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.