This year there’s no excuse not to celebrate Bonfire Night with your loved ones. Check out the following ideas and suggestions for a bonfire night party with a bang!
BONFIRE NIGHT PARTY TREASURE HUNT
How about an indoor and outdoor treasure hunt with a difference?
Hide glow sticks all over the house and garden. Make the hunt trickier by hiding the glow sticks high up in bushes or inside in under stairs cupboards or places that the kids usually avoid.
Spice up the treasure hunt and add an element of urgency by setting a timer to complete the task. Turn on the glow sticks as you find them and to see how many you can find in the allotted time.
With all that fun making you hungry, check out these easy but delicious food and drink suggestions.
BONFIRE NIGHT PARTY FOOD RECIPES
It’s not a party without some tasty food and drinks! Check out these delicious Bonfire Night party treats everyone will love.
SUMPTUOUS SQUASH SOUP
This gorgeous, gently-spiced squash soup is perfect for any Bonfire Night garden party. Warm and filling, serve it in a mug or bowl with some cheese on toast croutons for dunking.
STICKY CIDER ONION HOT DOGS
We love the caramelized sticky and sweet onions that top this hot dog. Use whichever sausages you prefer, but we love either frankfurters, cumberlands or pork and apple sausages. Serves with your favourite condiments.
CATHERINE WHEELS AND MASH
To create this easy but comforting meal, you will need the following Ingredients:
- 2 large sausage wheels (available from most butchers and supermarkets)
- 2 eating apples, chopped
- 1 large celeriac, peeled and cut into chunks (optional)
- 3 large fluffy potatoes (Maris Piper or King Edwards) peeled and cut into large chunks
- 15 g of salted butter
- 2 tablespoons of runny honey
- 2 teaspoons wholegrain mustard or mustard of your choice.
- Salt and Pepper
METHOD:
Put on your oven or BBQ and preheat the grill. Grill your sausage wheels or veggie sausages wheels for 10-15min, until cooked through, then set aside.
Meanwhile, heat the apples in a pot with an egg cup full of water over medium heat, until the apple has softened and is now a purée or mash. Set aside.
Put the celeriac and potato chunks into a medium pan add some salt and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes until soft.
Drain the potato and celeriac mixture, return it to the pan and steam over medium heat for 1 min. Mash together with butter, salt and pepper to taste until smooth. Finally, stir in the apple and a little more butter.
Mix the honey and mustard and brush it over sausages. Serve immediately alongside the mash and a cup of apple punch.
CHILLI CON CARNE
This Hairy Bikers Chilli Con Carne is a lighter version of the Bonfire Night classic, without being light on flavour. Cooked in a saucepan, it takes just 20 minutes to prep and an hour to cook. Serve with rice, salad or even on its own.
TOFFEE APPLES
It’s not a bonfire night party without yummy toffee apples. These sweet favourites are ready in 20 minutes. If only they counted as one of our five a day… Roll in crushed pistachios or sprinkles for an extra crunch.
HOT APPLE PUNCH
Our hot apple punch can be made with or without alcohol – you will need:
- 2 litres of cloudy apple juice
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 6 scoops vanilla ice cream
- A glass of dark rum or a small glass of apple liqueur such as Calvados (optional)
- ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- 6 cloves
- ½ teaspoon of ground nutmeg
METHOD
Put the ground cinnamon, cloves, ground nutmeg, the cloudy apple juice and vanilla extract in a saucepan. Bring together in a gentle simmer for 5 minutes.
After five minutes, add the vanilla ice cream to the liquid and whisk vigorously until the ice cream has melted and combined with the hot apple juice to create a frothy top to the drink.
If you’re adding alcohol, now is the time to add the rum or Calvados to the adults’ cups and top up with the hot punch. Garnish with a cinnamon stick and dried apple rings – yummy and the drink smells just like apple pie.
Don’t forget the food and no bonfire night party would be complete without a top banger recipe.
CHILLI HOT CHOCOLATE WITH MARSHMALLOWS
Last of our bonfire night delights is this hot, spicy and creamy cocoa. The heat of the chilli is toned down by the lashings of cream and sweet lightly-toasted marshmallows. The perfect accompaniment to fireworks in the garden!
BONFIRE NIGHT PARTY DECORATIONS
Whether you decide to have a party in the garden (weather permitting) or indoors, setting the scene is vital.
ROCKET GARLAND
Nothing says bonfire night party is like a rocket garland. These easy-to-make decorations are fun to make with the kids and look amazing when strung around the room.
To make this garland grab the following items:
- Some coloured cards – any design or bright colour will work or painted cardboard toilet roll tubes.
- Black card for the head of the rocket (rocket caps)
- A medium-sized glass and a pencil
- Scalpel or scissors
- Paper clips
- Some gold-coloured streamers or fringing
- PVA glue and a thin paintbrush
- A length of string
METHOD:
- Take your coloured cardboard and make them into tubes, stick the edges to gather with the PVA glue using a paintbrush. Even better, use the discarded cardboard toilet rolls as these are already tube-shaped and would ordinarily get thrown away.
