We recently hired the forest school at Willsbridge Mill in Bristol to host a magical woodland birthday party for our two children who were turning 7 and 5. They were set on a potions and dragons theme, and we thought a forest school would be the perfect setting for this. If you’re looking for forest school birthday party ideas, this theme worked brilliantly!

Willsbridge Mill is a fantastic setting for a children’s party. The forest school area has everything you could want – a mud kitchen, fire pit, play equipment, several covered shelters and even a cafe on-site, which is ideal for parents who want to wait nearby with a coffee while the children explore (we also got takeaway coffee to enjoy during the party!) We booked the Forest School directly. It can host up to 22 children, and costs £50 per hour.

Potion Making Station Essentials

• Jugs and a kilner water dispenser – ideal for different coloured water bases
• Squeeze bottles
• Pipettes
• Food colouring (safe to eat)
• Eco biodegradable glitter – Pricey but important outdoors. I decanted into small shakers and added to the coloured water.
• Washing up liquid – we filled soap dispensers and labelled them “Bubble Brew” with a Posca pen.
• Baking soda – kept in a jar with a scoop and labelled “Dragon Dust”
• White vinegar – (food safe) Mix this with baking soda for fizzing potions! The kids LOVED this.

Magical Ingredients & Potion Bottles

• Potion bottles – we used a mix of ball shape bottles and classic potion bottles
• Dried lavender, dried flowers and charms – set out on some plates.
• Natural forest ingredients – stones, mud, grass, leaves, bark
• Ingredients cards – I designed my own, but you can buy the full set (plus signage, and editable invitation and posters) from my Etsy shop for £5 + VAT.
• Labels and/or stickers for potions bottles
• Optional: mini gift bags to take potions home

We set up a magic wand making station where the children could hunt for a stick from the woods, and decorate it with wool, feathers and stars. This is a great simple activity and doesn’t cost the earth! You can often pick up bundles of wool from Facebook Marketplace for free or cheap. Great as a quiet calm activity for kids.

For the dragon theme we bought 3D printed dragons for the children to go on a hunt through the forest school to find, and pick a dragon to take home. My original plan was to do a more elaborate treasure hunt, but in the end I felt we had too many other activities going on so a simple find a dragon egg hunt worked well.

I bought a dragon ornament as a centerpiece from Vinted, but check Facebook Marketplace or charity shops – we found some dragon TY beanies there which could work well too.

We booked a bubble entertainer and it was a huge highlight. We chose an outdoor bubble display with CeleGreat and they put on some amazing bubble activities including smoke bubbles, foam, stand in a bubble, bubble birthday cake and more.

It was £240 for an hour of entertainment. For the quality of the entertainment and the amount of fun the kids had, it definitely felt worth it.

The children got a lot wetter than I expected, but they loved it! It worked beautifully in a forest school setting.

We borrowed the firepit from Willsbridge Mill and brought our own disposable bbq, chocolate digestives, marshmallows (including halal/veggie options) and some extendable marshmallow toasting forks. We had a designated adult manning the campfire at all times. Take wet wipes!

Other fun campfire food options could be pre-cooked sausages which could be warmed up on the campfire to make hot dogs. Some forest schools even have pizza ovens, which is another great option!

Having the Mill Cafe right on the doorstep of this forest school was wonderful! I pre-ordered lunch boxes which took the stress off me having to worry about food on the day. This included a sandwich, crisps, raisins, biscuit and squash. They are usually £5.75 each, but the cafe may offer a reduced rate for a larger order.

I spotted these candyfloss cakes on Instagram from FlossyPops and couldn’t resist trying them! They look incredible and were a fabulous addition to the party. Jellycat accessories are available on Etsy.