must! In fact, many first-time attendees are surprised at the sheer amount of upgrades one can make at a festival. From fancy champagne to relaxing hot tubs, it’s possible to enjoy the lap of luxury.
**Do check the festival website for more details on the upgrades available.
Even if all of the above sounds fantastic, you still have a realistic budget that you need to keep in mind. Splurging your money on non-stop luxury upgrades may seem like a good way to go, but it will also eat into your savings. After all, festivals last an entire weekend and splurging on just your first day may mean missing crucial activities later on as you can no longer afford to participate. In short, create a budget and stick to it!
Spending On Food And Drinks
Most festivals have fairly high priced food as vendors have a lot of rental costs to contend with. You can reduce your festival costs by bringing some of your own food or eating breakfast elsewhere. Most importantly, pack some snacks you can reach for to tide you over when you’re hungry and consider that there’s a nearby Waitrose where you can pick up foodstuffs.
If you love booze, that’s something else you will need to add to your festival budget. You’re not allowed to bring your own alcohol to the festival and those seemingly small pints can seriously add up. As a side note, however, you can bring your own alcohol (not in a glass) to the actual campsite.
As the campsite is a good distance from the main arena, make sure to eat before heading out and have all of your meals planned accordingly.
Crossing As A Pedestrian
Getting to the Isle of Wight requires a ferry ride that is often costly if you’re driving your own or rental vehicle. Usually, these ticket prices are even more expensive during the festival weekend, so make sure to do your research before heading out and getting your tickets.
If you want to further reduce your travel costs, opt to take the ferry ride as a pedestrian versus driver. Or, try a website such as Liftshare where you can carpool and split costs with other people attending the festival as well. Lastly, you can reach the campsite by taking a bus from the ferry port upon arrival.
How Much Money Should You Bring?
It’s important to set yourself up for success and to have a realistic budget in mind. As such, we have broken down the average costs of attending the festival from Thursday until Monday morning.
*£208.20 is the standard fee for booking a campsite for the weekend for adults.
*£50 to £80 reflects the approximate price of camping gear.
*£90 to £117 is the approximate price of parking along with ferry transportation to get there.
*£200 for the weekend for food as food and drinks run about £50 per day.
Pitching your own tent is fun for some attendees, but if it’s not for you, not to worry! You can rent already pitched tents at the festival or enjoy a slew of VIP experiences created for those not exactly in love with camping. If you’re not planning on taking any other vacations this year other than attending the Isle of Wight festival, upgrade yourself to a VIP experience and budget accordingly.
Additional Expenses To Budget For
The festival can quickly turn into a stressful experience if you don’t have the necessary budget to enjoy everything planned. So, whether you want those fairy wings or a session in the hot tub, splurging can really add up and blow past your budget if you’re not careful about spending.
For example, a session in the infamous hot tub can run you anywhere from £25 to £50. Meanwhile, something mundane like charging your smartphone is £20 while luxury restrooms are £30 for the weekend.
The above pricing should give you a much better idea as to how to budget for your next festival!
