Festivals vs. Festival Themed Events : What’s the Difference?

We look at the key differences between festivals and festival themed events, showcasing how businesses can successfully create immersive festival-style events.

Home / Festivals vs. Festival Themed Events : What’s the Difference?

In the run up to Spring and Summer, there’s always an increase in demand for festivals and festival themed events.

On the surface, these two event types may appear to be the same, but they each have their own definitions and objectives.

Festivals apply to large-scale outdoor events like Glastonbury, Coachella, or Tomorrowland – massive productions that require industry-level infrastructure, logistics, crowd management and more.

Festival themed events on the other hand are like re-creations of these gigantic productions, bringing key aspects of these festivals in the energy, aesthetics and immersive experience of a festival to a private and corporate festivals.

This theme and style can be brought to a range of event types such as company fun days, corporate parties, or even conferences.

In this blog, we’ll break down the key differences between a full-scale festivals and a festival themed events and how you can successfully apply these to create your own unforgettable festival experience.

What is a Festival?

Festivals are major gatherings that bring together communities and audiences to celebrate, entertain or educate, ranging from massive outdoor concerts to niche cultural gatherings, featuring live entertainment and performances, immersive experiences, interactive elements and more.

Key Characteristics of Festivals:

Scale:
- Huge gatherings, attracting thousands or even millions of attendees.
- For music festivals, these will attracted tens or hundreds of thousands of attendees.

Multiple Attractions:
- Multiple stages with live performances
- Food vendors, mobile catering
- Immersive installations and activity zones
- Fairground style rides and attractions
- Sponsored attractions / partnership attractions
- Roaming entertainment

Logistics-Heavy:
- Require intricate planning to manage huge crowd sizes.
- Work with local authority to ensure the area can manage the audience size.
- Requires ticketing, security, crowd management, infrastructure and licensing.

Extended Duration:
- Can be a single day festival, however multiple days are just as popular.

Commercial Impact:
- Will involve sponsorships and partnerships to maximise commercial potential from audience sizes – for example, brands will often offer branded attractions at festivals as a way of boosting brand exposure.

Examples of Festivals:

Music Festivals – Glastonbury, Coachella, Tomorrowland
Food and Drink Festivals – Oktoberfest, Taste of London
Business and Industry Festivals – SXSW, Cannes Lions

Key Considerations for Festival Planning:

Planning a festival is no easy feat. To make it a success, it requires extensive coordination and strategic planning.

Festivals require a dedicated team and detailed planning to bring everything together – from securing the correct permissions from local authorities to managing all of the logistical side, providing a high production for live entertainment and more.

Here’s some of the aspects of planning of a festival:

Site selection and infrastructure
- This is critical in the success of any festival.
- Sites selection will need to closely consider the logistical challenges of the event.
- Needs to be accessible and cater to the number of attendees.
- Needs adequate facilities in place or space for temporary facilities such as restrooms, power supply, WiFi and emergency services.
- Will need to consider climate conditions to manage unexpected changes. (indoor and outdoor spaces)

Safety and crowd control
- Considering the layout to include entry and exit points – for safety and traffic flow.
- Planning all health and safety aspects such as first aid stations.
- Having emergency procedures in place.
- Proper risk assessment and contingency planning.

Entertainment and catering management
- Managing artists, speakers and performers to ensure set lists are correct and the equipment that goes into the performances is all set-up correctly and tested.
- Providing a variety of food and drinks catering options for attendees – enough to manage the number of attendees.

Sponsorship and branding opportunities
- Partnering with businesses for funding, advertising and promotional benefits.

Festival set and stage design is paramount for the success of these events. We will cover this topic in more detail further into this blog, showcasing how we can bring this to your own festival themed event.

https://youtu.be/VkooLNeE8IE?feature=shared

Festivals require very intricate planning and production to be a success – this list just gives a top level overview of some of the key aspects in planning and producing a full scale festival event.

What is a Festival Themed Event?

A festival themed is not the same as a full-scale festival event; it incorporates the atmosphere, aesthetics and immersive energy of a festival, but applies it to a different event type such as a corporate event, conference or party.

Festival themed events are customised for corporate, luxury and private audiences to enjoy a similar atmosphere to a full-scale festival.

