Recently I stumbled across an online post on our neighbourhood website written by pensioners bemoaning the extortionate costs of going to festivals. There are still ‘silver’ revellers out there like me secretly pining for their misspent youth who’d like to keep on rocking but can’t afford to do so because cash is generally being saved for heating/food or carer costs. It really got me thinking that life’s far too short to spend all your time hoarding money for those sensible things. Occasionally, you just have to throw caution to the wind and go splurge on some fun.
This post is dedicated to all those oldies who’d love to go to a festival but think it costs way too much. Here’s how super-scrimpers like us did a day out at this year’s Victorious Festival on a shoestring budget:
EARLY BIRDS – Leaving it to the last minute to decide to buy tickets for most festivals is going to cost you more money plus there’s always the risk that any day tickets may quickly sell out. The majority of festivals start selling tickets almost a year in advance which enables punters to get entry at a discounted cost.
These days many people at festivals are not there specifically for the bands, they go along either as part of a holiday break or just for a cracking day out. Music just becomes an incidental background soundtrack to whatever else you want to do so unless you definitely want to go along to see a particular artist then just pick a day to suit and buy your ticket in advance.
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| Saturday's Line Up - Aug 25 |
CREDIT – Being a super scrimper I’m not one to advocate people getting into debt but there are ways to spread the costs of buying tickets. If shelling out a large chunk of dosh isn’t for you, see if there are instalment options you can take advantage of. A lot of festivals offer payment plans or failing that there’s always your flexible plastic friend. Buy tickets on a credit card then set up your own monthly direct debit to pay it off in chunks before the festival date.
TRAVEL – Aside from the entry ticket, the cost of getting there is likely to be your next biggest expense. Portsmouth is not a city that welcomes motorists. There are few free on-street parking spots, the car parks cost a small fortune for a day’s parking and even the festival’s own park & ride scheme is enough to make your wallet shrivel like an over-cooked roast potato.
Public transport usually derided for being costly or unreliable can actually work out fairly economical if you are retired. Senior railcards or National Express coachcards available for anyone aged 60 or over will get you a third off the price of a train/coach ticket plus let’s not forget free bus passes that allow travellers to travel off peak for nothing (or very little). The Government has capped bus fares at £3 each way and this too can be advantageous if you don’t live too far from the festival site.
Coming from Chichester, we drove to a location closer to Portsmouth with cheaper all-day parking then took the bus into the city. £12 for four single bus tickets (2 adults) plus £2.50 to park for 24 hours. Although it has a really good bus station, Chichester does not appear to have a night bus to Portsmouth or anywhere. More’s the pity really because night buses are a great way to cut congestion and allow motorists a night off. Perhaps Stagecoach should take a leaf out of Nottingham’s book and put on special festival buses during the Victorious weekend. They have special buses to Goodwood events from the train station so why not to the annual Victorious festival?
FOOD & DRINK – Yep, a festival pint and some nosh are going to make a large dent in your bank balance. Price for a pint at Victorious around £7.50 and food prices somewhere between £11 and £18. As you can’t bring in any food or drink then a couple of tips to keep the grub bill down. Firstly, the most obvious one is to have a hearty carb heavy breakfast before leaving home or get down to Portsmouth early and visit the local ‘Spoons’. Having fuelled up in advance that leaves a smaller hunger window to satisfy later on in the day.
Sharing is caring at festivals especially when it comes to meal times. We normally do a reconnaissance lap of all the food stalls on arrival, mentally noting prices and seeing if what’s on offer could be shared. Meals such as pizzas, fish n chips or pots of pasta are good for this. Cheaper to go halves than fork out a small fortune for fatty unhealthy foods, the sort that would be on the Obesity Police’s most wanted list.
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| Festival site map |
On the other hand, water is FREE as you can bring in empty drinks bottles then refill from the numerous drinking fountains dotted around the festival site. As most of us oldies are on medication then alcohol tends to be a thing of the past. Plus, when it’s mega hot also leaves you feeling dehydrated. We limit festival pints to a maximum of two which we also share.
BUDGET BEFOREHAND – If the thought of all this scrimping does your head in then setting up a kitty at home so that you can set aside a few quid every month may be a better idea. Putting a fiver a month into an old jam jar for a year should give you enough cash (£60) to cover a meal plus a couple of pints.
GETTING HOME – I know I’ve already mentioned travel but if you are using public transport then best to check before going to the festival if there are any changes to normal services. The last train or bus home may depart well before the headline act finishes and is likely to be rammed with booze fuelled revellers so bear this in mind. If you are using the no 23 bus service back towards Havant then head down to Southsea Parade Pier so you can catch the bus at the start of its route. This bus makes it way from Southsea through Portsmouth then onto Hilsea and Havant, a very popular route with festival goers. Older revellers or those with kids tend to leave the festival site around 9pm which makes catching the bus a most interesting bun fight.
Just totting up what was spent for our Saturday at the Victorious Festival. This list should give you an idea of what it might cost one person for a fun day out:
- Saturday advance day ticket - £70
- All day parking - £2.50
- Bus to & from car park - £6
- Pot of crumble & ice cream - £8.50
- Pint and a half of cider - £12
- Large fish and chips - £10.50
- Coffee and slice of cake - £8
- Total cost of day out £117.50
We could have slimmed down our bill by leaving out the crumble, coffee and cake but hey, even super scrimpers have got to have some small indulgences in life.
Neighbours – get that old pickle jar out now and start putting away your spare change then you too can go to next year’s Victorious Festival. Yep, the super early bird tickets are already on sale. Hurrah!!
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| Next year's date - hurry super early bird tickets now on sale |
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