Would you send your 6/7 year old child to a woodland party in December?

[OhNoooooooooooooooo]

If your 6/7 year old (Year 2) was invited to a den building party in the woods in mid December.... Would you say yes?

DD is desperate for a birthday party in the woods where they can build dens, do s'mores, play on rope swings etc and have pass the parcel round the camp fire. That kind of thing. We'd have hotdogs for food.

However her birthday is 19 December. So would do party weekend before like the Saturday afternoon, 1-3 that kind of time..

Would be in our private woods behind the house, so no issues of access etc it's a contained area. It has a campfire circle already. Can easily get a gazebo through for rain....

Would you think adults would need to stay? I
Do you think I'm mad even contemplating this??

This is my thoughts too.

If it was torrential I’d drop out. I’d want somewhere to sit that’s warm and dry. I don’t want to stand up for an hour or two in the rain with an umbrella.

If you had some kind of shelter I’d consider it but not otherwise. Do you have chairs for the parents where they can sit and have a hot drink?

Because the woods aren't that big a d they're fairly open, and the naughtiest kids in the year group aren't friends with DD, so won't be invited!

You wouldn't have to stay tho.

Well, this is why we'd invite early.

Sounds brilliant!

Yes but I would want to stay to make sure no fire accidents/burns occurred around my child. I’m sure you’re very trustworthy and I trust my child, too, but when you have a bunch of 6/7 year olds to look after you need more eyes :)

Yes! I used to do outdoor parties when my dc was small. The kids loved it and so did the parents.

I’m a “bye have a great time” parent but I wouldn’t be comfortable dropping off at this type of party unless you have a pretty high ratio of adults to kids. How many adults/kids are you thinking?

And unfortunately, these days, inviting early doesn’t seem to stop people dropping out if something else comes up (panto invite or family get together quite likely at that time of year).

Sorry to sound so negative but I honestly think you’re at risk of a pretty damp squib of a party with a lot of drop outs if you do it in mid/late Dec and if the weather isn’t looking good. A camp fire won’t even burn in the rain so that’s half your activities gone?

Why not do something else for the party and then try to arrange the winter woodland activities closer to the time with a couple of friends some weekend when a nice weather day is forecast

At that age I find all the parents stay. I haven’t started leaving mine until they’re about 8. I don’t want the parent running the party to have to deal with accidents/toileting/crying! etc

Oh, our parties round here are drop and run usually now.
I less it's like the arse end of nowhere.

Yes! Of course! Sounds great

I’d take this 100x over than soft play!

My 4 year olds going to a 5 Y/O party next month and it’s a drop off!

Well DD will have fun if 3 or 30 turn up 🤷

We've done very similar, just not as a party, in Feb before, and that's usually colder and wetter than December.

Sounds like most children would absolutely love it. Have a great time.

If campfire wouldn't start, we have gas stoves as back up for cooking hot dogs, under the gazebo if needed.
And we all know kids will just as happily eat "raw" marshmallows and chocolate digestives if we really couldn't get a wee fire started.

Bonfire night is 5th of November - lots of people do that outside.
Christmas light switch ons etc are popular too.

I think it's fine, although I would have a back-up plan because in freezing cold, torrential rain it would not be fun at all!

We run bushcraft/forest parties through our company (have done for years) and we are currently fully booked to the end of the year. Winter parties are super popular and full of kids so clearly most parents have no issue with kids being outside in all weather (there’s no bad weather, only bad clothing etc etc). We provide tea and coffee which parents can tend over the main fire (keeps them out of the hair of their kids so they can crack on and have fun too 😀). I’d go for it - you’ll always get the odd one who can’t let their child outside in the cold or worries they’ll throw themselves on the fire or trip over a twig but the kids who do come will have a brilliant time and as a parent I’d sooner my kids were out getting some fresh air tbh.

And a camp fire can definitely burn in any weather - that’s the outdoor skills they learn!

I will ponder a back up... depends on numbers really.

If it's a few kids, we can do an indoor party, do cinema night or something...

If it's lots... Well... Might be able to wangle an covered space as friends nearish by have a dutch barn we might use.... Could do party games I guess.

Oh nice.

Do you have like a set plan, or is it "go play"

Dd had a horse riding party in December and everyone came. It was v chily and some kids cried but mostly was good. It depend on the cohort though. Where dc went to school this would be popular and well attended. The school I work in now i suspect no one would go.

yup - 3 hours in length - den building (spilt into teams - usually 2 big ones) and they have to build a den which we then tip water on at the end to see which is the most waterproof - as many as want to get in it for the water test - they love that bit. We have an adult helping with each den, then free play for a short while (we have slack lines, mud kitchen, hammocks and of course just the woods for imagination!) and then onto woodland bows and arrows (home made!) onto a target and then fire lighting (split into small groups they use cotton wool and fire strikers and then get a small fire going). We then finish with hot dogs and marshmallows around the main camp fire and usually birthday cake. We run them for kids turning 5 up to 13. Parents do usually stay for the younger years but hang round the main fire whilst we get on with it.

Yes but my DC went to a fully outdoor Kindergarten from 3 years old so we had all the clothes to stay cosy all day.

This sounds so much fun