The Ultimate Festival Bathroom Hack List (Yes, We’re Going There)

As we count down the days until Bonnaroo and the anticipation builds, I thought I would share another handy festival hack to help you survive your time on the Farm in Tennessee, or really any other music festival you may attend.

Festival Bathroom Realities: What You’re Actually Dealing With

This time we're talking about the party potty. While I suppose those two things, the party and the potty, don't have to be mutually exclusive - I mean it is a music festival and I have seen some pretty weird things... what I want to share with you now is a guide on how to survive the potties.

READ MORE: A First Timer's Guide to Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival

While Bonnaroo has some very nice full-service bathrooms inside Centeroo complete with flushing toilets and sinks with both hot and cold water, what I want to focus on is making sure you have the best porta potty experience possible because the odds are if you're going in Outeroo or near one of the stages, it's probably going to be in a porta potty.

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Essential Items for a Porta Potty Survival Kit

I have a few things that I like to always have on me, either in my fanny pack or my hydration backpack, to make sure that my bathroom adventures can be as easy as possible. The first of these is either a small, inexpensive headlamp or a small clip-on light attached to the hydration pack.

READ MORE: This Dollar Store Hack Can Help Keep You Dry at Roo

Why You Should NEVER Use Your Phone as a Flashlight

This little light could save you a lot of headache and anxiety, especially if you are clumsy and accident-prone like I am. I have a massive fear of using my cell phone to light the way in a dark porta potty and then accidentally fumbling it into the abyss. So I make sure that my phone is securely put away before I ever step foot inside a porta potty, and I just flip on my little light.

Of course walking into a porta potty at a music festival is always going to be a crap shoot, and you never know what you might find behind that big plastic door. I like to keep a small travel-sized pack of antibacterial surface wipes in my bag, just in case.

Bonus Tip: Practice the Pee Funnel Before You Go

Another great item to have handy for festival porta potty experiences, at least if you're a woman, is one of those little pee funnels. They make reusable silicone ones, or you can pick up some that are single-use and disposable. Using one of these means you now have the advantage of going standing up.

READ MORE: Save Your Skin and Prevent Painful Thigh Rub with this Hack

I also always make sure that I have a travel-sized pack of tissues inside my fanny pack. These make great toilet paper in a pinch, and let's be real, when you are spending a long weekend with 80-100,000 of your closest friends, you are bound to end up in a toilet paperless porta potty.

I cannot stress how important this next one is: hand sanitizer. After you have done what you set out to do inside the festival porta potty, washing your hands is the best idea, and while I have used the non-potable hand washing stations outside the porta potties, I feel better knowing that I can de-germ my hands with an alcohol based sanitizer too.

Smell Defense: Baby Wipes and Essential Oils

Some other things that can make a porta potty experience a little better also include baby wipes, and a little bit of essential oil or perfume on a neck gaiter to avoid any unusual smells.

Mouthpiece Management: Protect Your Hydration Pack

My last piece of festival porta potty survival involves your hydration backpack. If you do not have someone to hold your pack while you go, please take extra precautions with the mouthpiece. Tuck it into the backpack before you enter the porta potty or bite down on it and be sure to keep it in your mouth, but whatever you do, don't just go into the porta potty with your hydration mouthpiece just flopping freely all about!

That's it. That's all of my tips for surviving a music festival porta potty. Do you have any you'd like to add? You can email me: kat@103gbfrocks.com. You can also find more festival survival tips and tricks here, and keep scrolling to find my list of fanny pack essentials.