Taking the Kids

[WhatADin]

5 minutes ago, balti-pie said:

Portsmouth isnt so far: i'd say a couple of days with the grandad and attend school, then on sat morning you can swing back/meet up and collect them, and they can have two days onsite! You get kid-free time, and they also get a window of glasto when everything's all set up, but not so much so they get too cranky/overwhelmed 👍

Yeah, it isn't that far to be fair. I mean, I wouldn't be picking them up lol but something to float with my husband. I reckon his dad would drop them too.

[balti-pie]

6 minutes ago, WhatADin said:

Yeah, it isn't that far to be fair. I mean, I wouldn't be picking them up lol but something to float with my husband. I reckon his dad would drop them too.

I only say it isnt that far cos i come past on my way from the sussex coast 😄 closer than me is close!

[WhatADin]

1 minute ago, balti-pie said:

I only say it isnt that far cos i come past on my way from the sussex coast 😄 closer than me is close!

Haha, yeah fair point. 😆 I'm originally from Arundel myself. 

[Benjsh]

Anyone who takes children as young as 5 or younger gets my enteral admiration. I wouldn't even dream of it personally but all the power to you. It must not be easy. 

My lad will be 10 next year and he now finally wants to go so fingers crossed I get a ticket and he can experience it all. 

[Neil]

took my son for the first time aged 9 months, was sterilising bottles and everything, was a nightmare in a muddy year, he's now 26 and has done 20+ Glastonbury's. he didn't make it this year so went on holiday to Greece instead.

[One Tonne Baby]

My 2.5 year old was watching some on tv and I said we can go one day. It feels like something I’d love to do and could do, even though his mum won’t come but also worried I’ll want to come home after 3 hours.

I think I might try when he’s 4 in 2025, a last hurrah for us two before school steals him away.

[scaryclaireyfairy]

I've been the 'friend of' who camped in family camping. The first year we did it, the youngest were about 8mo and 2mo. At that age, many hands make light(er) work and they're more pass-around-able and able to be amused by festival family. Once they're older, the friends are a lot less use and just kinda taking up space, imo.

[Ricci's Special Kebabs]

Took my 8 year old, absolutely loved it. My wife doesn't like staying out late anyway so took her back to the CV around midnight each night while I stayed out. 

Leaving Icon at 6am Sunday morning and pretending I was alright Sunday day was a challenge 😁

 

 

[dcsessions]

I echo many of the posts already.

We went with our nearly 5 year old and it was my wife's first time. It was my 6th. I think I've only ever been to the acoustic stage once and the green fields once. I've always been at west holts/other/dance village/john peel with occasion foray to pyramid. Never been in the circus/theatre field. So I didn't know the east side of festival v well.

We stayed in lovefields PYO and whilst it was pricey, in hindsight it was money definitely well spent for ease of arriving / leaving, guaranteed pitch location, toilets, guaranteed shade etc. Great location for Kidz field too.

We had a great time Thursday evening just relaxing on west holts and having a little peek at the Kidz field.

As others have said, the sun/heat and lack of wind on Friday and Saturday was a killer. My/our biggest mistake was going to watch spiderman at midday on Saturday, we thought it would be good to get out of the sun but it was sweltering in there and the projector failed with 5 mins of the film left! I wouldn't bother with the palais in future. The acoustic stage was good for relaxing in.

We went to the Greenpeace area on the Friday morning which is far quieter than the kidzfield but I do think the 5+ rule on the pirate ship is overzealous. We didn't go back there as he really got into the Kidz field and knew what he liked by Friday afternoon (basically a quick go on the pink castle and then endless go's on the inflatable assault course and the surf simulator). He wasn't that bothered about the crafts or theatre shows. 

From lovefields we could still hear the pyramid really clearly so heard Texas, cat Stevens, gnr and others over the course of the weekend while we sheltered out of the sun for an hour or two/before bed.

We traipsed over to the other stage for CHVRCHES and it was a great set and I was glad we did it but it felt really busy (even more so when all the post foos/pre FA people turned up towards the end) and I wouldn't make that trip whilst he's still fairly young unless it was for a top level act, west holts and pyramid were much more convenient.

I still managed to see hot chip on Friday night as I left wife and 4yo at tent as they were shattered.

We spent much more time at the pyramid than I had historically due to proximity to Kidz field and our camping.

The food stalls just outside kidzfield were pretty varied and really good value compared to rest of festival. The steak baguettes were big and only 8.50. the smoothie stand did a roaring trade. He survived on Mac n cheese, pizza, tomato paste and smoothies over the course of the weekend.

I was contemplating whether I'd made a terrible life decision by Saturday afternoon (we still managed to catch lizzo and I didn't have any major "must sees" on Sat, would have loved to have seen loyle carner but we were done by sat night). However,  Sunday was amazing. Weather cooler, we made active effort to see more music and saw bristol reggae orchestra, Sophie Ellis bextor, 3 acts on the gateway stage (which was brilliant all weekend long - 30-45 min acts with 5-10 between each) then lil Nas x and Elton. 

