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How Many Kandi to Bring

  • Before you go
  • 5 min read

There is no correct number. Ranges for a one-day show, a three-day festival and a camping weekend, plus what to make instead of twenty identical singles.

Ask this in any festival community and you will get answers from “ten for the weekend” to “three hundred and it wasn’t enough.” Both people are telling the truth about their own weekend. The number depends on how many days you are there, how much you like starting conversations, and whether you enjoy stringing enough that prep is part of the fun.

So instead of a correct number, use ranges. Light: you will trade if someone asks. Trading: you are starting the handshakes. Active: you prepped for weeks and you will restock daily. Every festival guide on this site gives all three for that specific event, because a two-night show and a four-day camping festival are not the same problem.

Two things people underestimate. First, the middle day is the busy one — Friday everyone is finding their feet, Saturday is when the trades happen. Second, you need empty wrist for what you receive. Walking in with both arms packed to the elbow means the pieces people give you end up in a pocket, which is where bracelets go to break.

If prep night is the part you like, what to write on kandi will get you further than another bag of beads.

How it goes

  1. 1
    Count days first, not bracelets

    Everything scales off how many nights you are actually there. One show is not a third of a three-day festival — the middle days are when people relax and trade the most.

  2. 2
    One-day show: 8 to 15 singles

    Enough to hand out all night without thinking about it, plus one piece you like wearing. If it is a club or a warehouse night, bring fewer — the crowd is smaller and the trading is slower than a field.

  3. 3
    Three-day festival: 15 to 30 for a normal weekend

    That is roughly five to ten a day, which is what most people actually get through. Add a cuff or two you would be happy to give to somebody specific.

  4. 4
    Camping weekend: 20 to 40, plus supplies

    Four days on the same field means more trades and more evenings with nothing to do. Bring cord and a bag of loose beads so you can restock at your site instead of hauling everything finished.

  5. 5
    Active trader: 50 to 100 and a plan

    People who prep for weeks genuinely bring this many, and some bring more. If that is you, sort into labelled bags by night so you are not digging through one bin at the gate. Also accept that you will come home with fewer than you left with, which is the point.

  6. 6
    Trade quality over count

    Twenty identical rainbow singles are worth less to the person receiving them than five you clearly thought about. Vary the palettes, write different lines, and make one piece that is obviously not from the same batch.

  7. 7
    Leave headroom on your arms

    Whatever you bring, you are coming home with other people's work too. If both arms are full when you walk in, you have nowhere to put what you get.

Next

What to Write on Kandi — Letter beads run out around twelve characters. What lands on a wrist at 3 a.m., and the four to leave off: artist names, lyrics, characters, drug slang.