Packing for a feis can be a pain, because Irish dance involves a lot of stuff. Literal, physical stuff that you have to carry with you. There are a ton of items involved in Irish dance, especially if you’re going to a feis and even more so if you’re going to a major event. Many of those items are small as well, such as rolls of tape, spare shoelaces, or bobby pins.
Unsurprisingly people lose, forget, or use up bits of their Irish dance gear all the time. That simple fact is a huge part of what made Irish Seams what it is today: we noticed that every feis had people who were running around in a panic trying to find replacements for little lost things like shoelaces, tape, band-aids, and sock glue. So we decided to start bringing along those basic items so people could buy spares in emergencies, and take some of the stress out of feising. Our ‘basics’ section is still one of the most important parts of our booth to this day, placed front and center so people can find what they need.
But you won’t always have a vendor that has what you need at every feis. Even if you do, buying replacements costs money and then you’re left with two of something you might only need one of. The best way to fix that problem is to get into good packing habits. And the first important packing habit to get into is getting a good packing list and using it for every big event.
Packing lists can be very useful things. They allow you to keep track of your progress in packing your bags so you don’t end up packing multiple of the same item, which also saves you time when you want to double-check if you’ve packed everything. Having a packing list that you fill out for every feis also helps you remember all of the essentials so you don’t forget to pack something minor but necessary like a set of bobby pins, and going through them makes sure that you know how much you have of all your consumable items like tape. All of this really helps reduce stress when you’re packing for a feis.
There are a lot of things that go into a good packing list. The most important, obviously, is what goes on it. A packing list that doesn’t have important items isn’t useful, but a massive list with a thousand items on it can be intimidating. This can especially be a problem with checklists for Irish dance gear because there really are so many little things to remember.
If you can thrive with complete, granular lists, more power to you. There is no one right way to manage these sorts of tasks; everyone has their own method that works best for them. If you struggle with getting overwhelmed by those but still want to use a packing list to help manage your supplies, there are solutions. One way, as is so common with big problems and big lists, is to break things down into smaller chunks. You can list all the things you want to have in, for example, your first aid kit in another checklist, and condense them all into one line on your main list.
With this method, all you have to do is break your gear down into groups that make sense to you. Do you want all your bling in one group, or do you want everything that goes on your feet in one set and everything that goes on your head in another? You can even pack each group into its own smaller bag or container inside the main dance bag if you want.
Looking at a pages-long list and seeing three types of tape, four different shoelaces, two types of shoes, and a pair of buckles can be overwhelming, but looking at a short list with a dozen entries and seeing ‘shoe kit’ makes it feel achievable. Even if using a list at all doesn’t work for you, packing items into groups like this can make it much easier to remember what you have packed and what is still out. And having bags or other containers for everything really makes it easier to find bobby pins later on!
Another important part of making sure you have everything packed is to pack early. It’s a lot easier to catch something you might have missed if you’re not panicking and rushing to get everything in the bag the day you have to leave- we speak from personal experience, believe us! Having your bags packed and ready to go a couple of days before you have to leave makes it much easier to simply load the car and get underway on the day of.
Now, this isn’t quite as simple as all that. You may, for instance, have a dance class a few days before the feis that requires you to wear your shoes. And, of course, you need to practice. But you can still help yourself a lot by packing as much as you can as early as you can.
Paradoxically, another thing you can do is pull everything out of your bag the day before you leave. If you tend to just leave all of your Irish dance equipment and supplies in your dance bag, it can really help to pull everything out, spread it on a flat surface where you’ll see everything, and put everything back into the bag in the spots you think it should be in. A large, flat surface like a bed, table, or even the floor is especially useful for this.
Not only will this help you find out what you need to replace or refill- more than one person has only realized they don’t have enough tape on the roll while they’re applying it and sent their parent on a mad dash to our booth to grab tape- it helps keep everything fresh in your memory so that when you go looking for that spare pair of laces you already know where it is. Taking a full accounting of what you have packed shouldn’t be done on the day you leave, but doing it the day before can help with remembering everything later. However, the earlier you do it the easier it will be to grab stuff you need to refill on before it’s time to go.
Following all these tips can help make packing for a feis a breeze, but they’re only the tip of the iceberg. What are your top tips and tricks for making sure you’ve packed everything? What are the most essential items on your packing list? Let us know here on our Facebook page and we’ll see you on the feis trail!