Mom who took her one-year-old baby to COACHELLA reveals what it was REALLY like to attend the jam-packed festival with an infant – and the very surprising reactions she received from strangers
A mother has lifted the lid on her experience by bringing her 14-month-old toddler to Coachella while showing videos of her child dancing with a range of artists.
Maddie Bannister and her husband, Brandon, are parents who live in Mexico and have a strong love for music. Since her birth, they have shared their favorite songs with their daughter Hannelore.
After previously taking Hannelore to concerts in their hometown, the couple decided to take their toddler to Coachella, which takes place over two weekends in California and features performances from more than 160 artists.
When Maddie, who works at a company that helps produce music festivals, was asked to attend Coachella and work on site, she decided to make it a family affair and bring Brandon and Hannelore to the festival, and she documented her toddler’s experience. and the music in a series of videos on her TikTok account.
Maddie Banister is a mom from Mexico who shared her experience bringing her 14-month-old toddler to Coachella while showing videos of the little boy dancing
After previously taking Hannelore to a slew of concerts in their hometown, the couple decided to take the toddler to the highly anticipated Coachella music festival.
She shared footage of Hannelore putting on large noise-canceling headphones to block out the loud noises as she danced around, slept and snacked while watching the performers.
In one of the videos, the toddler was seen sleeping in her stroller as her parents jammed to the music.
In another film, Hannelore ate some snacks while watching performers on stage. Meanwhile, Brandon incorporated her bottle into his dance moves and gave it a good shake while listening to the music.
Speak with Peopletold Maddie about her decision to bring Hannelore to the festival.
She told the outlet that having her daughter come along was a no-brainer because she had been listening to music since birth.
“My husband and I met during the pandemic. We had a lot of love for music in common, and I worked in that industry for a long time. As soon as we could go back to festivals and concerts and things like that, we did,” Maddie said.
‘We’ve been taking Hani to shows since she was a few months old. She has always loved it.
“So she saw Metallica and Guns N’ Roses and Tool when she was a few months old. We took her to Phish and a few days of festivals in our hometown. She’s certainly had her share of concert days.’
And despite being professional concertgoers, Maddie and Brandon still wanted to make sure they gave their daughter the most comfortable experience and planned everything they would need for her.
She added: “We took everything we thought we would need. On day two we were able to leave some extra stuff at home because we had a better rhythm. The things we always have with us are her diaper bag, bottle, headphones for all the music – she has to have them on every set – and snacks upon snacks upon snacks.
“We had golf cart goggles and a hat because she’s a little redhead baby, so there was no way she could sit in the sun for too long. We made sure to bring layers and go over all the possibilities, like how it can get to 40 degrees at night.”
Maddie noted that having an employee at the festival helped because they were able to use “golf carts.”
The mother admitted that she wasn’t the only parent bringing her child to the festival, adding that there was even a ‘kidchella’ part.
And Maddie revealed she was pleasantly surprised to receive so much positive feedback when it came to taking her daughter along.
She told the outlet, “We got a lot of positive feedback, which isn’t always the case when you take your kids to a concert, but the people at Coachella were definitely excited for us and said, ‘You’re doing great.’ I want to do this with my kids when I have kids.’ So it’s nice to have that support. It was very community-oriented.”
She also said that the mothers and fathers who had not brought their children even asked them for advice.
And while Maddie admitted it was a bit ‘hard’ having Hannelore at the festival while she was at work, she would do it all again because it was ‘fun’ – adding that her ‘amazing’ husband helped with the care for their daughter while she worked.
However, the mom did reveal that there were a few things she would change about their Coachella trip.
“Maybe we’ll go in a little later and catch some different sets. We were there for eight hours and started relatively early, between two and three o’clock, so by the time the headliners started we were struggling and too tired. This [weekend two]“I’m hoping we can shift our schedule a little bit and start a little later so we can enjoy some of those later headlining sets,” she explained.
After sharing the clips of her daughter enjoying the music festival, the mother received a slew of comments from people – the majority of which were positive
After sharing the clips of her daughter enjoying the music festival, the mother received a slew of comments from people, the majority of which were positive.
One person even branded the mother “embarrassing” for bringing her daughter along.
The comment read: “Anyone can be parents these days, I guess…. I would be ashamed to take my baby with me.’
However, other people on the internet raved about her daughter’s adorable behavior at the music festival.
One person wrote: ‘This is amazing.’
Someone else commented: ‘Okay icons.’
“The coolest girls are definitely there,” one user wrote.