Smart things to bring:

Sunscreen
Sunscreen will save your life at warped tour! You will be out in direct sunlight for all days with little or no shade. Trust us, you need sunscreen; I still have tan lines from a sunburn I had gotten at warped tour 3 years ago!

Backpack
youre going to get bombarded with free swag while youre at warped, so make sure you bring a backpack. A backpack, not a canvas bag, canvas bags can become a hassle and its much easier for people to steal your stuff while youre watching your favorite band. And if youre paranoid that someone will sneak stuff out of your backpack, small padlocks are super cheat. Just dont lose the key.

Art Notepad
This will come in handy when you run into your favorite bands unexpectedly. Plus you wont have a billion autographed papers running around your backpack, getting squished while youre in the pit. However if you dont have or want to get one a notepad, the AP tent offers a warped issue all summer long with every band on warped in it so when you meet a band just flip to their page and let em sign it. Just remember, theyre really easy to get all crumpled up or ripped.

Polaroid Camera
Last year, my boyfriend and I ran into Reel Big Fish, and we had nothing to have him sign. As we desperately searched my backpack, I remembered I had my Polaroid Camera! It was perfect; we got an instant picture and had him sign the blank spot on the bottom. Polaroid pictures make the perfect souvenirs from Warped. Although the only downside, Polaroid film has officially stopped being made so it will become increasingly expensive. Stock up now while you can.

Digital Camera
Although the Polaroid is a grand idea, not everyone has one on hand so if you dont, a digital camera is always good to have. Bands do meet and greets at their merch tents throughout the day so if you want a pic with your favs to show off to your buffs back home remember to bring it and keep it safe when its there. Extra memory cards & batteries for it are also suggested.

Extra Shoes
People always lose their shoes at warped tour! So be prepared and bring an extra pair of shoes. A good choice would be hi-tops like a pair of Chucks. Mostly people lose their shoes in pits from other people stepping on the backs of them. So a shoe that goes up higher eliminates the problem and saves you room and extra set of shoes would take up in your backpack.

Shorts
Wear shorts to keep yourself from baking in the sun. Your sisters jeans are only going to bake you in the sun. But if you really feel you must wear jeans, keep yourself hydrated and cool with water.

Jackets, Hoodies, & Pullovers
Dont bring one. None at all. Its just not worth lugging it around in the heat to wear for like 10 minutes at night. By nighttime you should be nice and sunburnt so that can be your heat source. If you feel you REALLY need one at night, go buy one.. Support the bands you love and buy one of their hoodies instead.

Shirts
- Girls, wear a bikini top underneath your shirt. Itll come in handy when youre frying in the sun, and will save you from getting embarrassing and awkward tan line.
- Guys, tank tops and wifebeaters are a good choice. It saves you from a farmers tan, and it will keep you a lot cooler than regular Ts would.
- I personally an a hypocrite to this one but overshirts are definitely not the best choice in apparel. They get caught on everything especially in the pits, they get really hot and cause you to sweat like crazy which in turn causes dehydration, and that is your worst enemy at warped which brings us to our next item to bring

Water
Water at Warped can cost up to $2! So stock your back with a water bottle that you can refill through out the day. Make sure its less than 20 fl.oz. Though, or else staff will throw it away on during your bag check. Like Ive stated before, I cant express how much you need to keep yourself hydrated throughout the day. Sweating will cause you to dehydrated and thus sapping your energy. Nothing worse then being at warped all day and not having energy to go in the pit for a band you love. Ive seen too many kids pass out at warped from being dehydrated over the years. So keep this and mind and give the paramedics on duty at warped an easy day. Drink some water.

Snacks
Trail mix, jerky, fruit snacks, granola bars. Anything small that you can munch on that WILL NOT melt. If it has the potential to melt it has the potential of ruining everything in your backpack.

Money
some people save up all year to splurge Warped Tour! Not only will you have a crap load of bands to by shirts from, but you also have other vendors that sell merch that are sometimes at amazing deals. Not only that but food and drink are kind of costly, and if youre of age beer at warped is like $4-6 a cup. Oh and bring cash, NONE of the vendors take any kind of bank card.

