Thinking of throwing a woodland birthday party? Here is everything you need to know to help you to throw an outdoor party with a woodland theme for kids. There are so many wonderful kids party ideas that don’t cost the earth, but this will provide plenty of inspiration to help you to throw a kids birthday party in the woods, forest or back garden.
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ideas to help you to throw a woodland party
There are so many really lovely ideas to inspire you to throw an epic outdoor birthday party for both boys and girls. Have I mentioned already that I love to plan, particularly for the children’s birthdays, and an outdoor party definitely reduces the mess that is left to tidy up at the end of the day. A woodland themed birthday party can be held in the garden, woods or forest, and is also a perfect backyard birthday party idea. There are so many things for kids to with nature in the woods. Another thing to consider – woodland birthday parties worked great with social distancing during the pandemic.
A couple of years ago I organised an enchanting forest birthday party for our little girl. She turned six in Winter, and I wanted to organise a memorable outdoor party as all of our kids love the fresh air. What better than a woodland birthday party?
You may also enjoy my post on throwing a festival party for kids
A Winter woodland birthday party
When planning a woodland themed party, there are so many lovely woodland party ideas and party activities that would work for both girls and boys of all ages. We hosted a woodland birthday party in November and it worked really well with a fairy hunt, teepee tent and campfire tales. The kids dressed up in snowsuits and wellington boots and fully embraced the cool winter air.
A woodland fairy party
For a woodland fairy party you can organise a fairy hunt in the woods. The children can also build a secret den in the woods. We used barbie clothes for a fairy washing line, and made some lovely woodland theme signs. We put up a teepee tent just incase the weather turned or it rained. We have also added a bell tent outside for kids parties. We added some board games in the tent with a few rugs, cushions and fairy lights as a back up for an outdoor birthday party in the rain.
A woodland themed birthday party for young kids and toddlers
A woodland party is ideal for all ages. It even works for a first birthday party. Activities for younger children include campfire songs, and woodland party games
- pine cone hunt – hide some silver, gold or rainbow coloured pinecones around for the children to find.
- Woodland Piñata. Party piñatas can be very popular and can come in all shapes and sizes. If you are throwing a woodland party think of woodland animals, pine cones, or stars.
- Woodland crafts. Kids can make a fairy or woodland animal mask, or there are some lovely free printables and printable colouring pages.
- Pass the parcel. Every child loves pass the parcel. Sit on tree trunks, camping chairs or in a teepee tent/gazebo.
- Fairy hunt. For younger children they can find the hidden objects until they find the queen fairy! The children can make a wish and tell the queen fairy their wishes and dreams.
- Party songs and dancing.
woodland party activities for older children
There are so many party activities that are suitable for older children.
- Woodland art and crafts. We have set up little tables with printable colouring sheets, making fairy or winter woodland masks and decorating fairy wings.
- Woodland clay faces. We first made clay faces at a family friendly festival and the kids loved it. Using clay and twigs, leaves and glitter, the children make faces out of the clay and then we stick them onto the trees.
- A Fairy or wizard hunt. A wizard harry potter themed party is a great idea for older children. For older children you can use a number of clues to lead you to the fairy queen, We also had little bags/bottles of glitter and the children sprinkled them around the fairy queen’s house to make their wish.
- Build a den. Children love to build a den house, and the forest is a perfect setting to do this as a team. It also keeps them warm running around looking for logs!
- Making perfume – gather twigs, leaves and water for a floral, woodland perfume!
- For older children you could have a campfire to toast marshmallows and tell campfire stories.
Forest party Ideas
There are plenty of outdoor activities for a forest party for kids of all ages.
- Den building – split the party into small groups and creat a den- building challenge or contest. Challenge the teams to collect fallen branches, twigs and sticks to create a magical den and a shelter in the rain.
- Scavenger Hunts – Challenge the children to look for items such a different tree leaves, different textures, or different colours.
- Nature spotting – hand out magnifying glasses and little pots and encourage the children to look for mini beasts under stones and under logs or in the grass
Forest party games
There are so many classic outdoor party games for a woodland themed party
- Hide and Seek
- Tag
- Scavenger hunt
- Water games if it is good weather
- A glow stick hunt
kids outdoor party food ideas
Keep it simple!! As our woodland party was held during the winter months, we opted for a brown paper bag for each child with sandwiches, a bottle of water (or juice) fruit, crisps and a chocolate treat. The sandwich bag was super simple and great for transporting over to the woods! We also made hot chocolate on the campfire!
Outdoor party decorations
Kids parties can become very expensive and get out of hand quite quickly as far as budget is concerned. We tried to find cheap party decorations and even homemade decorations for our outdoor forest party.
You can really go to town and decorate the outdoor area with pom pom garlands, honeycomb balls, tissue pom poms and tassels. All great woodland theme party decorations that also work for a kids backyard party or a garden party.
We made some really simple woodland signs to dot around the area, and we also used garden lanterns that we had already at home.
I managed to get some barbie clothes off friends and I spotted a barbie bundle on ebay. I was then able to make a fairy washing line and dot them in amongst the leaves for a magical fairy hunt!
party cake ideas for an outdoor party
There are so many lovely cake ideas for an outdoor woodland party. Fairy toadstools, foxes and woodland animals or bears. You could even have a camping teepee tent cake … but then that is probably another post!
So there you have our wonderful woodland party ideas for kids. Do let me know if you have any more to add to the list!
Woodland party ideas for kids to pin for later
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