We went to Coachella for the first time. Here are 7 items we’re glad we brought and 5 things we regret not packing.

A portable phone charger is a festival staple.

When you’re in the desert all day, bouncing around in-between stages and food vendors, your phone’s battery is bound to take a beating — especially if you’re taking lots of photos and videos, as people at Coachella are especially wont to do.

There are some charging stations sprinkled across the festival grounds, but it’s much easier to have a portable charger on hand if you don’t have the time (or the desire) to hang out next to an outlet.

Lip balm is essential.

Lip balm is always essential but especially at Coachella. Throughout the weekend, our lips became extremely chapped — presumably due to dry heat, dehydration, and sheer exhaustion.

Any hydrating chapstick or healing ointment would work, though Callie is partial to Glossier’s Balm Dotcom. The $12 tube comes in a variety of tints and takes a surprisingly long time to run out.

Sunscreen is also a must-have, especially in small bottles that are easy to carry around.

This one may seem obvious, but the importance of sunscreen simply cannot be overstated. It’s not enough to apply once before entering the festival grounds, so make sure you have small bottles to carry with you for reapplication.

If you have sensitive or dry skin, consider bringing one generic brand for your body and another specifically for your face. Callie recommends Protect + Glow by Tula Skincare, which has SPF 30. It feels super light to wear and adds a nice dewy effect.

Hand sanitizer was one of the things we used most.

Like sunscreen, this one should be pretty obvious. But there were so many instances where we used it — like before eating, or after using a bathroom that didn’t have a working sink — that we cannot understate its importance.

Courteney loves the ones from Bath and Body Works. They’re compact so they’ll fit in any size bag or pocket, and they come in a variety of scents.

Mini deodorant can be a life-saver.

Needless to say, it gets very hot at Coachella, especially if you’re watching artists perform in the direct sunlight.

Carrying a mini stick of deodorant can help you feel fresh, and if you’re not wearing pants, it’s also handy for preventing chafing in between your thighs.

Bike shorts, especially ones with pockets, make it easier and more practical to wear a dress.

Speaking of preventing thigh chafing, bike shorts are vital if you’re planning on wearing a dress to the festival like many of weekend one’s attendees — including me, Courteney.

On Sunday, I wore a pair of bike shorts from American Eagle that also had pockets. These were especially great because they provided somewhere to put my phone when it got too hot to hold in my hand.

A reusable water bottle is a necessity.

Coachella has free water stations placed throughout the grounds, making it easier to refill a water bottle and stay hydrated.

We recommend bringing one that’s insulated, to prevent your drink from getting warm in the desert sun.

After the first day at the festival, we went to the store for portable fans.

Immediately upon arriving at the festival on Friday, we regretted not packing a cooling device.

Before returning on Saturday, we stopped at a local hardware store and picked up mini automatic fans for $4 a piece. It was a cheap expense and deeply useful throughout the rest of the weekend.

We also bought gel shoe inserts to help ease our sore feet.

Coachella is huge. Even discounting the grueling journey to and from the parking lot, there’s a lot of walking involved just to get from stage to stage — and that’s not even to mention all the dancing we did when Harry Styles arrived.

Despite wearing comfortable sneakers or broken-in Dr. Martens all weekend — unlike many trendier festivalgoers — our feet were still aching by the end of day one, and we had both developed painful blisters.

On Saturday morning, we picked up two pairs of gel shoe inserts from the grocery store, which helped ease the discomfort.

There were many times throughout the weekend when we wished we had ibuprofen.

Maybe it was just dehydration and sleep deprivation, or perhaps it had something to do with singing Carly Rae Jepsen songs at the top of our lungs, but we both weathered steady headaches throughout the weekend.

Pair that with our sore feet, and a little bottle of ibuprofen to carry around the festival would’ve been a godsend.

A parasol would’ve also been helpful.

Coachella forbids umbrellas, but parasols are allowed to help shield patrons from the brutal sunlight.

We hadn’t thought that would be necessary, but every time we saw someone comfortably ensconced beneath a stylish circle of shade, we couldn’t help but feel envious.

We regret not springing for preferred parking.

A preferred parking pass at Coachella costs $140 plus fees, so we decided not to purchase that extra luxury.

Looking back, however, it would’ve been worth the expense. Most of the daytime parking lots are quite far from the festival entrance and the walk felt extraordinarily long in both directions — due to the heat on the way in, and thanks to the dust and fatigue on the return trip.

Follow along with Insider’s Coachella coverage here.