what did you do RIGHT this year?

Me and a couple friends went for the first time last year. We all spent a lot of time research/creeping on inforoo, so I'd say we came pretty prepared. Drove in Wednesday night, think we got to the campsite and set up around 2-3 am Thursday morning after waiting in line for a couple hours. The one logistical thing I'd change is staying up to party all night after we got to camp and got set up. One of us went to bed in the tent, the other two of us stayed up, explored, got drunk, and shared some corn nuggets with neighbors. My first night in 'roo ever and I got to see the sun rise, so that was awesome but I definitely could have used those few hours of sleep and off my feet later in the weekend.

Things we brought that worked:

- Gold Bond (MUST)
- Under Armor style underwear
- Camelback. I got some off-brand one but it also had a lot more space for all sorts of things like:
- baby wipes, toilet paper, hand wipes, sunscreen, misting fan, Frogg Togg Chilly Pad (so worth it), and whatever treats I brought in.
- O2 Cool fans for the tent/EZ-up
- zip ties and bungies. lots of them.
- earplugs
- 2 tarps (ended up sharing one with our neighbors to give them some shade!)
- tapestries/sheets/shower curtains for the side of the EZ-up
- Beach chairs that went full recline. Very clutch for mid-morning naps under the EZ-up after the tent got too hot.
- Beef Jerky. Always and forever.
- Breakfast muffins. Egg, sausage, cheese, bisquick -- I think. My buddy's fiance made them and damn they're so good. Only brought enough for the Thursday morning though because we didn't want them to go bad.
- Franzia. Will bring more this year. Drank a couple of cups every morning. It goes down like fruit juice. (I may be an alcoholic.)

Things I won't be bringing this year:

- Homemade PVC flag pole for the campsite. I spent too much time and money on that thing for it to only stay up for a few hours. My own fault, but finding our spot wasn't that hard, so just unnecessary.
- Homemade bead curtain. Long story short, I had a ton of Mardi Gras beads lying around my house and made a really awesome bead curtain for our EZ-up. Was cool, got a lot of attention, made us some friends the first night that just called us "BEADS" the whole weekend. Still, just a waste and had to trash it afterward anyway.
- Food that required cooking on a camp stove. It was a nice thought, but we were so far away from Centeroo that by the time we left, we weren't coming back. It was just too much work and clean-up for not a lot of payoff. Will probably pre-make some sandwiches, bring some protein bars, single serving bags of chips. I plan on buying at least one meal in Centeroo a day for dinner and maybe one on the way back to the camp (usually a $2 grilled cheese).

Things I'm thinking of bringing this year:

- Cot. Just need to find a good one. Need to research it a little more, but I imagine I'd sleep better, and later into the morning if I'm out underneath the EZ-up rather than in the tent baking. Plus if it rains I won't be on the ground, although we didn't have any trouble with that in our tent.
- Someone put a pocket chair one in one of the threads. Will definitely be getting one of those.
- Some sort of coffee/energy drink. Don't know why we didn't think of it last year, but I really struggled Monday morning. Need something to get going when it's all said and done.
- I know they're not just freely available to the public, but if I can get my hands on one of those Miller Lite hospitality passes, I'm all over it. Looks awesome.
- Costumes/paint/etc. I was more of a watcher last year. I want to be more of a doer this year.