Festivals have become a rite of passage for pretty much everyone. UK summertime is a minefield of music festivals, and as soon as the sun begins to threaten to shine, the ‘F’ word is all that’s on everyone’s lips.  We all want to sprawl/languish in front of a stage drinking cider/nibbling strawberries (delete as appropriate) while the latest bands fill the air with carefully arranged noise don’t we? Well, everyone at Spoonfed does and if you’re reading, then I’m guessing you do too.

Formerly the domain of skint hippies and roaming travellers in tie dye and body paint, todays festivals are a sparkling world of designer wellies, hot tubs, wasted celebs and cocktails.

The very excellent Lovebox Weekender commissioned a survey of 3,000 festival fanatics to discover just how much was being spent on attending music festivals in 2009. It will come as no surprise to learn that a hell of a lot of cash is being poured into looking the part and getting suitably wasted at festivals. The poll reveals that the average punter will spend an enormous £600 on a festival weekend, with tickets cited as the biggest expense (£140), followed by drinks (£130), travel (£100) and food (£60).

Female festival fiends are apparently being influenced by the ‘Alexa Chung’ effect, and spending an average of £170 before even leaving the house. A third of all female respondents admitted to spending £220 on a new, pre-festival kit of designer wellies, waterproofs, tents and outfits.

Looking festival fit has never been so expensive.

Lowri Clarke

Read our preview of Lovebox Weekender here.