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??

My kids would love this. Do these kids have the right sort of clothes? My husband takes the kids hiking often - brought a friend a few times but they often didn’t have the right clothes and it’s not the sort of catchment where I’d want to assume parents can go buy waterproofs. Super dependent on the kids and families. Just wondering if you’d want to provide anything for them. Wet and cold is very different in wellies and waterproofs or trainers and jeans. And yes, you’ll want a couple extra parents with specific jobs if it’s more than 4-5 kids.

I did similar for my 4 year old in Feb. Everyone just came wearing warm waterproof clothes and wellies. Everyone said they had a great time

Sounds wonderful. But then, I was brought up in the deep countryside, half a mile from the nearest neighbours.

I can always bring spare gloves and hats and. Coats etc.

It does sound a bit like you are going to do it which is fine.

I have been to a few outdoor playgroups who host parties in all weathers for children, and the woods do provide some cover but they are fully insured and trained in campfires etc

I have mixed feelings if I’m honest. I like being outdoors with my children; it is my favourite thing to do, but there is a refusal amongst a certain sort to accept that adverse weather just makes some things unenjoyable and miserable for all. My son’s birthday is a few days after your DDs and he is desperate for one of those treetop climbing things but unfortunately it just isn’t practical at that time of year.

This is my view as well and I work outdoors so it’s not like I’m the kind of person who thinks a child will melt just because there’s a bit of drizzle.

But there’s nothing enjoyable about sitting outdoors in the woods in the pissing down rain, or howling wind, so there needs to be a back-up plan ready and waiting in case the weather turns half-way through.

You also need to be prepared for parents to wake up, realise the forecast isn’t great and decide they’re not going to bother.

I know MN is full of kids who happily run about the woods or park in their puddle suits no matter what the weather, but in the real world people are much more likely to say “there’s no way I’m going out in that”.

Absolutely! It sounds great.

Advise parents to dress their children warmly on the invitation and, if possible, take some spare things as some parents don't get this. I was a teacher and you'd be surprised how many parents drop their children off by car inadequately clad for the weather. Fortunately I had a stock of old coats and wellies so they could play outside.

Absolutely!!! I’d if I could join! My child would have far far preferred this to yet another soft play party!

My kids went to outdoor nursery and would be totally up for this kind of party. We have all the necessary outdoor gear but I suspect others don't. As pp have said you do need to firm up your bad weather backup plan in case it's really torrential rain.

Some parents are dicks I'm sorry to say, and I do think you've got a double risk of dropouts even if you send the invites out early. Some will cry 'tummy bug' if the weather isn't great on the day, and others will have since got tickets for Santa/panto/skating etc and either forgotten they've already said yes to the party or won't care and will sack it off for another event.

We did a woodland party for DS’s 8th birthday mid November. The weather was an absolute shocker, pouring rain and cold, but as we were about to emigrate changing the date wasn’t an option. The kids had a blast, I prepared a number of flasks of hot chocolate and kept doling it out. The only problem was the fact that one boy turned up without a jacket! It wasn’t near home so there was nothing that could be done, I think I wrapped him in some blankets from the car in the end but his mum wasn’t fussed when she picked him up so I think I was the only one worrying.

I think it's totally possible that some of the children will show up in inadequate clothes - unless you regularly spend extended periods of time outdoors in the winter, you won't really understand how miserable it can be. So have a think about if you want to be explicit about clothes or provide wellies or something like that. And yes - you need a backup plan for weather. Maybe just invite 4-6 kids and then you can go into the house if need be?

Of course I would! The timings or possible weather conditions wouldn't bother me.
Knowing what i know about my lads it wouldn't have bothered them in the slightest, they had wet weather gear.

we can make sure to tell parents to wrap up warm - and i have a bag of spare hats, gloves, old coats etc

Yeah! Sounds awesome

I had a similar party for my son in Epping Forest when he was in primary. His birthday is April.

It snowed that morning, the children loved it. They all played outside and the organisers added snowball fights to the planned activities. It was great.

I did pack extra gloves, hats and warm clothing once I realised it wasn't the expected mild spring day. But out of all his parties it is one that we all remember and they all had loads of fun.

Sounds brilliant but tbh with fire at that age I’d want a parent to stay with each child.

My son would love this. A heads up, he got invited to a similar party in December one year and there were very high winds meaning the woods were unsafe and the party had to be postponed to Jan. If you are fine with this or an indoor back up then go ahead!

Should be fine although you may want some adults to stay to prevent runaways / kids wandering off as the area isn’t contained as such. Have you considered toilet facilities for kids that young?

How many are invited?

I.would move it to very early December
No matter how much notice you give, mid December people are going to get invited to other things and not attend / forget the party invite

I’ve never had that issue with my DS’s parties @AlwayAnxious , but the OP says she isn’t bothered if not many come anyway.

Well 29 will be invited. Expecting around 15 max.

Won't invite until after half term tbh

Perhaps.

I wouldn’t be concerned about the rain/ cold- my kids can cope with most weather if appropriately dressed. My concern would be ensuring the number of responsible adults is high pand that I could trust the other parents to keep them all safe around the fire or that I could stay to ensure they were safe. I stayed with my 7yo at a beach party for similar reasons. Kids can get really hyper and dysregulated at Birthday
parties.

Kids can hold it in usually.

Plus.... Wild wees.

If they're desperate or shy... the house is 3 minutes away.

Hm, I wouldn't be so sure.

If kids are going to the house or for a wild wee, they need an adult with them.

Sounds great! Even better it gazebo is up incase it pours down. They will have a blast