Key Characteristics of Festival Themed Events:

Festival themed events incorporate a variety of elements to re-create the festival feeling.

Here’s some of the key characteristics of a festival themed event:

Immersive Theming:
- Festival themed events incorporate most of the elements of a full-scale festival – open air stages, live entertainment, marquees and more.
- Bright summer colours incorporated into set and stage designs, entertainment and more.
- Captivating outdoor lighting, draping.

Creative event design featuring festivals. — *Creative event design by our creative designer featuring a festival theme.*

Stunning Set and Stage Designs:
- Stunning set and stage designs are a huge part of creating the festival atmosphere at these events, complete with immersive lighting and AV to create impactful stage performances.
- Later in this blog, we will go into the key details of creating a stunning set and stage design for your festival themed event.

The enchanted garden festival style stage in three different views created for a private island client summer event. — We can take all the thematics of larger festivals and apply them to small festival stage design such as this enchanted garden stage we created for our private clients summer celebration on the Isle of Wight.

A pathway lined with large stone sculptures of serene faces, adorned with foliage, under string lights leading to a cave entrance at dusk, designed for corporate festivals and large-scale outdoor events. — *A pathway of serene, foliage-adorned stone sculptures under twinkling string lights, leading to a cave entrance at dusk, designed for corporate festivals and festival themed events.*

Customisable for Any Audience:
- Suited for corporate conferences, team-building retreats and private parties.
- Can incorporate branding, corporate and brand messaging.

Riot Squad 'Riot Connex' bus at the National Bowl, Milton Keynes Chase and Status event. — *Riot Squad ‘Riot Connex’ bus at the National Bowl, Milton Keynes Chase and Status event. We helped bring this tour brand activation bus to festivals across the UK.*

Environment:
- Held in outdoor spaces, may incorporate indoor spaces to create more of a hybrid space.
- Outdoor structures, tents, marquees.
- Open air stages, outdoor seating and more.

Large marquee tent erected for a festival private party. — *To keep guests dry at this event we made sure they had an open marquee to shelter under.*

Shorter Duration:
- Usually a one-day or evening experience rather than a multi-day festival.

This is just an overview of the elements that make up a successful festival themed event – find out more on our festival themed events page.

Examples of Festival-Themed Events:

Corporate Summer ‘Festivals‘ – Transforming a company event into a festival-style celebration with food trucks, live music and interactive zones.
Conference Festival – A B2B conference designed with multiple breakout tents, experiential activations and relaxed networking spaces.
Luxury Private Events – High-end celebrations with themed festival stages, boutique glamping and entertainment.

Festival Logistics vs. Festival Themed Events: Key Differences

To summarise, here are the key differences between Festivals and Festival Themed Events:

Infographic table showing the key differences between festivals and festival themed events.

How to Execute a Festival Themed Event Successfully

There’s a lot of elements that go into creating a successful festival themed event. We’ll get into an overview of the key steps that come together to create a successful one below.

Step 1: Define Your Festival Theme and Style

The first step in creating a successful festival themed event is defining your desired theme and style to guide your decision and planning process.

It’s crucial to decide on the specific festival aesthetic you want to create as it will influence the entertainment, decor and overall experience of the event.

Some popular festival themes and style include:

Music Festival Vibe
- Re-creating the music festival atmosphere with live DJs, boho tents, LED wristbands and more.

Food and Drink Festival Theme
- For more of a relaxed atmosphere, the food and drink festival theme is a good option.
- Including elements such as pop-up food stalls and wine-tasting zones, this theme works for a wide range of corporate festival themed events.

mobile food truck suppliers at a festival themed event. — *Make sure to book your suppliers as soon as possible to guarantee the very best.*

Wellness Retreat Festival
- Popular with corporate clients looking for events combining relaxation, team building and employee well-being in one event.
- This theme includes elements such as meditation tents, yoga sessions, eco-friendly decor and more.
- Find out more about wellness retreats.

*Creative Event Ideas from enchanted garden theme to eco wellness retreats.*

Corporate Festival
- For larger scale events with multiple stages for speakers, interactive experiences and festival branding.

