View Pricing

Please enter your email address to view the pricing for our plans.

How to stay safe this Bonfire Night with your Scouts

Bonfire Night is one of the biggest and most colourful days of the calendar. Stay safe with our tips for your Scouts.

31st October 2019

Attend a firework display instead of holding your own

Many Scouting branches hold a community bonfire or firework display with lots of attendees. This can be incredible fun, but are often costly as well as requiring a great deal of risk assessing for not just the youngsters, but the whole community.

To save on most of the risk assessments, you could attend a display hosted by your local council or another organisation where they already have regulations in place. Going to a larger, organised display has been proven to result in less injuries than a smaller, independent display.

Top tip: Organise a night hike to your nearest hill and watch multiple displays at once across your local area from above. This can be a great experience, with low risk.

Have the option for indoor activities

Some young ones might not like fireworks, the loud bangs can often scare infant-age children and some might love it! Offering the option for those who get stressed with sensory overload or those who are a bit frightened to stay indoors participating in other activities can be a good idea.

Some fun activities for bonfire night include:

  • Decorating firework-themed cookies
  • Building a mini indoor campfire and making smores or hotdogs
  • Creating bonfire collages using red, yellow, orange and brown tissue paper. You could also use twigs that you find outside for the wood part
Sparklers are a fun way to experience Bonfire Night without the loud bangs but make sure to handle and dispose of them correctly!

Sparklers are a fun way for your Scouts to experience Bonfire Night without the loud bangs but make sure to handle and dispose of them correctly!

Be especially aware of wildlife during bonfire activities

Always try to make your bonfire on the day you will be lighting it. If you have started building the bonfire prior to the event, make sure to check underneath for any wildlife that might need relocating before you light it. Small animals such as hedgehogs and frogs like to burrow and nest under bonfires and can often be hidden inside your logs and wooden materials.

Make sure the bonfire is completely out and dismantled before leaving it. You also need to ensure that fireworks and sparklers are disposed of correctly so to not affect any wildlife afterwards.

For more information, take a look at The Scouts’ Firework Safety information.

Find out more about Scout Group websites here