It really is heartbreaking when the only thing standing between you and the chance to reach for Lana Del Rey’s young and beautiful hand is cash (or lack thereof). But, there is still hope. With a few tricks you’ll be within feet of G-Eazy, I mean it.
TICKETS
For a lot of these festivals, the general admission passes themselves can cost upwards of 300 dollars. Now, unless you’ve had fifteen cell phones ready to dial to be the lucky twenty-five caller for KISS FM’s Lolla Locker and guess the code right, we have to pay up.
Luckily, affording festival season can be doable.
One option is to look into payment plans. Though this requires you to plan months ahead, paying a hundred dollars a month is a lot easier than paying it all at once. Festivals including Electric Forest, Ultra, Hangout Fest, and Bonnaroo all utilize EZ Pay service. This tip will probably help out for next festival season.
Next, here is a tip best left to the procrastinators of the world. A few weeks (or even a few days) before the festival there are always people looking to sell their tickets last minute and want to just make up half of what they lost. So, keep your eyes peeled. The best places to look are Facebook ticket exchange pages and forums, word of mouth, or even craigslist. Stay away from sites like Stubhub and Ticketmaster, they tend to jack up the prices and you pay a huge processing fee. Though this is a great way to get cheap passes at face value or below, keep an eye out for scammers. There is no guarantee when you are buying from a third party.
TRAVEL
On top of the ticket prices, a lot of times we have to travel pretty far for these festivals. Though it is fun to make a weekend trip out of these events, it gets expensive real fast. The best way to keep it affordable is carpooling. Get a big group of friends to chip in for gas and head out on the road. If you are the only music junkie in the group, there is a good chance that people from your area are heading that way and want to make the trip cheaper as well. People post on the various Facebook pages looking for road trip buddies all of the time. Can you say road trippppp?!
LODGING
This is the one that puts the price range over the edge if the tickets haven’t already. Paying to stay somewhere may be the toughest feat.
A lot of these festivals have lodging packages where you can pay one sum of money that includes a hotel or condo for the trip as well as your general admission pass. These are, unfortunately, out of reach for a lot of us.
Though it is a little bit more work, your best bet is finding a hotel or condo near by yourself. Using sites like Kayak and booking early can really bring down prices, especially if you share a room with a group. It may be cramped, but at least, you didn’t have to sell any body parts in the process. If you happen to stay farther away, there are typically shuttle passes you can purchase for a reasonable price. Take our advice and check out the coolest HomeAway house rentals for festival season.
FASHION
The best part about music festivals is the fashion. Seeing what all the stars are wearing, the latest trends, and crafting that flower crown is the best feeling. It is hard not to drop your entire life savings into the perfect Coachella-esque outfit. But, fight the urge. Try to stay away from a new wardrobe and use what you already have. Most likely, a lot of these trends you can craft with some fake flowers or distress your own denim with some scissors. Check out this denim DIY and make a girl’s night out of it!
Best of luck! I can’t wait to compare flower crowns underneath Flume’s feet.
