Reading Festival first time going, aged 16

[CardiffGeezer]

Hello fellow festival goers,

A group of friends and I are attending the Reading festival on the Thursday, leaving via minibus as soon as we all collect our GCSE results from our school. I have a variety of questions which I hope can be answered here!

First of all: booze. How hard is it to get it in? We are all 16 and although acquiring beer etc beforehand is not a problem, I have heard from some that it will be harder to get it in. I was planning on taking 24cans in myself, which I think is the maximum you are allowed. However, will I be searched at the gates and if so, will they take it off me if I don't have any ID? I am also planning on taking some vodka in but I know glass bottles are not allowed, if I was to put it in a water bottle would that be confiscated along with the beer? Or would they not bother checking my water bottle to see if it's vodka. 

Secondly, again booze related: how hard would it be to get served in the arena? In the event I am able to sneak my booze in it would not be that much of a priority to buy it in there but if they take it all off me, I want to know if they will be very strict at the bar. Despite not having ID I have about a 50% success rate in getting served for pints in some pubs and booze n fags in some corner shops, as I have some facial hair and am relatively tall. However, about half of the these times I do get served I am asked for ID and present them with a picture on my phone of my older mates passport, which I then say 'I have sent my passport off to  get renewed' which also has about a 50% success rate. Would that work here? I know there are adult wristbands, if I purchased one of these of someone would that get me served? Would I need to present an ID to get one of these from the festival staff? I hope that I can avoid all of that by getting my cans in, but it's always good to have a back up. I do not want to entirely rely on older people to get served for me either.

Thirdly: Drugs. I do not do any myself but a few of my friends are planning to bring some hash and maybe weed in for personal use. Will it be at all necessary to 'ass it' - that is to say, stick the cannabis up their anus and wear two pairs of boxers, one tight one loose. Are they really going to have sniffer dogs at the gates, or search the pockets of the bags? Another friend has suggested putting some weed in the bottom of his sleeping bag- very unlikely to be searched? Or should that friend ass it like the rest of them. In addition, paranphelia like rizla and cigarettes, would they arise suspicion if found in pockets? 

Next, sex: does it happen at festival as much as a group of horny young boys would like to imagine? A few of my friends have set very high expectations, I would like to know if they are going to be true in any way.   

Some final questions: how much money would be recommended to bring for food? Are the showers there that bad? The toilets? 

In conclusion, thank you for reading what appears to be an abnormally long topic for this forum, any help in answering a few of these questions is much appreciated. Even if you can only help me with one question please still do, any advice you want to give me please do! I need all the help I can get. 

N.B. I am going to reading to celebrate my (hopefully satisfactory) GCSE results and listen to some of my favourite music, the aforementioned things are just to further the fun but I know they are not imperative to enjoying oneself. Please try and be productive  and helpful with your answers!

Thanks  

[jake.b.overton]

4 hours ago, CardiffGeezer said:

Hello fellow festival goers,

A group of friends and I are attending the Reading festival on the Thursday, leaving via minibus as soon as we all collect our GCSE results from our school. I have a variety of questions which I hope can be answered here!

First of all: booze. How hard is it to get it in? We are all 16 and although acquiring beer etc beforehand is not a problem, I have heard from some that it will be harder to get it in. I was planning on taking 24cans in myself, which I think is the maximum you are allowed. However, will I be searched at the gates and if so, will they take it off me if I don't have any ID? I am also planning on taking some vodka in but I know glass bottles are not allowed, if I was to put it in a water bottle would that be confiscated along with the beer? Or would they not bother checking my water bottle to see if it's vodka. 

Secondly, again booze related: how hard would it be to get served in the arena? In the event I am able to sneak my booze in it would not be that much of a priority to buy it in there but if they take it all off me, I want to know if they will be very strict at the bar. Despite not having ID I have about a 50% success rate in getting served for pints in some pubs and booze n fags in some corner shops, as I have some facial hair and am relatively tall. However, about half of the these times I do get served I am asked for ID and present them with a picture on my phone of my older mates passport, which I then say 'I have sent my passport off to  get renewed' which also has about a 50% success rate. Would that work here? I know there are adult wristbands, if I purchased one of these of someone would that get me served? Would I need to present an ID to get one of these from the festival staff? I hope that I can avoid all of that by getting my cans in, but it's always good to have a back up. I do not want to entirely rely on older people to get served for me either.

Thirdly: Drugs. I do not do any myself but a few of my friends are planning to bring some hash and maybe weed in for personal use. Will it be at all necessary to 'ass it' - that is to say, stick the cannabis up their anus and wear two pairs of boxers, one tight one loose. Are they really going to have sniffer dogs at the gates, or search the pockets of the bags? Another friend has suggested putting some weed in the bottom of his sleeping bag- very unlikely to be searched? Or should that friend ass it like the rest of them. In addition, paranphelia like rizla and cigarettes, would they arise suspicion if found in pockets? 