Wallets
If youre a guy, a wallet chain is highly advised. Nothing worse than having your wallet stolen or it falling out of your pocket and not having money for the rest of the day. Not to mention losing your wallet just plain sucks all around.

Bandanas & Headbands
These are some of my favorite items to have at warped. Bandanas have a thousand and one uses. I generally keep one on my head because it will keep sweat out of your eyes and reduce burn area for the sun to hit, a headband will also suffice.

What To Do In Preparation For Warped:

1.    Make sure you get a good nights sleep, so youll be rested for the next day.

2.    Get up hella early! The traffic to Warped can be monstrous, and can the wait can be up to and hour long.

3.    Eat a big breakfast, food at warped can be really expensive and most of the time they do not allow you to bring your own food. Make sure you eat a big breakfast that will hold you over until Warped is over and you can binge on pizza!

4.    Set out the things youre going to bring with you the night before. You dont want to get to warped and realize you forgot something like your camera or sunscreen.

5.    Carpool. Cram as many people as legally possible(or illegally, its entirely up to you if you want to risk getting pulled over and missing band at warped cuz you had to wait for a ticket from a cop) into the car. Parking can sometimes be a nightmare. So if you all go together you can avoid that. Also public transportation is usually also provided in some areas. Like for example, in Ventura, CA the train literally stops RIGHT across the street from Warped.

6.    If your anything like me, energy drinks or coffee(any from of high caffeine) are essential in the morning. Bring a 4 pack for your wait in line to help wake up.

Good Ideas For Once You Get To Warped

1.    Get there 3 hours early. The line to get into warped can be really long, so make sure you get there early enough so that you can get in on time and not miss any of your favorite bands. Plus this is a great way to make new friends and meet people that work for Warped.

2.    Save your money unless utterly necessary. People come by the whole time youre in line and try and sell you a cd or stickers. Unless you truly decide you need it dont get it. You dont want to end up inside warped and be like Damn, I wish I hadnt bought this damn sticker/CD. Now I cant afford that one of a kind NOFX hoodie

3.    RUN TO THE GIANT INFLATABLE WALL OF BANDS! Seriously, run! Get in there and write down all of the set times for the bands you want to see. It can become a swarm of sweaty, icky people so make sure you get there early. Its get in and get out, no one likes people who just stand there while there are 20 more people who need to get their set times. The quickest most simple thing you can do is snap a quick cell phone pic of it. If two of your favorite bands are playing at the same time and you absolutely can not decide on who youd rather see, have a coin handy. I use this method almost every year.

4.    Find the official Warped Tour goody bags. Epitaph occasionally offers these bags as well. They have programs and other goodies inside them. The programs can come in handy when you need something for bands to sign. Also like stated earlier AP tent offers a special issue for free that features every band on warped.

5.    Make a meeting spot with your friends to meet at when someone gets lost. Warped will be super crowded and you can easily lost. I lost a friend one time around noontime and we didnt find him until warped was over. So make sure you have a meeting spot. Its almost inevitable to lose friends there though. You may both like different bands playing at the same time so youll have to split up.

6.    When your not watching a band and you have some time to kill, go for a walk through the rows of vendors. Make sure you stop at every one! There can be major give a ways and deals you dont want to miss. Plus warped is a cesspool of free merch and contests. I won a guitar signed by Andrew WK a few years back all because I was bored and filled out a two minute survey. Its seriously that easy.

7.    When its time to watch a band make sure you have a good spot. A good spot isnt necessarily the front row. The front row can become a painful, sweaty smash of you and your friends. Plus all the crowd surfers usually fall on you. Nothing worse than a steel-toed boot from an oi punk to the eye. It isnt fun, and it will be the longest most painful and awkward 15 minutes of your life.

8.    Make sure you get your merch before the headliners go up, merch booths pack up early. Generally right around sundown.

Final Notes

If you missed a band because of time conflict with another band, just plain forgot what their set time was, or you didnt hit up a merch booth up for all their neat swag in time before they packed up, you can always try and make it out to another warped date to fill in the blanks so you can enjoy warped to the fullest.

Hope to see you all out on the tour this summer. Have a safe and fun time. Dont forget to say hi to Kevin Lyman if you see him and thank him, hes the man behind the magic. Without him, there would be no warped tour.