Luxury indoor festival themed event space we produced at the Belfry Hotel including festival sign, props, table and chairs. — *Luxury indoor festival themed event space we produced at the Belfry Hotel and Resort for a corporate client. With our event production services we completely transformed the event space.*

Step 2: Choosing The Right Venue / Space

Once you’ve decided the desired style of your festival themed event, the next step is looking for a space to facilitate this!

Selecting the right venue or outdoor space is essential for delivering an immersive festival experience.

Choosing a space that allows for indoor and outdoor spaces is key, enabling you to create a dynamic event that adapts to different audience preferences and weather factors (an essential consideration for us in the UK!).

*Belfry Hotel and Resort venue 2D floorplan for Bionical Emas corporate festival event.*

The space you host your festival themed event in should complement the festival’s theme and offer enough room for entertainment zones, seating areas and interactive experiences.

Key considerations include:

Outdoor spaces that enable you to create staging and rigging to create the festival aesthetic.
Indoor spaces that allow for immersive staging, set designs and festival decor.
Hybrid setups with both indoor and outdoor options – whether you need to create the structures or they are already implemented.

Step 3: Festival Theming

Creating the festival atmosphere is all about the theming and production of your event space.

Incorporating festival themed set and stage designs, props and decorations and outdoor structures such as tipi tens, marquees, stretch tents, domes and more are essential for creating the festival atmosphere.

A small festival stage design called 'The French Affair' designed by Julia Charles Event Management to showcase possibilities of festival style stages at corporate events. — *A small festival stage design called ‘The French Affair’ designed by Julia Charles Event Management to showcase possibilities of festival style stages at corporate events.*

How you decorate the space also has a huge impact – incorporate summery elements such as bunting, hay bales and floral arches to decorate outdoor spaces.

Public park transformed into festival theme with colourful bunting and decor — *Festival event theming being used for university event.*

Outdoor structures – the tipi tents and marquees mentioned earlier – are areas which can also be used for VIP areas and chill-out zones – common features of a festival.

We like to incorporate things like giant welcome arches and large props, like this elephant prop we brought to a corporate festival:

Elephant decor at a corporate fun day event overlooking festival themed space. — *We can transform your corporate fun day with our bespoke theming.*

Eco-friendly furniture such as pallet seating, wooden benches and even bean bags add a nice touch to outdoor spaces and sheltered areas.

We also like to decorate outdoor spaces with decorative lighting such as fairy lighting – essential for that signature festival glow.

*View of our festival themed event tents and chill out area in the evening.*

The set and stage design of your festival themed event is what will set it apart and is one of the most important parts of your production. We will cover this in more detail further into the blog.

Step 4: Create an Engaging Festival Experience

For a festival themed event to be truly engaging, guests need to feel like they are stepping into a vibrant, dynamic space where they can be fully immersed in the experience.

A great way to do this is by curating a lineup of activities, performances and interactive elements that create the festival atmosphere.

Creating an engaging agenda is critical in achieving this – incorporate a lineup with speakers, performances and even hands on workshops to get your audience more involved.

*Stage Performance by DJ Scott Mills at our Blue Chip Corporate Festival Event.*

Incorporating some unique digital and interactive attractions is also key; it’s worthwhile considering attractions where guests can directly interact – in Metaverse style games or digital walls for example.

Unique entertainers in front of digital screens — *Hire our Interactive digital walls and mirrors, sure to be perfect at your shopping centre activations.*

Attendees shouldn’t be spectators; they should be active participants in the event.

Ideas for creating an engaging festival experience:

Silent discos
Live art displays or shows
Digital attractions – digital walls, face projection mapping and more.
Themed merchandise and experiential giveaways.
Unique food and drink experiences – cocktail bars, street food stalls and more.

People wearing headphones and dancing to music playing through them — *Silent event entertainment for private corporate events.*

The small details make all the difference too, using festival-style wristbands instead of lanyards for a branded, immersive feel – these details will set your festival-themed event apart, ensuring a truly unforgettable experience!

Step 5: Sustainability and Logistics

Sustainability and festivals go hand-in-hand. Huge festivals such as Boardmasters are great examples of this, being an example of how to implement sustainability into large scale festival events.

