Bonfire night in lockdown doesn’t have to be completely forgotten… there are lots of alternative ideas that you can try! Families across Scarborough, Whitby & Filey will be spending Bonfire night at home this year, making it a great time to get creative with crafts, food and games. Here’s five top tips to make 5 November 2020 a night to remember.

1/ Get glowing

Add different coloured glow sticks to plastic bottles of water for a game of night-time skittles, or use the glow sticks to play glow-in-the-dark hoopla. For a really creative option, hide glowing objects in the house or garden for a thrilling treasure hunt.

2/ Craft with a bang

Get saving those toilet rolls…there’s loads of Bonfire Night ideas for the humble loo roll, from transforming them into rockets with glittery pipe cleaners and sparkly stars, to cutting a fringe at the bottom, folding it back and using it to print firework shapes with bright-coloured paint on black paper. For other ideas including tissue paper bonfires and waxy scratch art fireworks, check out the Elf on the Shelf website.

3/ Sizzling snacks

From cheesy tomato Catherine Wheels to hot dog rockets, the BBC Good Food website has loads of ideas for Bonfire Night snacks. Create an edible bonfire with bread sticks and pretzels for logs, and strips of orange, red and yellow peppers for flames. Or rustle up some fruity rocket kebabs – with a strawberry on top, alternating grapes and blueberries, and a tassel or coloured tissue paper at the bottom for the fiery tail.

4/ Fizzing Fireworks dance

Dig out those Bonfire Night tunes (Firework by Katy Perry? The Prodigy’s Firestarter? Burn, by Usher…?) and dance around like a fizzing firework until the music stops. According to the Mas&Pas website, when someone shouts:

• Catherine Wheel – everyone must spin round and round with their arms stretched out.
• Rocket – everyone must crouch down low and then jump up as high as they can.
• Sparklers – everyone must put their hands up, stretch out their fingers and dance up and down and round and round.
• Bangers – everyone must clap their hands and count 1, 2, 3 and shout ‘Bang’.

You can play for as long as you like. There are no winners or losers. This one’s just for fun!

5/ Faux Bonfires

For those families who would rather not light their own bonfire, prefer to keep warm indoors or simply don’t have the space, why not try some of these ‘faux bonfire’ ideas. Make some Bonfire inspired cupcakes using chocolate match sticks or Cadbury flake for logs and coloured frosting to create the flames. Add a mini marshmallow on a cocktail stick for added fun! Create your own indoor ‘child safe bonfire’. Decorate empty toilet rolls with a wood grain effect to look like logs and add some brightly fire coloured tissue to create the flames. You could also find some rocks and sticks from outside to create a more realistic looking base. Add fairly lights or battery operated tealights and turn down the lights to watch your homemade fire glow.

6/ Home-based sparkles

If you plan to celebrate with sparklers or roast some marshmallows over a fire this Bonfire night, remember to stay safe. According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), accidents are more likely to happen at home-based firework displays so it’s extra important to be careful, and better to avoid completely. Writing secret messages with sparklers can be great fun – just bear in mind that sparklers aren’t recommended for under-5s; wear gloves, hold them at a safe distance away from your body, and keep a bucket of water on hand to plunge them into afterwards.