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??

Wild wees? For girls? Without a parent? What if they need help wiping?

Yes, but DS has always had appropriate clothing and I was raised to think nothing of going out in all weathers. I think you should say something like 'the party will move indoors in heavy rain' (if it's actually possible to do that), to ease any worries some parents might have.

Yeah mine need holding for a wild wee! Or I’d want an adult to walk them to the house and back.

I don’t think it’s heavy rain that’s the problem as that tends to be short lived and not too bad under trees. It’s the mud and the slippiness and if it is cold those very biting winds and icy rain which is pretty miserable.

It’s hard as the UKs weather is just famously unpredictable, my DD is a midsummer birthday and had rain on her second birthday party, one of only a few rainy days. Luckily it was only drizzle.

Honestly I’d hire a soft play and have done with it and maybe have a class party at the end of the year if you have private woods.

My 7 year old would love it! Sounds like a forest school session.

Ha, I wouldn’t be so sure … and girls generally don’t like doing wild wees.

This sounds great.
Just consider timing. Invites need to go out now. Two out of the three Dec weekends before Christmas I already have booked up.

I’ll be honest If my kids got an invite I’d be thinking this is ridiculous but I’m not an outdoorsy type.

I would consider doing it the week before, on the 12th.

i have one with a 20th December birthday and one with a Christmas Eve birthday and parties are far better attended if they’re at least a week before school finishes up.

The weekend that school breaks up is often the worst for attendance I found.

Sounds brilliant! As long as everyone dresses for the weather what's the issue? But yes back up plan incase it's pissing it down heavily or there is a storm. I think this El Niño is making that a likely scenario this autumn / winter

As a December birthday its not the type of party, it's the Christmas issue. Everyone is doing things for Christmas. Have the party last week of November

My dd went to a party like this and loved it! It was March time and they had a camp fire and did smores and had soup and bread rolls ans generally got muddy and creative. Just make sure you brief the parents well (we were v clearly told no loo and outdoors the whole time so wellies, layers etc!)

Yes my friend runs a forest school and we've attended many parties in the forest in all weather including some lovely christmas parties

We would. My girls would live it. Although we are hardcore snd dont care about getting cold or wet. Thats what layers are for.

Absolutely yes ! i actually think the weather and the time of year add to the fun of it.
My 3 would have all loved this.
I think some but not all the adults would stay.
Ps i am very jealous of your private woodland !

I would, but we went to to forest school, are very outdoorsy and have all the clothes.

I think it sounds fantastic if you’ve got a crowd of outdoorsy kids. There’s a wood fairly local to us and they do classes where they build dens and make rafts to float down a very shallow stream, but parents are always there.

I’d have a plan B in case of bad weather and I’d add hot chocolate and smores to the menu, and rope in a couple of adult family members in case parents really don’t want to stay, but it sounds great.

Something to bear in mind and I do not want anyone to take this personally but a lot of posters have been very eager to contribute and to point out that their children attend or have attended forest schools in the past with the requisite clothing (which is not cheap) because it fits in with a certain type of parent, who tend to be prevalent on the internet but not quite as much in RL.

Out the back of your house I'd say would probably be fine, as long as if the weather was terrible, and at the end, you'd be happy to have them all into the house to get dry/ warm up etc. Maybe hot chocolate to finish off to help warm up?
I'd also say you probably want to make sure you have some spare cold weather gear, and wet weather gear, as I don't think parents will be willing, and some won't be able, to buy stuff like puddle suits, thermals and waterproof gloves for a party - those who have them will wear them, but there will be some who don't have them. Also probably want them all to bring a towel and full change of clothes, and be wearing hat and gloves, a fair few layers, and a waterproof coat (+ trousers if they have them)

Get some extra help to run the fire and activities, and a bit of extra supervision round the fire. Make sure all adults are clear on their responsibilities, and do a bit of a safety briefing once all kids arrive.

Sounds like it'd be an amazing party for the kids who were keen! And would definitely be something they'd talk about for ages!

My kids would love this and I’d happily send them to this kind of party, even in December. For my six year old I’d assume I was staying and would appreciate a semi dry area with hot drinks for the parents if possible, but not having that wouldn’t stop us attending. My kid wouldn’t care at all about getting wet if she was playing in the woods.

I would assume you’ll get more than usual who might decline but if you know their closest friends would be interested then I wouldn’t care and it’s also worth baring in mind that kids parties in December can be tricky for people to attend.

Of course.

Yes, always go to the park all year, and you can never guarantee the weather. But there's a room to hire near our woods-I would hire that just in case the weather is extreme, and for toilets.

We've always had her party first or second weekend of December. We always get attendees.

It will be the 12th :)

We've done similar for a December birthday. The kids loved it. Supply the adults with plenty of hot coffee!