Im definitely a nfrnfc'er but that heat was just too much Friday and Saturday. In future I think we would just go and take our chairs and wagon to pyramid/west holts and set up with sun umbrella and take in a few sets back to back which is what we ended up doing on Sunday. It is tricky balancing the music vs kidzfield but our son was really good with it all. 

We went in the big circus tent but again it was too hot and the acts weren't that great IMHO, the acts on the outdoor circus stage seemed better and he loved "laser kiwi" (so did we) on the gateway stage.

As others have said, I barely drank anything alcoholic, 2 brothers in Thurs, 2 glasses of homemade Pimms/lemonade Friday and a couple of cans, couple of cups on rum punch Saturday and nowt on Sunday. Felt better for it though I reckon!

Tips:

If you've got access to a wagon/trailer then definitely take it and make sure it has a shade cover. It needs to be heavy duty, don't get a cheapy/plastic one as it will just get destroyed. Really handy for transporting kids and stuff around. It's a bit hard work but definitely easier than lugging stuff on your back with a young child in tow. Generally people were really friendly. Just had one old arse on Sunday after Elton moaning that I was "all over the place" with the wagon but I was just walking along one of the tracks and everyone was at snails pace and I was still walking in a straight line!

You definitely have to go with the flow a lot more but I was prepared for that. In the past I've had a massive list but my only "must sees" were Elton and Hot chip and I saw them both. And I wouldn't have seen lil Nas x if didn't have 4yo in tow and he was a highlight of the weekend. I've never been that fussed about the park so wasn't upset about not traipsing up there.

I think the most difficult age to take would be around 18-36 months as they are mobile but have short attention span. Our 4yo was happy to have his time in the kidzfield but also happy to see the music. It would have been easier if we were in a group but it was just the 3 of us. One of our nct group were there and we watched Elton together which was nice.

We didn't take cooking equipment but we took cereal bars/soreens etc to keep him topped up. Also ice cream from the vans, by Sunday he actually declined ice cream as it was "too sugary"?!

If you're unsure then just go for it. #YOLO

I was worried my wife would never want to go again but when we were watching the Elton highlights this week she said, "you forget about all the bad bits" so I replied "so we're going to be there in October trying for tickets then?" her: "as long as we can go in lovefields" so I think I've got the green light for next year, ticket dependent.

Hope that's somewhat helpful/interesting to anyone!

[watsonjm]

On 6/30/2023 at 8:32 PM, dcsessions said:

I echo many of the posts already.

We went with our nearly 5 year old and it was my wife's first time. It was my 6th. I think I've only ever been to the acoustic stage once and the green fields once. I've always been at west holts/other/dance village/john peel with occasion foray to pyramid. Never been in the circus/theatre field. So I didn't know the east side of festival v well.

We stayed in lovefields PYO and whilst it was pricey, in hindsight it was money definitely well spent for ease of arriving / leaving, guaranteed pitch location, toilets, guaranteed shade etc. Great location for Kidz field too.

We had a great time Thursday evening just relaxing on west holts and having a little peek at the Kidz field.

As others have said, the sun/heat and lack of wind on Friday and Saturday was a killer. My/our biggest mistake was going to watch spiderman at midday on Saturday, we thought it would be good to get out of the sun but it was sweltering in there and the projector failed with 5 mins of the film left! I wouldn't bother with the palais in future. The acoustic stage was good for relaxing in.

We went to the Greenpeace area on the Friday morning which is far quieter than the kidzfield but I do think the 5+ rule on the pirate ship is overzealous. We didn't go back there as he really got into the Kidz field and knew what he liked by Friday afternoon (basically a quick go on the pink castle and then endless go's on the inflatable assault course and the surf simulator). He wasn't that bothered about the crafts or theatre shows. 

From lovefields we could still hear the pyramid really clearly so heard Texas, cat Stevens, gnr and others over the course of the weekend while we sheltered out of the sun for an hour or two/before bed.

We traipsed over to the other stage for CHVRCHES and it was a great set and I was glad we did it but it felt really busy (even more so when all the post foos/pre FA people turned up towards the end) and I wouldn't make that trip whilst he's still fairly young unless it was for a top level act, west holts and pyramid were much more convenient.

I still managed to see hot chip on Friday night as I left wife and 4yo at tent as they were shattered.

We spent much more time at the pyramid than I had historically due to proximity to Kidz field and our camping.

The food stalls just outside kidzfield were pretty varied and really good value compared to rest of festival. The steak baguettes were big and only 8.50. the smoothie stand did a roaring trade. He survived on Mac n cheese, pizza, tomato paste and smoothies over the course of the weekend.

I was contemplating whether I'd made a terrible life decision by Saturday afternoon (we still managed to catch lizzo and I didn't have any major "must sees" on Sat, would have loved to have seen loyle carner but we were done by sat night). However,  Sunday was amazing. Weather cooler, we made active effort to see more music and saw bristol reggae orchestra, Sophie Ellis bextor, 3 acts on the gateway stage (which was brilliant all weekend long - 30-45 min acts with 5-10 between each) then lil Nas x and Elton. 