Next, sex: does it happen at festival as much as a group of horny young boys would like to imagine? A few of my friends have set very high expectations, I would like to know if they are going to be true in any way.   

Some final questions: how much money would be recommended to bring for food? Are the showers there that bad? The toilets? 

In conclusion, thank you for reading what appears to be an abnormally long topic for this forum, any help in answering a few of these questions is much appreciated. Even if you can only help me with one question please still do, any advice you want to give me please do! I need all the help I can get. 

N.B. I am going to reading to celebrate my (hopefully satisfactory) GCSE results and listen to some of my favourite music, the aforementioned things are just to further the fun but I know they are not imperative to enjoying oneself. Please try and be productive  and helpful with your answers!

Thanks  

Beer,  best bet is to split it up and hide in a bag. With tens of thousands of people turning up a high percentage wont get searched but if you do be prepared to lose the booze depending on how strict the searcher is. Vodka in water bottle always works. 

Drug's, bottom of sleeping bag will befine and no sniffer dogs but its much more fun to say the opposite to ur mates so they have to plug it. 

Sex, yeh it happens but its no mass orgy

[AndrewSmith]

Every person will have a different opinion/experience with getting beers in under age. I'm 24 and still get ID'd at the gates every year for my beers. Inside the arena, it's pretty difficult to get beers without someone over 18 around as they ID almost everyone that looks under 25 and they also run the over 18's wristband exchange meaning that those with ID don't need to carry their ID with them as they have an additional wristband as proof of age. Might be worth making friends with people camping near / around you or in the arena that are over 18, offer to pay for a beer for them if they go and get you 3 or 4 but if you get caught with it in the arena by security they'll take it off you straight away. You can always try sneaking Vodka in down your boxers or in your welly and just buy soft drinks to mix with.

Can't comment on the drugs thing but have been offered plenty of weed over the years in camp by passers by. Just be careful and see the results of day 1 at T in the Park for an example of how things can take a turn for the worst.

Sex - Meh, never really gone hunting for it at a festival but again, be sensible and I'm sure you'll find plenty of other groups of people your age.

Food - Here's a full list of what's available and for how much this year. http://www.readingfestival.com/sites/live.b.leedsfestival.com/files/images/2016_reading_food_and_drink_prices.pdf

I spend up to £20 a day on food but there's also a Tesco about a 25 minute walk away nearby to the Green Car Park. It's worth purchasing a few big bottles of water for drinking in the morning, cleaning teeth, washing with etc.

 

Most importantly, stick with your mates - festivals are better when you experience it with your mates. Make new friends, discover new music that you wouldn't normally try, make the most of the after hours entertainment and most importantly enjoy the festival! 

[Dave9280]

everyone else covered it pretty well but I'll add my 2 cents.

 

Beers: split them up if you're sneaking them in and you'll have a much better chance, there's a 99% chanc you wont get served at any bars, I'm covered in tattoo's and have a decent amount of facial hair by the Sunday and sometimes get asked for ID even with a over 18's wristband.

 

Drugs: there is really no point, plenty of my friends have taken stuff in the past ( I don't go for that sorta thing) and where as they are relatively easy to get in most of the time the problem arises when taking them, harer drugs obviously have the potential to fuck the festival for the taker and his mates if he decides to take a bad turn on them, with weed though its so obvious with the smell, every single year that someone I've been with has smoked weed there we've had a security and police visit to search everyone's bags and tents and they always lose it, regardless of if your smoking it in a tent or in your camp. if you're gonna do it then at least walk around with it to save the inconvenience of having your tent turned upside down in a search.

 

Sex: yeh it happens but the real question is do you want it? people that haven't showered in days, using nasty toilets and sitting in mud all day, covered in sweat from the crowds... no thanks! if you must then be safe and don't use your tongue... 

 

Toilets: you'll find out...

 

Money, I budget about £50 a dayplus an extra £50, but that covers arena beer for me to, you should be good on £25-£30 per day

[Obiginnaw]

A quick point to add what people have written in terms of cost for the day, merch is usually around the £20 for a t shirt and £7/£8 for a programme so just bare them in mind if you're looking to get either 

[AndrewSmith]

14 hours ago, Obiginnaw said:

A quick point to add what people have written in terms of cost for the day, merch is usually around the £20 for a t shirt and £7/£8 for a programme so just bare them in mind if you're looking to get either 

Good point, also the funfair. Prices for rides range from £4-10 a go and I think bumper cars were about £5

[CardiffGeezer]

Thanks everyone, so do you guys think people there will be nice enough to go in tescos for me without making me pay loads extra or anything? Also how much should i bring, would a crate of beer and bottle of vodka last me the Thursday and then restock at tesco for Friday night? And how rigorous is the searching if one is unlucky enough to get searched? will some clothes on top of my beer suffice or will they still find them?

[Dave9280]

Tesco wise most people would do it if you offer them a small crate of beers or a fiver or something, the hassle is then getting it through the gate because people arnt allowed to take more than 2 boxes in per time..