Sunset, Midtown, Ultra: all words that have nothing in common. Until you put each of them in front of the words “music festival”, and you have one hell of a good time. Going to a music festival is like a rite of passage. It is for the hardcore music lovers who want to spend multiple sweaty, exhausting days being surrounded by the tunes that make it all worth it. Broadly speaking, music festivals are all fun and games; that is until you lose your friends in the crowd or security needs to carry you to first aid because you passed out in the middle of the show. There are very few things that you need when you are at a music festival. But these are the five must-haves when you go to your next festival to make sure your weekend goes off without a hitch.

1. A Plan

You need to go in with a plan! It is the only way you can maximize your time at whatever festival you go to. You can’t walk in all willy-nilly expecting to see all the artists you want to see. The best thing to do would be to go on the festival’s website and look at their lineup schedule. It will tell you what time and what stages every artist will be on so you can plan your days accordingly. Festivals are a time to let go and enjoy the music, but a little structure never hurt anybody!

2. Hydration

There is nothing worse than being dehydrated, especially when all you want to do is have fun. Make sure when you are at an all-day festival, you have something to drink at all times (and I don’t mean alcohol!). Usually, the festival will provide you with free water stations to make sure you don’t pass out in the middle of St. Lucia’s set.

3. Your Life Line

When I say your life line, I mean your way of communication. It is most definitely your life line because if you can’t communicate with anyone that you came with—to put it simply—you’re screwed. For most of you, I assume your life line would be your phone. But if your phone is too precious to you or if you just don’t have a phone, get creative! If the festival isn’t spaced out in a relatively large area, you and your friends can get walkie-talkies to have a fun and retro way of finding each other if you forget to use the buddy system.

4. Your Other Life Lines

Your other life lines are your friends. It’s not about where you go, it’s who you go with. That is true for any adventure that you go on, whether it be a festival or a trip to the grocery store. Having your closest friends with you while listening to all your favorite artists is what rounds out the entire experience. They will support you while you fan-girl over twenty one pilots (me), and will go crazy along side you to the songs that brought you together. Plus, they can help you swerve all those way too invasive guys/girls that want to rub all up on you .24 seconds after meeting you.

5. Fun

The final and most important thing that you need to have at a music festival is a good time. It’s cool if you want to wait hours at one stage just to make it to the front for one artist, but, ultimately, its about the music and the memories you make with your friends. Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. Mingle with the people around you. Considering you are all at the same music festival, odds are you might have something in common with that person that you have been eyeing up. You might even meet a new friend all due to your love of music. Or maybe you’ll hear a song by an artist who you’ve heard of but never bothered to listen to. Just like that, you could discover your new favorite artist. Meeting new people and discovering new music all in one weekend of fun with your friends sounds like a pretty good deal. If you take all these tips to your next music festival, you are guaranteed to have the time of your life.