Im definitely a nfrnfc'er but that heat was just too much Friday and Saturday. In future I think we would just go and take our chairs and wagon to pyramid/west holts and set up with sun umbrella and take in a few sets back to back which is what we ended up doing on Sunday. It is tricky balancing the music vs kidzfield but our son was really good with it all. 

We went in the big circus tent but again it was too hot and the acts weren't that great IMHO, the acts on the outdoor circus stage seemed better and he loved "laser kiwi" (so did we) on the gateway stage.

As others have said, I barely drank anything alcoholic, 2 brothers in Thurs, 2 glasses of homemade Pimms/lemonade Friday and a couple of cans, couple of cups on rum punch Saturday and nowt on Sunday. Felt better for it though I reckon!

Tips:

If you've got access to a wagon/trailer then definitely take it and make sure it has a shade cover. It needs to be heavy duty, don't get a cheapy/plastic one as it will just get destroyed. Really handy for transporting kids and stuff around. It's a bit hard work but definitely easier than lugging stuff on your back with a young child in tow. Generally people were really friendly. Just had one old arse on Sunday after Elton moaning that I was "all over the place" with the wagon but I was just walking along one of the tracks and everyone was at snails pace and I was still walking in a straight line!

You definitely have to go with the flow a lot more but I was prepared for that. In the past I've had a massive list but my only "must sees" were Elton and Hot chip and I saw them both. And I wouldn't have seen lil Nas x if didn't have 4yo in tow and he was a highlight of the weekend. I've never been that fussed about the park so wasn't upset about not traipsing up there.

I think the most difficult age to take would be around 18-36 months as they are mobile but have short attention span. Our 4yo was happy to have his time in the kidzfield but also happy to see the music. It would have been easier if we were in a group but it was just the 3 of us. One of our nct group were there and we watched Elton together which was nice.

We didn't take cooking equipment but we took cereal bars/soreens etc to keep him topped up. Also ice cream from the vans, by Sunday he actually declined ice cream as it was "too sugary"?!

If you're unsure then just go for it. #YOLO

I was worried my wife would never want to go again but when we were watching the Elton highlights this week she said, "you forget about all the bad bits" so I replied "so we're going to be there in October trying for tickets then?" her: "as long as we can go in lovefields" so I think I've got the green light for next year, ticket dependent.

Hope that's somewhat helpful/interesting to anyone!

Thanks for this, really useful.  We're taking our 3 year old to Valley Fest in a few weeks as an intro before trying for Glasto. 

 

Out of interest what wagon do you have?  We're planning on using our Mountain Buggy for VF but would more than likely want a wagon for Glastonbury.  

[Hugh Jass II]

7 minutes ago, watsonjm said:

Thanks for this, really useful.  We're taking our 3 year old to Valley Fest in a few weeks as an intro before trying for Glasto. 

 

Out of interest what wagon do you have?  We're planning on using our Mountain Buggy for VF but would more than likely want a wagon for Glastonbury.  

We had an off road running buggy for our three year old and it worked like a dream.

[Justcalledtosay]

On 6/29/2023 at 1:45 PM, BBC7BBCHEAVEN said:

While we had a great time, after a six month old last year and a 1.5 year old this year, we are probably going to give it a miss.

While the kids activities are brilliant, we go to Glastonbury for the music and the fun, and we just can't have both. 

Maybe when he's older and can enjoy the music more we will go back, but the next few years look like we would just be spending it in kids areas, and we may as well just go to soft plays, kids camps etc. instead 

That's my position. I wouldn't pay all that money for a ticket to knock about the kidz field for 4 days. My FOMO would be in over drive the entire time i was there. I've seen parents chase acts with their kids in tow being dragged through huge crowds and that's not for me.

Edited July 24, 2023 by Justcalledtosay

[Neil]

On 6/30/2023 at 1:02 PM, One Tonne Baby said:

My 2.5 year old was watching some on tv and I said we can go one day. It feels like something I’d love to do and could do, even though his mum won’t come but also worried I’ll want to come home after 3 hours.

I think I might try when he’s 4 in 2025, a last hurrah for us two before school steals him away.

do it, give him your time and have a special time together.

[Hugh Jass II]

1 hour ago, Justcalledtosay said:

That's my position. I wouldn't pay all that money for a ticket to knock about the kidz field for 4 days. My FOMO would be in over drive the entire time i was there. I've seen parents chase acts with their kids in tow being dragged through huge crowds and that's not for me.

We managed a decent balance of kids/green/T&C fields during the day, then the main stages from early evening onwards. 

[dcsessions]

On 7/24/2023 at 10:42 AM, watsonjm said:

Thanks for this, really useful.  We're taking our 3 year old to Valley Fest in a few weeks as an intro before trying for Glasto. 

 

Out of interest what wagon do you have?  We're planning on using our Mountain Buggy for VF but would more than likely want a wagon for Glastonbury.  

Sorry for the delay in coming back to you but hopefully it'll be helpful for future people. It was a "tuff terrain" wagon. See picture. The shade is currently down but it's very easy to put up and down. The main suggestion I would make would be to take some spare locking screws for where the handle attaches to the axle as they seemed a bit thin compared to the load going through it.