Festival tickets alone can run to £200+ before you've packed a single thing. Then comes the gear: a tent, a sleeping bag, a trolley to haul it all from the car park, a power bank so your phone survives past Friday lunchtime. Buy it all for one weekend in a field and you've spent more on kit than the ticket.
Which is exactly why renting your festival gear makes so much sense. Most of it comes out once a year, takes up a cupboard the other 51 weekends, and comes home caked in mud. Here's what to rent for a UK festival in 2026 — what it costs, and how to pack like you've done it before.
The short answer
Rent the bulky, occasional-use kit — tent, sleeping bag, trolley and cool box — rather than buying. A weekend's worth of rented festival gear typically costs £35–£80, against several hundred pounds to buy it all new. And you skip lugging muddy gear home to store for a year.
| Item | Why rent it | Typical UK weekend rate (2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Festival tent (2–4 person, pop-up) | Bulky, used once a year | £15–£40 |
| Sleeping bag + mat | Stored rarely, loses loft | £6–£12 |
| Folding trolley / wagon | Awkward to store, used once | £10–£20 |
| Cool box / electric coolbox | Seasonal | £8–£15 |
| Power bank / portable charger | Pricey for big capacity | £5–£12 |
| Camping chair | Cheap but a faff to store | £2–£5 |
What's actually worth renting
The tent
The big one. A decent pop-up festival tent costs £40–£150 to buy and lives in a cupboard the rest of the year. Rent one and you can take a quick-pitch 2-man this year and a roomier 4-man with a porch next year — without owning either, or wrestling with poles in the dark.
A trolley or wagon
The unsung hero. Hauling a tent, cool box and a crate of drinks half a mile from the car park is the worst part of any festival. A folding trolley turns three sweaty trips into one. Nobody wants to own one for a single weekend a year — perfect rental.
Power banks and charging
Phones die fast at festivals, and the on-site charging tents charge a fortune. A high-capacity power bank (or two) keeps you contactable and your camera rolling all weekend. Big-capacity banks are pricey to buy for occasional use.
Sleeping and cool storage
A warm sleeping bag, a self-inflating mat and a cool box for your drinks are the difference between a great weekend and a miserable one. All cheap to rent, all annoying to store.
What it might cost — a worked example
Two friends heading to a weekend festival might rent:
- Pop-up 3-person tent: £30
- 2 sleeping bags + mats at £9: £18
- Folding trolley: £15
- Cool box: £10
- Power bank: £8
That's around £80 for a fully kitted weekend between two — versus £300–£450 to buy the same gear new, most of which you'd use once before it ages in the loft. For occasional festival-goers, renting wins easily — the same logic we ran in our rent vs buy breakdown.
How to rent festival gear the smart way
- Lock in your dates the moment your ticket lands. The whole country wants the same tents and trolleys on the same three or four weekends, so the calendar fills quickly. Reserving early is the difference between getting the pop-up you wanted and panic-buying at a service station on the way down.
- Collect from someone on your route. A host near you — or near the motorway you're already driving — saves the postage and the hassle of returning bulky kit. Browse what's available to rent locally before you commit to buying anything.
- Do a dummy pitch in the garden. Five minutes with the tent at home means you're not deciphering instructions by phone-torch in a field at midnight.
- Read the listing for what's actually included. Pegs, the inner, charging cables, gas — confirm it all up front so nothing's missing when you arrive.
- Bring it back dry and you'll be welcome next year. Hosts remember the renters who look after their gear, which makes booking again far easier.
Plenty of this kit doubles up for a normal camping trip, and there's more depth on tents and sleeping setups in our camping gear rental guide. If your summer also involves hosting at home, the party and event rental guide covers the gear for that.
Got gear sitting idle? Rent it out
If you already own a festival tent, a trolley and a couple of power banks that only come out once a summer, they could be earning between your own trips. Festival and camping kit is in heavy demand every summer weekend — exactly the seasonal, bulky stuff people would rather rent than buy.
We've covered realistic earnings in How Much Can You Earn Renting Out Your Stuff, and you can list your gear in minutes.
Frequently asked questions
Is it cheaper to rent or buy festival gear?
For occasional festival-goers, renting is far cheaper. Buying a tent, trolley, sleeping bags and a power bank can cost £300–£450+, and it all needs storing year-round. If you only go to one or two festivals a year, you'd keep that kit for many seasons before buying works out cheaper than the occasional £35–£80 hire.
What festival gear should I rent instead of buy?
Rent the bulky, occasionally-used items: the tent, trolley or wagon, sleeping bag and cool box. These cost the most to buy and are the biggest pain to store and transport, so they give you the most benefit from renting.
How much does it cost to rent a tent for a festival in the UK?
In 2026, a pop-up festival tent typically rents for around £15–£40 for a weekend depending on size. Renting locally from someone nearby is usually the cheapest and easiest option.
Where can I rent festival equipment near me?
You can hire from specialist rental companies, but renting locally from people nearby is usually cheaper and easier to collect. Browse festival and camping gear to rent on Rentify.
What should I pack for a UK festival?
Beyond the big kit (tent, trolley, sleeping bag, cool box, power bank), pack a head torch, wellies, sun cream, refillable water bottle, bin bags and a small first-aid kit. Rent the expensive bulky items and buy the cheap consumables.
The bottom line
A festival should be about the music and the mates — not a £400 shopping trip for gear you'll use once and store for a year. Rent the tent, the trolley and the big kit, enjoy the weekend, and hand it back muddy. No clutter, no waste, and more left in the beer budget.
Festival season sorted. Find festival gear to rent near you →
Ionut-Cosmin Lixandru — Burton upon Trent, UK Founder of Rentify. Building a marketplace to help people rent items locally, earn from unused things, and connect with local service providers more easily.