There are mere hours left to the kick-off of Ireland's favourite summer festival. If you're one of the thousands of music fans heading home this evening to pack and pamper before you hit the road, we can relate. Here are the eight steps of packing for Picnic you're likely to go through in the coming hours... ______________________________________________________ Step One: Sheer Excitement and the Joys of Life! You're off to EP! The transport is sorted, the tickets are purchased and you've had Bonnie Tyler and Blondie on repeat for the last fortnight. Now your Picnic playlist is on full-blast and it's ready, set, pack! It should be simple, you know exactly what you need... Step Two: Confusion Reigns Actually, you're not at all sure what you need to bring. It's time to go rooting for a pen and paper. This distracts you from the task at hand, yes, but it's really worth it when an hour later you've written down every one of the 57 things you NEED to bring. Now to find said items, no big deal. Step Three: Making a Bags of It Wait a minute; what kind of bag(s) does one bring to a festival? That chic carry-on you bought for your weekend in Paris was not designed to slide through the muck at a campsite... and you haven't carried a backpack since you were forced to take P.E. in your Leaving Cert year. Cue the fumble in the attic for you brother's old sports bag. Step Four: The Fashion Show Before packing outfits it is entirely necessary to try them on and see what works. Dressing for an Irish festival is a dark art, and layers are your friend. Just leave the floral headbands at home. Really. Step Five: Hail, Rain or Shine In addition to the clothing selection, you'll need: a rain jacket, wellington boots, sunglasses, suncream, a warm hoodie, a waterproof bag. Prepare for both Bahamas and a blizzard and you should be just fine. Step Six: Backing off on Beauty Every checklist will give you approximately 17 beauty items you 'need' to bring to a festival. If you want to carry yet another bag weighing a tonne across a campsite then off with you, but you need only a fraction of that. Wipes, dry shampoo, lip balm and sunscreen are the only real essentials.  Everything else is manageable if you prep properly! Indulge in some pampering the night before you go - faking your tan will make you look a little less blue when you step out in short shorts! Paint your nails in some vibrant colours too, and apply false lashes or get yours tinted so you can skip the panda eye look on waking. Step Seven: Feeding Frenzy Food and drink at festivals can set you back a pretty penny, so packing wisely can save you a small fortune. You may not want to waste valuable packing space with water, but it's about as essential as it gets. After that, skip anything complicated and account for a weekend long case of the munchies by bringing lightweight snack packs. A bag of Taytos will never taste as good as they do at a campsite singalong circa 4am. Step Eight: I'll Take You Back to the Start Unless you are some sort of ninja/wizard - you'll pack more than you need to. This is the time to take it back out, remove one item for every two you pack and lighten your load. Once you have your raincoat, your wellies and spare underwear and socks you have the essentials. Eleven hours later, and you're all set! One more sleep party people...