By Kimberly Miller (@kimmillerfit)

You’ve gathered up all your best rave buds and you’re cruising down the highway blasting tunes…its almost rave day and you and your crew are counting down the hours until you get to walk through the festival gates. Attending a festival with a group of friends is an incredible experience. When done right, many would agree that it is the best way to rave and planning ahead as a group can ensure you make the most of your weekend together. Below are a few tips that my squad uses to make sure that the weekend is safe and fun for everyone.

1. Set up a schedule.

If you are attending a festival that has multiple stages, you are bound to run into disagreements within your crew over what stage to be at and when. There is nothing worse than being at the festival and getting into arguments over where to go, or even worse, splitting off and not being able to find each other later on in the day. To avoid these situations, look over the set times as a crew and make decisions about which you will attend in advance. Often in a large group where people have different music tastes, it makes sense to divide and conquer, but planning in advance makes it easier to set up meet-up times and places so you can make sure your crew finds each other afterward. If you happen to miss a set or two you wanted to see to stick with the group, don’t sweat it. From personal experience, I can say that attending your friends’ set picks can be a great way to discover new artists- so I recommend having an open mind and a good attitude no matter what!

2. Spend some time looking at the festival grounds map.
Larger festivals and events will almost always release a map of the festival grounds prior to the event- take advantage of this! Look at the map with your squad and decide on an emergency meeting spot and which situations you should revert to that spot. Usually, my squad will set time intervals (ie. 6 pm, 8 pm, 10 pm, etc) and if on the hour anyone in the squad is separated we will ALL walk over to the meeting spot so that we can find each other again. This is especially helpful to do if you know that the phone service on the festival grounds is spotty because you may have no way to communicate the day of the festival- PLANNING IN ADVANCE IS CRUCIAL! Another tip is to establish a meeting spot for when the festival ends so you can make sure your entire squad gets back to the hotel/campsite together safely.

3. Create a group chat so that communication is easy for everyone.

Although some festivals have terrible phone service, this is not always the case. If you expect the festival to have decent phone service, set up a group chat for your squad so there is a central hub for communication between everyone in the group. This may seem unimportant, but when you’re in the middle of your favorite set, it is a lot less of a hassle to send out one message to a chat than to message a dozen people individually. A group chat also makes sharing photos and videos a whole lot easier when the festival is over. 

4. Pick a lock screen buddy.

This is a tip that I picked up at EDC this year that makes SO much sense! Pick someone in your squad that you trust and make a lock screen on your phone with their name and cell phone number. If you lose your phone at the festival and are lucky enough that someone picks it up, your best buddy’s contact information is the first thing they will see and they will be able to immediately contact your friend to get your phone returned to you. Luckily, I have never lost my phone at a festival, but if I did, I’d definitely want to make sure I had the best chance at getting it returned to me and this is definitely it.

I hope you found some of these tips helpful and that you step your best foot forward in making sure your next festival is a fun and safe experience for everyone! 

XO Kim