Echo Falls and Bestival

I spent last weekend at Bestival, courtesy of Echo Falls and their Take A Moment campaign.  I had never been to a festival before so I was a tad apprehensive about how I'd find it but people were v. helpful about suggesting festival essentials in advance.  I packed my enormous rucksack with tons of stuff including lots of baby wipes, bin bags and sun cream and set off to the Isle of Wight last Friday.  I needn't have spent so much time worrying about it beforehand: it was wonderful.

Big, isn't it?!

We camped in fine style.  Charlie, Phil and Simon had done all the hard work for us and set the tents up, complete with airbeds and sleeping bags, plus a fab gazebo area in the middle where we loafed around and ate cake for breakfast.  The weekend was ours to explore and enjoy and I think we all did a pretty good job of it!

We accessorised our tent slightly with some vintage bunting that Lucy made me and some solar powered ladybird lights, plus a lot of mess (mostly mine).

It turns out that the battery on an iphone lasts a surprisingly long time when you turn off the wifi, 3G and data roaming.  Who knew?  Not me: I don't think I've ever done it before.  I usually have to charge mine twice a day I use it that much.  Handily we had a spot at the back of the Echo Falls Social Boutique tent to charge our phones and use their free wifi for the odd Twitter and Instagram update. It was so much fun in there - amazing face painting/ eyelashes/feather hair extensions were on offer, plus a photobooth!

Ed and Ellie looking amazing in their bird costumes and makeup.

Why I do suit moustaches?  It's really odd!

I'm a bit sad that we didn't get a massive group shot but there's no way everyone would have fitted in.  We just about managed to squeeze half of us (me, Kelly and her partner, Sarah, Steph and her friend, Gem and Char) into this one.

The thing I liked so much about Bestival is that there was so much to see, do and explore.  We saw lots of live music - I particularly enjoyed Gabrielle Aplin and Friendly Fires, massively different as they are - but it was far from just being a music festival.  Take a path through the woods and this was your view:

Even the things in plain sight were unexpected. We walked past a normal looking marquee and then five minutes later were sitting down enjoying afternoon tea with proper old-fashioned waitress service whilst we were entertained by a burlesque show! 

I'm not showing you semi-naked lady photos so cast your gaze upon this cake instead.  Dairy free - hurrah! - and utterly divine.

I'll share my costume with you later in the week but here's a sneak peek of it and a few other Wildlife themed photos:

Sarah and Gem looking amazing in their animal inspired accessories.

This made me laugh so much: an actual zebra crossing.  Those boys were putting the effort in! 

The whole weekend was tremendously good fun from start to finish.  The weather was perfect, the music was brilliant, the food was marvellous and the company was even better.  There really is nothing like spending time with people you really like, even if in some cases you've only just met them.  Isn't blogging brilliant for that sort of thing?

A little bit of Portaloo philosophy

I'm so, so grateful to Echo Falls for inviting me along. It was a fabulous treat to be a part of it and to be allowed to share the moments with some of my favourite blogging pals.  I'm a lucky woman.

The only bad thing about Bestival? (well apart from nearly turning into an icicle during the night?  It was so cold!)  It's a long way from Liverpool.  This was how early we had to get up on Monday morning to catch the first ferry off the Isle of Wight and head home...

Totally worth it though! And given the tragic things that have happened to some Liverpool festival-goers on their journey home, I absolutely cannot complain about being a little short of sleep.

How to...make a (really easy) floral headband

In just over two weeks I am doing something I have never done before.  I'm going to a festival.  Bestival to be precise, courtesy of the very lovely folk at Echo Falls, and I am majorly excited about it! 

Festival fashion will need quite some pondering.  I go camping a lot so I'm well prepared with waterproofs and warm things, but the daytime will be tricky.  I just don't suit the stereotypical festival stuff - every "must have" list seems to feature cut off denim shorts and fringed things and bralets and I am not wearing any of that.  I'm sure I can get around it though.

The thing that gives me most grief is that I can't wear beautiful headbands.  In an ideal world, something like this Crown & Glory beauty would be the first thing I packed.  Sadly it's not: I have a stupid shaped head.  Headbands end up pinging up the back of it and then either fly off and hit someone in the face or end up perched on top of my head in a rather drunken fashion.  And the ones I would really love to wear, the delicate chain, coin type ones, just end up tangled in my hair with me swearing almightily at them.

Never fear!  I decided that I would make my own.  To solve the pinging problem, I've gone for proper leather thonging that can be tied in a good old knot, will not come undone and will stay securely on my head.  It will work. 

Here's what you need:

Really quick and really easy to make.  Even better, really cheap!  The leather thonging was 89p a metre and 2 metres makes three headbands.  The silky flowers were 89p a bunch.  Now I must admit I didn't price up similar things in the shops but I'm fairly confident they'd be more expensive.  Plus, this way you get to pick exactly what you want in terms of colours and that's always fun.

Even more fun is when your Mum hears about your craft project and gives you a bag full of stuff she just happened to have in a box somewhere.  So I made another one!