to think that children aren't people...

[BumpBundle]

My son is 11mo. We were planning on having a birthday party for him inviting my parents, my sister and BIL, my SIL and her husband, four godparents and MIL and FIL. We're thinking a picnic so we're outside, can bring our own food and maintain social distancing.
Obviously this is too many people - only being allowed up to 6. However, it would work quite well to do three separate picnics.

1. My mum, my dad, my husband, me, my sister, my brother in law = 6 people.
2. Four godparents, my husband, me = 6 people.
3. My sister-in-law, her husband, my father-in-law, his wife, my husband, me = 6 people.

Unfortunately, this perfect plan is somewhat scuppered if we allow my son to attend his own first birthday party. AIBU to have seven people if one of them is only one year old, from our household and obviously will be socially distanced from the others?

Enjoy your parties. We are a family of five and will be having both of my parents over. If we were to strictly follow the rules, my teenager could always go elsewhere and hang out with friends, bringing the total that we're collectively spending time with to 12.

I had a massive party for my daughters first birthday. She's 12 now and people still talk about it. It was epic and is a celebration for the parents really. We had around 60 adults plus babies
in our standard 3 bed semi. I completely understand why you want to mark the occasion and I have fantastic memories of this. I'm glad that lockdown has been relaxed enough that you are able to mark the occasion with others.

To be honest, I took said 12 year old out today and the number of people not practising any form of social distancing left me an anxious wreck (I'm pregnant and really don't want to have to self isolate for the birth).

The guidance is 6. 6 plus a baby is fine in my opinion. The baby isn't going to be passed around. It's going to socially distance. Like everyone else at the party.

@MintyMabel How small are gardens in Scotland?! You don't need much space for four couples to each be separated by 2m. If you sit in a square with each couple on each corner then your garden would only need to be just over 2m squared to fit you all in whilst remaining 2m apart...

@bumpbumpbundle, and if the couple on the top corner need to move, does everyone in the bottom corner have to move also? Is there a corridor of space to allow for that? Are the couples going to stand flat against the fence? To properly maintain it, you’d need space around each couple too. Sitting on chairs OH and I would need 2m of space, add the same for another couple, that’s 4m, keep 2m apart that’s a garden 6m long. Throw in some circulation space and many of the postage stamp size gardens in terraced houses wouldn’t cope.

@BumpBundle unless your couples are going to sit on each other’s shoulders?

That's why I said "just over" - to allow for the size of people. You're really making this a lot more difficult than it needs to be. Your gardens sound absolutely minuscule...and if your gardens are so tiny then meet up in public. I really can't understand why you think this is so hard?!

@justhereforthetips

It won’t take long for the parks to fill up.

And regardless of how you group it, 2x4 or 4x2, the same space is still required. People take up space as well.

That's why I said "just over" - to allow for the size of people. You're really making this a lot more difficult than it needs to be. Your gardens sound absolutely minuscule...and if your gardens are so tiny then meet up in public. I really can't understand why you think this is so hard?!

No, I’m not making it up. Maintaining a social distance of 2m takes up more than just 2m. And not “just over” People just don’t understand that and that’s what will lead to problems.

I’ve been involved in planning social distancing in spaces and it isn’t as simple as having people placed at 2m distance. One office I looked at which currently seats 60 people can only have 20 desks to properly maintain distances and allow for movement.

Not everyone has a handy public park nearby either.

Basically we can all do what we want now as long as you can find a way to justify it.