Best Packaging for Events and Festivals: A 2026 Guide

Events ask more out of packaging than almost any other setting. You're dealing with high volume, outdoor conditions, licensing requirements, sustainability expectations from organisers and customers who are moving around rather than sitting at a table.

Getting the packaging in advance of the event is significantly easier than fixing problems mid-service, and most operators end up needing a wider range of packaging than they initially expect. 

Planning packaging for events and festivals is more complex than many operators expect, with compliance, sustainability and high-volume service all needing to work together. This guide covers everything from the specific compliance requirements around plastic pint glasses through to food trays, disposable cups for events and what to think about on the sustainability side. 

For the operational bar setup and queue management detail, our Festival Bar Playbook covers that side in full.

Plastic pint glasses: compliance first, then everything else

If you're serving beer or cider by the pint at a licensed event, plastic pint glasses need to be UKCA-marked as pint or half-pint measures. Serving alcohol by measure in unmarked cups puts you in breach of weights and measures regulations regardless of how carefully your staff pour, so this is a non-negotiable starting point rather than a detail to sort later.

Beyond compliance, the practical requirements for plastic pint cups at high-volume events are straightforward: clear enough for staff to check fill levels quickly, rigid enough not to flex when full, and designed to nest and unstack easily under pressure. 

rPET pint cups are the most widely used option for UK festivals right now because they meet all of these criteria and are accepted in kerbside recycling when clean, which matters for events with sustainability requirements from organisers.

For a full breakdown of UKCA marking rules and which cups are compliant, our UKCA rules for pint glasses guide covers the compliance detail in plain language.

Disposable wine glasses and plastic champagne flutes

Events with a licensed bar almost always need wine and prosecco vessels alongside pint cups, and the options here have improved considerably in recent years. 

The days of floppy plastic wine cups that tipped over on uneven ground are behind us, and operators now have access to rigid, well-designed disposable wine glasses and plastic champagne flutes that hold their shape, look presentable and are practical to stack and store.

A few things worth considering when choosing:

Stability

Plastic wine cups with a wider base perform significantly better on uneven festival ground than narrow-based designs. If your event is on grass or gravel, test the cup on an uneven surface before ordering at volume. 

Clarity 

Reusable plastic wine glasses in PS clarity material have a glass-like appearance that suits weddings and more formal outdoor events, while standard disposable glasses for wine are the more practical choice for high-volume festival settings.

Reusable vs disposable

For events with a cup deposit scheme or closed-loop system, reusable plastic wine glasses and plastic wine flutes designed for multiple uses are worth considering alongside standard single-use options.

Festival cups for soft drinks, cocktails and mixers

Not every drink at an event goes in a pint cup or a wine glass, and the festival cups needed for soft drinks, cocktails and mixer servings have different requirements to licensed alcohol vessels. 

Clear rPET tumblers are the most versatile option here, covering everything from a gin and tonic to a branded soft drink. For spirits and mixers, shorter tumbler-style disposable cups for events are preferable to tall cups since they're more stable when carried through a crowd and easier to handle when pouring. Plastic tumbler glasses in a 200-300ml range cover most spirits and mixer serves without the risk of over-pouring that comes with larger formats.

If your event includes a shots bar or quick-fire serves, disposable shot glasses are worth adding to your order alongside your main cup range, since running out of these mid-event is a straightforward problem to avoid with a bit of forward planning.

Food packaging for event catering

 Events that run food alongside bars need a different set of packaging decisions to the drinks side, and the categories are wider than operators sometimes plan for. The key variables are whether food is served hot or cold, whether customers eat on the move or at tables, and whether the event has specific sustainability requirements that affect material choice.

A practical starting point by food type:

Street food and handheld items

Kraft food trays and boxes for burgers, wraps and loaded fries. Vented boxes for anything fried to keep things crispy during service. 

Hot dishes and catering portions

Foil trays with lids for curries, rice dishes and any saucy mains. They stack, handle heat well and are recyclable when clean.

Eco event cups and food packaging

Bagasse clamshells are a popular choice at festivals with sustainability requirements from organisers, since they handle hot and wet food well and are certified compostable. Bear in mind that industrial composting facilities are needed for them to break down as described, so they work best at events with on-site composting infrastructure.

Sauces and sides 

Portion pots with lids for dips, sauces and condiments. Easy to pre-fill before service and fast to hand out.

Eco event cups and sustainability requirements

Many UK festivals and events now have sustainability requirements written into their supplier agreements, and some specify cup return or closed-loop systems that affect which cups you can use. Before ordering, it's worth checking with the event organiser whether there's a preferred cup spec, a deposit system in operation or a specific material requirement.

rPET pint cups and tumblers are the most practical eco event cups for most UK festival settings because they're accepted in mainstream kerbside recycling, which means a bin on site can capture them without needing specialist collection. Reusable plastic cups with a deposit scheme offer a higher recovery rate but require more operational infrastructure around collection and washing.

For a detailed guide to running a zero-waste cup system at an event, including signage, bin setups and logistics, our closed-loop events guide covers the planning side in full.

Event packaging at a glance

A quick reference across the main categories:

Order early and order in bulk

The most common packaging mistake at events isn't choosing the wrong product, it's running short of the right one. Festival and event orders need to account for higher-than-expected consumption, breakages, spillages and the cups that walk off with customers, so ordering conservatively tends to create problems that ordering slightly above estimate could avoid. 

CupsDirect covers all the categories in this guide from a single account, and bulk orders on case or pallet quantities reduce per-unit cost while ensuring enough stock to run the full event without a mid-service shortage. The plastic pint glasses range, disposable wine glasses collection and food packaging range all have full spec and pricing on site.