Essential Festival Tips: Save Money on Your Festival Travels

Photo by Nicolas Calzas — Some Rights Reserved

Get ready for festival travel and festival savings.

At KadmusArts, we are inundated with festival updates, news, and opportunities as the northern hemisphere summer festival is about to begin. Are you worried about the expense? Don’t be. There are lots of ways of saving money while maximizing your festival trips.

From KadmusArts festival producers and festival goers, here are some key tips about how to save money at festivals:

1. Buy your tickets in advance. You know you’re going, you’re making all the plans, so buy your tickets in advance. Most festivals have early purchase ticket discounts. Same day ticket purchases can be higher. Buy early and save money.
2. Go for multiple days. Multi-day tickets are a better value than single day tickets. This is why festivals are so successful for the producers and the audiences: festivals are a bang-for-the-buck experience. The more time you commit to the festival, the more value you get for your money.
3. Don’t have camping equipment? Some local universities, colleges and other outdoor clubs have plenty equipment to rent if you don’t want to invest in buying camping equipment. Check-out the festival’s online site, as well as the sites of local institutions to find camping equipment offers.
4. Bring Cash. Many onsite ATMs will charge you for each use. Unless your own bank (or its affiliates) runs the ATMs at the festival sites, bring the cash you will need and avoid those additional withdrawal charges.
5. Do you have insurance? If you are bringing any valuables with you, take the worry out of losing them, and insure them before you go. No need to be penny wise but pound foolish.
6. Plan on buying your meals? Often the lunch offerings are less expensive than the dinner options. So, why not adopt the Mediterranean healthy habit of having the big meal at lunch and the light meal in the evening? You’ll save money and discover a healthier way to eat.
7. Get ready to share! If you are bringing food or buying food there, be willing to share it with others. A simple festival lesson that is true for one’s everyday life: be generous with others and others will be generous with you. Sharing food is a great way to instantly create a community, and you’ll save money.
8. Travel with supplies. Why worry about mark-ups and the law of supply and demand? Even Karl Marx knew the importance of traveling with your own supplies of suntan lotion, jackets, blankets, and toiletries. You’ll be prepared, and you’ll be saving money.
9. Travel in groups. A group of festival friends will always find a way to share expenses and reduce the per person cost. Rather than going it alone, use our Forum or other social networks to find fellow-travelers. The same is true for public transportation. You’ll be saving money — and the earth.
10. Festival rule from the beginning of time: Never leave home without a way of carrying water! No matter what else you might be drinking during the festival, you will need to drink water. There’s no reason to use the precious resources of your wallet and our environment on a new water container. Bring your own and drink plenty — of water!
11. Volunteer! Find out from your festival if there are volunteer opportunities. Sure, you’ll have to do some work, but you’ll also be part of the scene. Festivals know that their volunteers are there to enjoy themselves, too. Volunteering is a great way to not only soak-up the festival spirit but to help create it as well. You’ll save money, and you’ll probably get a free t-shirt! Who can resist a free t-shirt?!?
12. The easiest way to save money? Keep checking KadmusArts for our weekly offers of Free Festival Tickets!

Have any other tips on how to save money at festivals? Send them in!

Want to know the best way to pack for a festival? Check out the KadmusArts Essential Packing List.

- Bill Reichblum

This entry was posted on Monday, May 23rd, 2011 at 5:34 am and is filed under On Culture - . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.