So the same goes for festival themed events!

They’re a great opportunity to showcase your dedication to sustainability, aligning with modern corporate values.

If you’re a company that prioritises eco-conscious initiatives and sustainability as a whole, your festival themed event is a chance to reflect that commitment.

Sustainability considerations for festival themed events:

Use up-cycled materials and reusable decor to create the festival theme.
Make your catering sustainable – use fresh food and consider event food waste.
Use local suppliers, performers and caterers to reduce carbon footprint.
Go digital – use RFID access, event apps, digital signage and more to reduce waste.
Implement recycling stations, use biodegradable utensils and minimise single-use plastics.

Reusable pallet furniture at a green event — *As a Sustainable Events Company, we can manage all the authentic areas of your event.*

Event design render created for Gallo, featuring sustainable pallet wood in the design, part of the Julia Charles sustainable events agency solutions. — *Our team can design your sustainable events using 3D rendering software to show you all the eco-friendly elements.*

The Most Important Aspect: Festival Stages and Set Designs

The main part of any festival that grabs the headlines and creates the biggest impact on attendees is the immersive stage and set designs!

Festival themed events should be no different.

We specialise in creating immersive environments that bring the magic and energy of the world’s most iconic festivals, such as EDC and Glastonbury, to your events – but at a scale and budget tailored to your needs.

Festival and lighting with seating concept 3d render with festoon lighting, interactive screens and palette seating and staging. — *Extend your staging with reactive LED screens, lighting and surrounding seating that respond to the stage music.*

Castle themed festival style stage render in the middle of a woods with flashing lights and thematic visuals. — *We can design and produce mini festival stages that take on the thematics of the larger stages, such as our castle themed stage here!*

Our expertly crafted designs capture the essence of these legendary stages, offering stunning visuals, dynamic lighting, and top-tier sound systems.

Whether you’re hosting a corporate celebration, product launch, or private summer party, our stages ensure an atmosphere of creativity and excitement that will leave a lasting impression on your guests.

A colourful and vibrant small festival stage designed for a private island client. — Inject colour and vibrance into your festival style stage at your next corporate event just as we did here for our clients enchanted garden themed stage.

We understand that not every event needs the grandeur of a full-scale festival, which is why we provide smaller, customised versions that retain all the vibrancy and immersive experience.

From intricate stage designs to curated themes that align with your brand or vision, we deliver world-class entertainment that transforms ordinary spaces into extraordinary spectacles.

Technical drawing of a stage festival style build called 'the french affair.' — *We will design your stage from scratch including technical drawings.*

A festival-themed event thrives on immersive production, bringing excitement and energy to your event.

The stage and set design are the heart of the experience, capturing attendees’ attention throughout the event.

Staging Essentials:

Multi-Level Stages: Use ramps and platforms for a dynamic, engaging setup.
Festival Backdrops: Vibrant prints, digital screens and branded visuals enhance the atmosphere.
Performance Zones: Create multiple stages – main for headliners, smaller ones for interactive entertainment.

Find out more about our immersive set and stage design services.

Why Festival Themed Events Are on the Rise

In the run up to Spring and Summer, festival themed events are becoming more and more popular:

Companies want more experiential, engaging events.
Attendees expect interactive, ‘Instagrammable’ experiences.
Brands use festival theming to stand out from traditional corporate events.
Advancements in tech and staging make festival-style productions more accessible.

Find out more about our festival themed events.

Book a Festival Themed Event With Julia Charles Event Management

We hope this blog has provided some key insight into the differences between festivals and festival themed events and how to plan your own.

Whether you’re looking to plan a full-scale festival or bring festival theming to your next corporate event, understanding the key differences allows for seamless execution.

However, if you’re looking for assistance in planning your event whether it’s to help with a singular aspect or to deliver a festival themed event from concept through to reality, we can certainly help.

As an established events agency with over fifteen years’ experience in the events industry, we know what it takes to deliver a festival experience like no other.

Get in contact with a member of the events team today to find out more about how we can help.

Related Services:

Related Blogs:

Get In Touch With Us Today.

With nearly 20 years of Event Management insight, working with world-renowned Clients we'll help you create your Dream Event.

Get in Touch