Lightning in a Bottle 2025: Summer Festival Survival Guide

With spring well underway, and summer quickly approaching, here comes music festival season! Whether or not you’re attending Lightning in a Bottle, summer festivals are fun and unforgettable, but are by no means without challenge. Appreciating such vast quantities of music and art in such concentrated periods of time is an endurance game, and hopefully, these tips and tricks will help you make the most out of your festival time, maximize your safety and comfortability, and hopefully ease some of that stress about ‘what’ and ‘how much’ to pack.

Photo taken by Jake West

1. Scheduling and Organizer Apps

Let’s face it, some of the artists you want to see will inevitably overlap on the festival schedule and you’ll be forced to make hard decisions. Additionally, the bigger artists usually play on the last day of the festival; how do you preserve your energy for your favorite acts? Keep a schedule, or alternatively, get the app for your festival. Lightning in a Bottle has an app with a live map of the festival grounds that allows you to create a customizable schedule and set notifications for show times, surprise performances, and special guests. Organizing your phone and your game plan before you go will allow you to prioritize the artists you want to see, keep you notified of important events, and help plan your travel route to minimize as much walking as possible. 

2. SHOES

Bring multiple pairs of shoes. Last year I expected to be primarily using my Hoka sandals, but I discovered too late that they caused bad blisters on the back of my ankles when I was dancing. Fortunately, I packed my rainbow Crocs and ended up using those the most. Having multiple pairs of shoes will help you pivot if a particular pair isn’t working well. You’re going to want to bring an assortment of cute/cool shoes for your outfits, shower shoes (if you even get to shower), and comfortable shoes to wear around camp. It might be tempting to pack just one super comfortable pair of shoes for the entire weekend to save packing space, but you’ll find variety in your footwear will help you navigate the changing situations across the day.

Photo taken by Jamal Eid

3. Pashmina

Do yourself a favor, and get a pashmina. Everyone walking around an overnight festival is carrying one, and not just because it’s stylish. This lightweight, colorful shawl provides shade from the sun and works as a mask to protect your face from dust. If you soak it in water you can wear it around your neck to cool yourself down, and it makes a great seat or blanket when you need to sit down in the sharp grass. And that’s just during the day; when it gets cold you can wrap it around yourself like a blanket. It’s lightweight, warm when it’s cold, cool when it’s hot and incredibly versatile.  If the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy were written today, it would have recommended a pashmina instead of a towel.  

4. Canned Food

Ok, this might be a weird one, but hear me out. After raving for 12 hours straight, the last thing you’re going to want to do is heat up food, let alone do the dishes. Canned food is cooked, ready-to-eat, and usually tastes great cold (which might be a relief if you’re in the hot desert). Chef Boyardee doesn’t even require a can opener, tastes (arguably) better cold, and when you’re done you just throw the can in your recycling bag. Easy and done. Additionally, they’re easy to pack in your car, can almost all be eaten with a spoon, and are easily warmed up with a camping burner, if you NEED hot food.

Photo taken by Jamal Eid

5. Earplugs, Earplugs, Earplugs

I can’t stress this enough: bring earplugs. Sure, you might be ‘built different’ and think you don’t need them, but they’re not just for cutting the sound at loud sets. Music is bumping 24/7 at festivals—if not from the stages, then from the tents of your neighbors. Sleeping, even in short bursts, is crucial to maintaining your endurance across a festival and earplugs will significantly increase your ability to sleep when the stage nearby (or your neighbors) are blasting some four-on-the-floor at every hour of existence. That said, earplugs are important for maintaining your long-term ear health and should be worn at all times at a concert, but I’m not your mom, do what you want (but bring them for sleep, your father and I are worried!!!).

6. Dry Ice

If handled carefully, dry ice will keep the food and drinks in your cooler cold significantly longer than just regular ice. Make sure you’re using a ventilated cooler (most brands like Igloo are), and line the bottom with dry ice. Cover that in a layer of regular ice, place your items, and then cover those in another layer of ice. This should significantly increase the lifespan of your cold foods and drinks. Also, a caution: don’t sleep with your cooler of dry ice in a sealed tent or vehicle, keep it outside in a well-ventilated area. As dry ice melts, it releases carbon dioxide, which can be dangerous in a sealed environment. More info on how to handle dry ice safely here.