17 Things You Must Bring with You to Coachella

Mar 28, 2014

Yesterday, I went over some general guidelines and what to expect at Coachella as a GA ticket holder. In regards to what to bring, it would definitely be at your advantage to bring the following items if you want to be a tad more comfortable in the sweltering heat. I brought all (or most) of these things and was glad I did because I used pretty much everything!

Here’s my list of what to take with you to the raging outdoor party we all know and love as Coachella.

1. A handkerchief. This is a MUST for many reasons. 1) Walking from your car to the venue. It’s dusty as hell (you’re in a desert after all). Smart people had brought something to cover their faces. I was one of the lucky ones. 2) If you are in the crowd, you can almost guarantee someone near you will be smoking something. If you are sensitive to smoke, you will want to cover your face… or simply give in, and perhaps enjoy the contact high.

2. Comfortable shoes. Or a change of shoes for the second half of the day.

3. A light jacket or sweater for when the sun goes down and the temperature drops to 50.

4. Cough drops or a few lozenges. The air is really dry (duh! like I mentioned, it’s a desert) and you will be singing along and screaming “Whooo!” a LOT, so keep that throat well lubricated.

5. Earplugs. It gets pretty loud depending on which tent/ stage you’re at.

6. Glow sticks. Or something glow in the dark. Okay, maybe this isn’t a super necessity, but they are always fun when dancing at night and you’ll wish you had something glowing to help your friends find you in the crowd.

7. Sunglasses. A must.

Coachella Ninjas (@datingadvicegrl @backyardbite)

8. A fanny pack. This I recommend over a backpack because 1) It’s lighter to carry. 2) You can bypass long entrance lines if you are sans the bag as fanny packs don’t count as bags. I rocked a cool neon pink one from Urban Outfitters and it was a life saver.

9. A few Advil or Tylenol for those aching joints. If you are a youngster, you probably don’t even know what an “aching joint” is, but anyone over 30 – take my advice, there is a lot of moving and shaking and walking and you might need a pain killer or two when the day is done.

10. *Maybe* A tall unique flag. If you are with a really large group, I found that smart people held a tall flag or sign of some sort so that they would always find each other. Coachella will have 80 to 100,000 people in attendance on any given day and you wont want to lose your friends in the crowds.

11. *Not so much* We brought walkie talkies just in case but ended up not needing them. Maybe in the 90’s this was useful, but texting seemed to work just fine for us.

12. Phone chargers. They DO have phone charging stations, but we brought our own portable phone charger to charge up instead of having to stand in the lines.

13. Purel. Some port-a-potties had sanitizer and some didn’t. Just sayin’.

14. Face wipes. This was really helpful to wipe hands, face and feet. It’s a boost of freshness after a day of wearing sunscreen and sweat.

15. Speaking of sunscreen, don’t be a dumb-dumb and forget this. You will burn. SPF 50 or higher, please.

16. Chapstick with SPF.

17. Download the Coachella App for your phone. It’s super helpful and you can set alerts to remind you when your band is about to start playing.

**You cannot bring blankets, pets, dogs, cats, pigs, birds, big bags, professional cameras, lenses, drugs (wink, wink), boom-boxes (why would you?), alcoholic beverages, a bad attitude.

You CAN bring hats, sexy outfits, stupid looking outfits, no outfits, bathing suits, pillows, kids (under 5 are free entrance apparently), LED light up shoes, and an open mind (but maybe not as open as THIS GUY).

Most importantly, don’t get too stressed out about trying to get to see all the bands. You won’t see/ do everything. It’s impossible. But, there’s always next year…