- If you’re using toilet roll tubes, paint them in advance and allow them to dry.
- Make your rocket caps by drawing circles. Cut the circles out and then cut one straight line to the centre of the circle and make a cone shape, using PVA glue on a small brush to secure into a cone shape.
- Attach your gold streamers or fringing to the end of the tube and place each rocket on the string approximately 2 inches apart using a paperclip.
- The effect outweighs the length of time and effort it takes to make these, give it a go and be surprised at how good they look.
- Now you have made your decorations should take a moment to plan the entertainment.
CELLOPHANE AND FOIL SPARKLERS
We adore these bright, colourful and most importantly, SAFE sparklers. All you need is some tin foil, cellophane of different colours, tape or glue, a straw and scissors. Cut strips of cellophane and foil, then attach to a straw. It really is that easy!
Children will love carrying these around. Alternatively, you can use these as decorations for your Bonfire night party snack table. How about decorating a cake with these, as a safe alternatives to candles. Or for grown ups, stick them in a cocktail!
BONFIRE NIGHT PARTY FIREWORKS
No bonfire night party would be complete without the star of the show – fireworks! Organised firework displays are back on, but COVID is still very much around, so you might want to avoid the crowds and enjoy a small display in your garden instead. Buy a small pack of fireworks for the garden from a legitimate retailer and be sure to check out these recommendations from the Fire Brigade, on how to enjoy fireworks safely:
- Only buy fireworks with a CE mark on the box or packet
- Keep fireworks in a sealed box
- Follow the instructions closely on each firework
- Light them at arm’s length, using a taper and stand well back after lighting
- Don’t go back to a firework once lighted, even if it hasn’t gone off.
- Never put fireworks in your pocket or throw them and direct rockets away from the house
- Supervise children around fireworks or sparklers
- Light sparklers one at a time and wear gloves where possible
- Keep pets indoors
Even better, watch your neighbours firework display from the comfort of your home or garden, or why not just stick to everyone’s favourite – sparklers?
SPARKLERS AND INDOOR LIGHT DISPLAYS
One of our favourite things about 5th of November are sparklers. No matter how old you are, the delight of drawing your name in the dark never fails to amuse and impress.
Why not put sparklers in mason jars and place them around the outside seating area? Remember to have a bucket of sand at the ready – those things may be pretty, but they are still dangerous.
If you don’t have a garden or you have small children under five, what about an indoor light display as an alternative to the sparkler? Livestream fireworks on the telly or if not available, decorate your living space with fairy lights! Whatever you decide to do we hope you enjoy your Bonfire Night party.
ABOUT GUY FAWKES
Finally, how about some interesting facts about Guy Fawkes and his doomed plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament?
Born in York in 1570, Fawkes was an adventurer before he became a villain. Aged only 21 he fought for the Spanish army using money he inherited by selling his uncle’s estate to set sail for Europe to join the military.
Fawkes quickly rose through the ranks of the military and was promoted to captain of his regiment. He developed his knowledge of bombs and how to use gunpowder during this time.
THE GUNPOWDER PLOT
Most people don’t realise he was not the instigator of the plot, but he was the man with the know-how, and the money to finance it. Funnily enough, they almost got away with blowing up the Houses of Parliament.
The original plan was to dig a tunnel under the Houses of Parliament and use the tunnel to transport the gunpowder under the building. The goal was doomed from the start as the Houses of Parliament are constructed of such thick stone it would be impossible to tunnel under that building unnoticed.
Realising this plan would not work, Fawkes took a false identity and pretended to be a servant called John Johnson. With his new identity, he managed to rent part of the basement in the House of Lords. And it was here that the gang managed to conceal 36 barrels of gunpowder, telling the storekeeper it was firewood.
The arresting officers initially believed that the gang were just storing firewood until one member revealed the plan, blaming Fawkes for the entire plot. Fawkes was convicted and sentenced to death; most people believed he burned to death in a bonfire, but actually, he was hung, drawn and quartered.
To make matters worse experts now claim the gunpowder had rotted and would have failed to explode, even if ignited – all that effort for nothing, proving that crime doesn’t pay.
Surprisingly his name lives on: there is an island called Isla Guy Fawkes, an uninhabited atoll in the Galapagos named after the notorious villain. To this day the origins of the owner who named the island remains a mystery.
NOW YOU’RE READY TO GO!
We hope you enjoy your 5th of November and remember (remember) to have fun and stay safe!
Photo Credits:
- Sparklers photo created by rawpixel.com – www.freepik.com
- Couple watching fireworks photo by Ayla Fazioli from Pexels
- Hot Dogs photo by Caleb Oquendo from Pexels
- Toffee Apple Photo by Francesco Ungaro from Pexels
- Hot Chocolate Photo by Brigitte Tohm from Pexels
- Fireworks Photo by Designecologist from Pexels