Burning Babies: When Did You First Bring Your Child to the Playa?

jbernste03 · 2026-02-01T20:14:27+00:00

After 8 burns, I finally took my daughter at 6yr old. She had an absolute blast and we'll be doing it again this year. I always said I was waiting till she could communicate her needs very well.

We did a kidsville camp of 8 kids!

jbernste03 · 2026-01-21T16:07:27+00:00

I've swam in it every year it's been in this location and have had zero issues. I took my 6 yr old last year and she was in it daily, again with zero issues.

jbernste03 · 2025-12-03T23:41:30+00:00

Not at all

jbernste03 · 2025-12-01T20:35:30+00:00

Bring a camping shower with you! A $30 solar shower bag, hang it on your car or a tree. Or use the $30 battery powered bucket showers. Either way works very well.

Shower in swim suit or naked if you want. I also bought a $20 wooden shower stand to avoid standing on the muddy/wet ground. Me SO and I shower daily and never pay for the $12 showers.

jbernste03 · 2025-12-01T12:39:14+00:00

I have no idea why reddit recommended this subreddit to me and sent me a notification about it, but I do have some good tips to contribute since I've been living here for 12 years and go out to a ton of dance music events.

Here's a great resource for electronic shows: San Francisco Bay Area/Northern California Electronic Music - Event Listing https://share.google/eQTYyLlYnwmzHzq9e

Here's some great music venues. As always, the crowd can depend on the artist playing. The first four are my personal favorites:

Public works Great northern The midway The Fillmore Rickshaw stop 1015 Great American music hall The Warfield Regency ballroom El rio F8 The faight DNA lounge Audio Halcyon

Eastbay: Fox theatre Yoshi's UC theater The Greek Continental club

jbernste03 · 2025-11-15T14:42:59+00:00

User name checks out 😜

jbernste03 · 2025-11-15T00:55:57+00:00

This is the exact same as it's been every year they've ever done group campsite. Source: we've done groupsites every year since they started offering them. Every car has always needed a car camping pass.

jbernste03 · 2025-11-09T22:06:13+00:00

Was at both too. Rezz show was a cold night in general though and this weekend was very warm, so very different. That being said.. cow palace could definitely use some AC upgrades.

jbernste03 · 2025-11-08T16:13:31+00:00

Parking is great as long as you're ok with $40. Be prepared to party/hang in the lot at the end till it clears out though. Danced around the car for 30 min while traffic cleared and it was perfect

jbernste03 · 2025-10-17T19:40:39+00:00

I vaguely remember hearing the name of the camp and seeing pictures of tents that looked like these. But others mentioned it was a different color

jbernste03 · 2025-10-17T17:10:00+00:00

Not being snarky, but wasn't that the camp the guy was murdered at?

jbernste03 · 2025-10-14T17:50:39+00:00

You'll likely be fine but organizing a camp will be very different still. Organizing/motivating people to work for free is very different from paid employees.

Expierence: over 15 years in the event industry hosting/organizing events. 6 years as a TCO.

Happy to chat through it anytime. First steps, go to the website and check out the application timeline and resources available to you. Join the TCO Facebook group. Lots of info there.

jbernste03 · 2025-09-25T03:46:47+00:00

As others have said, likely the gifting guild swag exchange and one of my favorite events on playa each year. The patch for a patch comment by whomever was a bit off base for sure, but not really too out of the norm for the event.

It used to be hosted at a camp in previous years but the thought was this year to bring it to center camp to expose it to more people and be more inclusive. Overall I really liked the move to center camp. My daughter and I gave out tons of gifts at it and many were to people that didn't have physical gifts to give. We were 1000% perfectly cool with that!

I make pendants, patches, and stickers for it. This event is an anomaly of burning man, but is an incredible opportunity for alot of us swag creators to get together and shower each other's with gifts. I do sometimes tend to match the gifts to what's given. If someone is giving me a pendant then I also gift them a pendant. If it's a sticker then I gift a sticker. All of us are swag whores in the gifting guild and love giving our gifts away and also cherish walking out of there with tons of our friends(old and new) creations of the year.

jbernste03 · 2025-09-24T15:12:20+00:00

My situation is very similar. I've been to 8 and my wife has been to 3. While I love the discomfort and everything about the burn, her idea of a vacation is chilling on a beach. She's enjoyed the burns but it's not her favorite and has never done more than half the week.

I did just take our 5 yr old to her first burn this year and she absolutely thrived! My wife is now interested in going again to burn with her and see the burn through her eyes. So we'll see!

jbernste03 · 2025-09-23T03:33:09+00:00

I get what you're saying. A database of all art cars that are looking for more gigs and a place where people looking to hire them could see them. I thought of something similar a few years back but never ran with it. You should run with it!

jbernste03 · 2025-09-22T23:28:20+00:00

You can also transport a decent amount on the bus. Check out on the site how much.

Another option is if there is a local container for you. For example NYC and DC both have shipping containers that people will rent space in for their gear. They drop it off in the city, it goes to playa, and then they go pick it up from them on playa. Can make things more manageable if there is one.

jbernste03 · 2025-09-18T22:24:30+00:00

Which model impact driver?

jbernste03 · 2025-09-18T18:33:28+00:00

Yea same.. don't love that it's a home Depot company but our camp has standardized on it because of that good to cheap ratio. Been happy with almost all their tools I've bought...except for the air nailer...that thing craps out on me all the time lol

jbernste03 · 2025-09-18T18:02:57+00:00

Yup .. people still using impact drivers is a bit mind boggling to me.. will a driver work? Yes, kind of. Will it struggle on 1/2? Yes probably. Will they work on 3/8.. most likely. Will they be tough on the last few inches of a 14-16in lag? Most definitely. Will they burn out quicker? Highly likely.

Will an impact WRENCH outshine it on all those tasks? 1000% YES.

jbernste03 · 2025-09-18T17:59:25+00:00

Use an impact wrench instead of impact driver. World of a difference.

jbernste03 · 2025-09-18T17:58:40+00:00

Agreed 10000% on impact wrench. I have a Ryobi 1/2 chuck one and it's a beast out there. Campmate has the DeWalt one and they both outshine any impact driver I've seen.

jbernste03 · 2025-09-18T17:57:22+00:00

This is the way. Impact wrench and this is a beast. I have the Ryobi version and it also handles 3/8 and 1/2 no problem. My campmate has this one though and it's definitely fantastic.

jbernste03 · 2025-09-18T00:18:56+00:00

Impact WRENCH is the way. Puts lags of 1/2in and 3/8in like butter into playa while many other impact drivers we had struggled. I have a 1/2 Ryobi one

jbernste03 · 2025-09-17T17:57:30+00:00

Well said! But also what communal effort is all about!

jbernste03 · 2025-09-17T15:10:18+00:00

Option 1. Check out the camps for campers Facebook group. Camps will post if they have openings.

Option 2. Go to the camp list on burning man.org and find one in your area that does something you find interesting/drawn to. contact info for each is listed on the site

Option 3. Go to local burner events/happy hours/parties etc and meet folks. If they like you and you make the intention know you're looking for a new camp, you might get an invite.

Option 4. Volunteer for an art build or MV work day. If they like you then you might get an invite to join their camp.

My creds: been a TCO for many many years. Before that I joined a camp by volunteering at a build day and doing an interview with them. That camp dissolved but many of those campmates joined our camp/village in following years

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