Gift Guide for Family Festival Lovers: Our Top 10 Must-Haves in 2024

Joanna Armah-Kinson Author

May 15, 2024 |

If you have a family festival lover to buy gifts for, here's our guide to the top 10 gifts they'd love to receive in 2024.

It's Christmas......

Much as I love writing blogs, The Ultimate UK Family Festival Lovers Gift Guide 2023 has caused me two problems. 

Number 1, how on earth do I make the list short enough to be readable? I mean there are so many amazing and unique products out there for festival goers, choosing the best is a tough call. 

And so I took a slightly different approach to many gift guides. Yes, I have recommended some specific products, but mainly my suggestions are for types of gifts - I mean we are all unique and just because I love a particular brand doesn't mean you will. Most family festival goers will find the ideas helpful and can use them to choose a particular product they love. 

I also think it's worth adding, I've included products in this blog because I love them. I haven't received gifts or been paid to include anything, these are genuine recommendations based on what we've used, see others using or would love to use. I am an Amazon affiliate so I will earn a very small commission if you click on an Amazon link, but please do feel free to go directly to Amazon and type in the search term yourself if you'd prefer to; I'm much more concerned about sharing ideas than making money.

1. A Mini Christmas Festival.

This will work best for someone you'll see earlier in December. Many of the events will end on Christmas Day so you'll have to be comfortable giving them their gift early.

This year more than ever, festival producers seem to be running Christmas events. There's Yuletide – A Glittering Winter Adventure run by the people behind Just So! and Timber festivals. And ParentFolk Bring Father Christmas Storytelling Sessions To Wirral This December - ParentFolk to name but two. 

Or, if you fancy it you could run your own Christmas x Festival Mash Up Party.  Get some bunting, dig out your festival playlists, get glammed up and bring all of your friends together. I'm not sure I'd go as far as camping out in the UK in December but if you are hardier than me, why not? 

2. Molly's First Festival.

If you are planning on taking your kids to a festival for the first time in 2024 this is a great book to help them know what to expect. 

Festivals are a whole lot of new noises, sights and smells. Bright and colourful, loud and tiring and let's be honest, you can pretty much guarantee your routine will go to pot. 

Let your children know what to expect in a relaxed manner before you go can be invaluable in helping them cope once you are there. This book is beautifully illustrated, a great read and can make a really good "comfort blanket" if you take it with you. 

3. Give it Some Sparkle. 

Just because it's a family festival doesn't mean you can't look good right? Winifred Rose Clothing make the most amazingly sparkly clothes all of which would go beautifully with either wellies or heels! 

Or if you'd prefer something a little more down to earth, I've loved  Global Mamma's products for many years now. Handmade by Ghanaian women, I've been lucky enough to not only visit their shops in Ghana but to be taught batik by one of their highly talented artisans. 

They aren't widely available in the UK so you'll be ordering from the US website which is why the pricing is in dollars. Why not add a couple of soaps to your order - the honey, lemon and oats one is still my absolute favourite soap even after 14 years of using it!

And don't forget the kids. Disco Baby clothing makes the sparkliest of sparkly clothes for kids and Raising Ravers just make me wish I was a kid again and could fit into their clothes!

4. Light them up like a Christmas tree.

Glosticks are really useful at festivals and they make great stocking 

fillers.  My top tip would be to buy an extra pack because you can guarantee the kids will want to open and play with them on the day!

There are so many choices on Amazon that I'm not going to even try and suggest which one you should go for as it really depends on how much and what you want. But you can check out this link for many, many options: https://amzn.to/3MEBNNL.

5. Gift a Good Night's Sleep. 

If you want to treat your loved one with a gift they'll really appreciate on a cold UK night, you can't go far wrong with a Vango Evolve super-warm double sleeping bag. It's the warmest and cosiest sleeping bag I've found and has plenty of room for you to either share it with your loved one or a small kid who doesn't want to sleep alone. I absolutely love ours!

Team it with a memory foam mattress topper that protects you from the cold of the ground and you may not want to get up and leave your tent in the morning!

And of course onesies, fluffy pj's and fleecy hoodies are perennial favourites and there are some lovely ones around this year - oversized fleecy hoodies are particularly popular. I really love this reindeer one from Dunelm (and you can have matching adult and children's ones) but there are many, many others to choose from. 

6. Stuff their Stockings with Festival Joy.

There are so many fun stocking stuffers for festival lovers - temporary tattoos, glitter makeup, body jewels, funky sunglasses, facepaints, biodegradeable wipes, diy flower crown kits, ribbons for braiding, tent lights, ear defenders, inflatable furniture, scarves, hair braids, ponchos, water bottles, bunting the list goes on and on and on. 

How many you can fit in these beautiful VW camper van christmas stockings might just limit your choices though!

7. Super Cool Wellies. 

I know that 2023 has been a particularly bad year weather-wise, but every festival season in the UK has at least one dodgy weather weekend. So a decent pair of wellies is a necessary piece of kit. There are some great ones on this website, Funky Wellingtons. 

I particularly love these polka-dot ones but there are many other options to choose from. A good pair of wellies is a gift that will no doubt get used time and time again!

8. Get Crafty.

And there are thousands of easy DIY craft kits out there. From soap making to face painting and everything in between you should be able to find your family's favourite activities. 

Or if you want a more social experience you could always book a class or a crafting session and make a ticket or voucher for it to give as the actual gift. It's hard to recommend a place for this but there are so many all around the country chances are you will have one not too far away. My top tip is to look at the style of the craft they do and see if it matches what you like. 

9. Power it Up.

Can you ever have enough power banks for your phone? You might not be on the phone much if the wifi is rubbish at the festival, but if you are using the camera (maybe to do the photo challenge in our planner) you can guarantee the battery is going to drain down way too quickly to last the whole festival. 

Amazon has endless variations of power banks with very little to differentiate them, so instead of choosing one, here's the link for all of them: https://amzn.to/3QXMhut

You could of course use a separate camera instead and for that, there are a couple we love. Both the Fuifilm Instax and Kodak Printomatic are good-looking, colourful and fun cameras that both you and your kids will have lots of fun using it. 

10. Our Planner. 

I mean I had to didn't I? Of course, I think our planner would be the perfect gift for a family festival lover. Whether you are an experienced festival goer or not, our book is a practical guide to having a great time and turns into a wonderful keepsake. 

Fun, colourful and full of helpful tips and tricks the book is so much more than a planner. Yes, you can plan your festivals, but its also packed with activities to keep your kids occupied if you need five minutes of quiet time and guided journalling pages so that you can capture every perfect family memory you make. 

And if you want to go big, it makes the perfect accompaniment to some festival tickets! You've got room to plan and journal your memories from 3 festivals, so you could go really big and add it to three sets of festival tickets - imagine the smiles when they open that gift!

You can grab your copy of it here: https://amzn.to/3Ls861Y

I hope you've found this Christmas Gift Guide useful. If you've got other must-haves for family festival lovers, do let me know in the comments. 

Oh and the second problem it caused me? Well, that's just the impact on my bank balance as I may have felt the need to buy a few gifts from it for my family. Good job they love family festivals!

Categories: : Gift Guides