The Coachella Music and Arts Festival sounds like the best time ever...You get to hang out with your good friends and listen to good music, take photos with awesome art and enjoy amazing weather all the while being surrounded by happy people who are just stoked to be doing the same thing.
Unfortunately, that whole package comes with quite the price tag.
As Coachella has gotten more and more popular over the years, the admission price for a weekend ticket continues to go up and up. For a three-day pass alone this year, the cost adds up to about $400. When you account for the cost of a hotel or camping, transportation as well as food and beverage, you're looking to spend somewhere around $1000 (according to our avid Coachella-goer sources).
Cue Kristen Wiig's forever relateable GIF...
That's a steep price to pay for a weekend of fun—fun you can certainly re-create on your own.
No, we can't bring you Lady Gaga or Kendrick Lamar in real life, and we certainly can't build a massive Ferris Wheel in your backyard, we can give you some ideas for celebrating Coachella from the comfort of your own home.
Here are our tips for attending Nochella 2017:
A Dad Hat: Flower crowns are out and these embellished dad hats are all the rage for Coachella this year. Since you won't be spending the money to attend, use that extra change to buy yourself a cute, cheap cap to protect your face while you soak up the sun.
A Polaroid Camera for the 'Gram: If you don't take photos, did it even happen? The Kardashians have always said you can never take a bad photo with a Polaroid, so make sure you really step up your picture game this weekend with something like an Instax Mini. Just snap a pic, let it develop and then use your iPhone to make a photo collage of the final products on your Instagram. Boom! Proof you had a great weekend. Just don't forget to buy some film to go with it!
A Pool + Cool Floaties: OK, even if you don't have a pool in your actual backyard, it won't be too hard to find one (check out some sweet hotels in your area if you're worried). The only other thing you need to make sure you have is a couple cool floaties to lounge on...but most importantly, to pose for photos with (duh)!
Tropical Fruit + Icy Beverages: You've probably already starting seeing a slew of Snapchats of people holding those big watermelon wedges, which is apparently the fruit of choice at Coachella. We know we don't need to tell you where to buy a watermelon, but we do want to remind you that you'll spend about a tenth of the price of the $15 wedge you'd find at any festival. Enhance your experience even more by making your own awesome Popsicles (like these ring-shaped ones!), and top it off with an icy-cold, homemade (aka cheap) margarita.
Other Cool Things: We suggest purchasing a hammock for some trendy naps throughout the day (once again, photo or it didn't happen), but if you're feeling more active, these awesome, colorful DIY pineapples make for perfect props in pics...and they're easy to do!
Finally, it wouldn't be any type of Nochella weekend without some music. Check out this cool, colorful speaker, and when you're ready to hit the pool, start playing the 2017 Coachella playlist below:
This might not prevent all the FOMO this weekend, but it will prevent you from going completely broke...so at least there's that!
Sound off on your Nochella '17 plans in the comments below!