Music Festival Packing List: What to Bring (and What to Leave Home)

Australian festivals punish bad packing in unique ways. A hot afternoon can turn into a cold, wet night within hours — and summer storm cells can dump rain fast. Your belongings will be walked on, sat on, rained on, and potentially lost. The ideal festival pack is: sun-smart, storm-ready, weatherproof, organised, light enough to carry from a car park, and built around the assumption that the weather will be worse than forecast.

Shelter and Sleeping

• Festival tent — lightweight and easy to pitch alone; footprint/groundsheet if not included
• Sleeping bag rated comfortably below the coldest overnight temperatures forecast for your festival dates (check BOM or the event site)
• Sleeping mat or self-inflating pad — insulation from the ground is what makes sleeping comfortable
• Tent pegs (extras, in case any break or pull out overnight)
• Small mallet or hammer (for tent pegs in hard ground)
• Padlock for tent zipper (not secure, but a deterrent)

Clothing: Prepare for Everything

Festival clothing needs to handle strong sun, heavy rain, and cold nights — sometimes in the same day. Pack sun protection (hat, SPF 50+, sunglasses) and serious waterproofing.

• Gumboots (Wellington boots) — essential when rain turns campsites to mud; sneakers become unusable fast
• Waterproof poncho or waterproof jacket with hood
• Lightweight sneakers or festival shoes (separate from gumboots) for dry days
• 3–4 t-shirts
• 1–2 warm jumpers or hoodies
• 3–4 pairs of socks (wool festival socks if possible)
• 3–4 underwear sets
• Comfortable shorts and jeans or warm trousers
• 1 outfit you don't mind being destroyed (for mud)

Your Day Bag (What to Carry into the Arena)

• Small backpack (15–20L) — big enough for a day, small enough to not be a nuisance in a crowd
• Portable phone charger (20,000mAh minimum for 4-day festivals)
• Water bottle (refillable — most festivals have free water points)
• Snacks for the afternoon (festival food is expensive)
• Poncho or small waterproof (folds into your bag)
• Cash (many festival vendors are cash-only or charge fees for card payments)
• Earplugs (even if you want to hear the music — prolonged loud exposure at close quarters damages hearing)
• Festival programme or downloaded schedule

Essentials at Camp

• Portable camping chair or foldable groundmat
• Headtorch (hands-free light for night navigation back to your tent)
• Dry bags for valuables in the tent
• Wet wipes (showers at festivals are often poor or not worth the queue)
• Dry shampoo
• Small padlock for any lockable storage you rent
• Rope or bungee cords (hang wet clothes to dry between your tent and neighbour's)

What NOT to Pack for a Festival

• Glass bottles or containers — banned at many Australian festivals for safety reasons; check the event rules
• Expensive or irreplaceable items — assume anything you bring can be lost or damaged
• A hard-shell suitcase — almost impossible to carry across festival terrain; use a rucksack
• Too much cash — use a daily cash amount and keep the rest in a money belt

How Packster Handles Festival Packing

Enter your festival dates and location in the app and choose the outdoor music event activity. It checks historical weather and the forecast for that area in that period, and adjusts the list accordingly — adding gumboots if rain is likely, a warmer sleeping setup if nights are cold, or extra sun protection when heat is forecast.