Every parent worth their salt wants their child’s birthday party to be memorable and fun. When my eldest child Sonny turned 8 earlier this year, I wanted to make his special day truly unique and memorable. This article will share everything you need to know to put on an amazing free woodland themed birthday party, which is sure to give your little one a day they will not forget.

 

Jumping in with both feet……When my wife Lucy casually suggested an idea for a birthday party in the woods, completely free of cost and unique to the normal realms of soft plays and bouncy castles, I was instantly sold. Working as a UK Military survival instructor has given me a real passion for the great outdoors, and I love seeing the positive effects in our students, just from being fully immersed in nature and away from electronic devices and emails. I knew that with a bit of planning, I could pull off something that Sonny and his friends would be talking about for years to come.

Preparation is key:

Before you can throw the birthday event of the year, there are a few things you need to do beforehand to ensure the day runs smoothly and stress-free. Remember, just because you are hosting this thing doesn’t mean that you can’t  enjoy the day just as much as your little one. Here are the key considerations:

• Visit the area beforehand and visualise your party. This means finding a good sized area, I would recommend you find some woodland which has relatively level ground, not too dark and has tree’s which are spaced out well. Imagine the day, where will parents park? How far is it from the parking area to where the party will be? Are there any restrictions or rules which you need to be aware of. On the last point, if you’re not sure then try contacting the local Forestry Commission or equivalent. In my experience they are very friendly, helpful, and keen to help

•  Communicate with parents in advance. Begin with what time you want the party to start and finish. I went for 12pm until 2pm and this was the perfect amount of time, plus it meant I had plenty of set-up time in the morning (you’ll need this!). Advise parents on appropriate clothing, including robust footwear and a jacket in case of bad weather. It’s also worth checking dietary requirements of those attending your party, as it will help to ensure you have the right food choices available with no nasty surprises on game day!

• Plan your activities. Having a clear game plan means that the day will run smoothly and you will have plenty to keep the little one’s entertained for the full time allocated. Read below to find out what worked well for me.

Essential Kit List:

• Fire Pit with some tinder and kindling

• Treats for Hide and Seek

• Table

• Bin liners for rubbish

• Drink cartons and party food

• Lighter

Optional Extra’s:

• Camo face paint

• Glow sticks (to mark out a boundary)

• Tarps and Bivvie’s for hiding spots

• Flint and steel for fire lighting

The Plan of Attack:

Here is a list of activities that that I chose to include in my woodland party:

1. Hide and Seek

2. A Treasure Hunt

3. Toasting Marshmallows over a fire

4. Fire lighting tuition using flint and steel

5. Traditional Cornish Pasties and Sausage Rolls for the party food

 

The big day, time to set up:

I loaded up my van with all the things I needed and set off on the short 15 minutes drive to Ladock woods, a beautiful area of Forestry Commission woodland nestled deep in the Cornish countryside. I’d given myself a good two hours to get everything set up, so that when a marauding bunch of over-excited kids started to appear with their expectant parents in tow, I’d be looking super-chilled and ready to go!

I created a simple treasure map which the kids could use to find hidden treats. So the first thing I did was to hide the bags of candy in various locations around the area. I then drew a little ‘X’ on the map, using a different colour for each of the two teams (I decided to split the children in to two teams, so they could work together to find the treats, and then divide them up equally at the end).

I set up some cool hiding spots using bivvie bags and tarps which I had borrowed from work. This gave the day more of a military/army feel which the boys really enjoyed.

I also collected a good stash of fire wood for the Solo Stove pit I had brought along. I strongly recommend something similar if you’re planning to have a small camp fire in the woods. It keeps everything contained and easier to manage, and leave completely no trace of the fire when you leave. I’ve included a short video below which does a great job at explaining why you may wish to consider buying something similar for your next outing in the woods or trip to the beach.

Rules of the day

Absolutely, 100%, before you do anything…….make sure you gather the children in and give them the ground rules. This is mainly to ensure the activities run as safely as possible, and it also lets the kids know that you’re in charge and are no push over. If you’re hosting a party for children, think about what accidents or injuries could occur, and then work backwards from their to mitigate the risk. It’s like doing a risk assessment in the workplace, exactly the same thing, but in this case you will also be working hard to dynamically manage the risks during the party. The main risks I identified for this woodland party were 1) burns from the fire pit, 2) tripping over when running and 3) a child wandering off and getting lost.

Party Rules:

1. Do not play near the fire without an adult present

2. Watch out for tree roots and other trip hazards when running

3. Stay inside the boundary markers

We kicked off proceedings with hide and seek, and undoubtably the kids would have been happy to play this for the entire 2 hours, it was an absolute home run!! I brought along some camouflage cream from work, which the kids loved applying to their faces and it really set the scene well. However, at the end of the first game, there was still 3 kids who were ‘unaccounted for’. This immediately had my heart racing, as several parents stood looking expectantly in my direction, no doubt trying to gauge my level of panic. After 20 minutes of panicked shouting and calling, the 3 escapee’s finally emerged from the undergrowth just outside of the boundary area. Clearly not quite all of the participants had bought into my early ground rules pitch.

The treasure hunt was also a hit, with the pre-sketched maps allowing the kids to go and explore the woodland paradise with compete independence. It took them approximately 30 minutes to discover all of the treasure sites, which was perfect. They happily shared the sweets out at the end, so nobody was left out.

After we had finished the hide and seek and treasure hunt, the fire pit was lit and we all enjoyed toasted marshmallows. This was a first for some of the children, and seeing their faces light up as they carefully rotated the skewer to ensure a nice even toasting made me smile inside.

Learning through experience

Here are my top tips for your woodland adventure birthday party:

• Try to encourage other parents and adults to stay. I used some willing adult volunteers to act as marshall’s during the subsequent rounds of hide and seek, after temporarily misplacing 3 kids during the first round. This certainly helped to keep the kids under closer supervision and unable to sneak out of the designated area.
• Extra’s like camo face paint and glow sticks are worth the small investment, as they really give the party an outdoor adventure feeling.
• Dropping a pin to your location in the woods will really help everyone find your location easily. We had created a WhatsApp group so all our communication could be centralised and enabled me to drop the pin on the morning of the party.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about our woodland birthday party. If this has inspired you to plan your own free woodland birthday party, then please drop a message in the comments below, we’d love to hear all about it!