Most festival group chats lead with 'how much should we budget?' and the answers vary wildly - because the question depends on which festival, which tier of camping, and how much of the on-site economy you participate in. We've worked through two genuine budgets below: a £200/person weekender (Latitude, Wilderness, smaller boutique festivals) and a £500/person full Glasto-tier weekend.
Budget tier 1: ~£200 per person (mid-size weekender)
Festival ticket: £140-160 (one-day weekenders typically £100, full weekenders around £150-180). Travel: £20 (coach or shared car, return). Pre-festival kit shared: £15 (gas, tarp, gaffer tape - shared across the group, tent already owned). On-site food + drink for 2 days: £40 (porridge in the morning + one main meal a day + a couple of pints). That's ~£215 a head if you're disciplined. Most groups land at £230-260 once 'one more round' kicks in.
Budget tier 2: ~£500 per person (full Glasto-tier)
Festival ticket: £378-430 (Glasto + coach package, or ticket + your own transport). Pre-festival kit: £30-50 shared. On-site food + drink for 3 full days: £150-180 (~£50/day - one main meal + a couple of pints + snacks + the inevitable burger at 2am). Cash float for the cashless ATM failures: £40. Total: £600-680 in practice. Calling it 'a £500 weekend' is the honest pre-trip framing; calling it 'a £700 weekend' is the honest post-trip number.
What actually moves the budget
Drinking pints on-site at £7 vs bringing a pre-mixed flask at £0.80: ~£15/day. Eating at the food trucks for every meal vs cooking porridge + pasta from the campsite stove: ~£25/day. Buying the £25 official poster vs not: £25. Latte from the queue vs instant from the camp: £4/day. Across a three-day weekend, the difference between 'on-site economy' and 'cooking from a stove' is roughly £100 per person.
What to log as a group expense vs individual
Tickets, coach, shared kit, group meals at the campsite, communal beer runs - all group expenses. Individual food trucks, individual coffees, individual rounds at the bar - leave as personal spending. The litmus test: if everyone in the group benefits, log it. If just one or two people benefit, leave it personal. EvenRound's per-expense participants field handles the in-between case (two people had a kebab, the others were at a set).
Pick the tier that matches your group's actual habits, not the one you wish you had. £200 budget groups need a stove and a pre-mixed flask discipline; £500 budget groups can buy whatever they want. EvenRound tracks both equally well - the £200 group just has fewer log entries.
Common questions
What's a realistic per-person budget for a UK festival weekend?
For a smaller weekender (Latitude, Wilderness, End of the Road) expect £200-260 per person all-in. For a full Glasto-tier weekend with on-site food and drink, expect £600-700. The honest pre-trip number is usually about 15-20% above the 'I think it'll cost me' figure - the gap is the on-site rounds you didn't budget for.
How much do drinks cost at UK festivals in 2026?
Pints are typically £6.50-£7.50. Spirits and mixers are £8-10. Bottles of wine at the bigger festivals are £25-35. Cocktails at the boutique festival bars are £12-15. Three pints a day for three days lands you somewhere between £60 and £70 just on beer - worth knowing before you go.
Is it worth buying the official VIP camping or glamping upgrade?
Depends on group size and how you camp. For a £200-tier group, no - it doubles the per-person cost and most of the value is in the bathroom queue, which is bearable. For a £500-tier group already spending big, the glamping upgrade adds £150-300 per person but removes the tent, the camping kit, and most of the queue. Worth running the maths against just upgrading your hotel for one night before and one night after.
What's the easiest way to split costs in a festival group?
Run one EvenRound group from the moment tickets are bought. Log the big shared items as expenses (tickets, kit, group fund top-ups). Leave personal spending personal (your bar rounds, your merch). At the end of the festival, run the smart-settlement; everyone sees one number, pays on the train home. Done in 20 minutes.