By Gerda, Cheltenham Franchise Owner

Recently here at Little Muddy Boots Cheltenham, we had a wonderful day celebrating the birthday of one of our special Little Muddy Booters. It’s such a pleasure to teach children day-to-day all about the wonders that nature has to offer but it feels like a real privilege when a child decides to celebrate their birthday with us.

It’s something I feel passionately about and with that in mind I thought it would be useful to share some information on what our simple back-to-nature birthday parties entail.

Why choose a Little Muddy Boots birthday party?

If you’ve attended our classes, you’ll have hopefully seen the wonder and excitement on the children’s faces as we work through our weekly activities; whether it’s learning about the lifecycle of a frog, smelling fresh herbs, harvesting potatoes or going on a butterfly hunt, we strive to make every session as fun and inspiring as possible.

A big part of our sessions is learning to respect and care for our natural environment. We do this by promoting curiosity and creativity through planting, painting, growing, harvesting, cutting, colouring and just generally getting our hands messy and muddy, be it in the outdoor kitchen, around the raised beds or at the craft table. Our site at Primrose Vale in Cheltenham also has plenty of trees and trails around to explore to boot (pun intended)!

So, to me, there’s no better place to celebrate turning a year older than in nature, playing, learning and having fun with friends!

Themes for nature-lovers

We have a whole host of options to choose from when it comes to selecting a theme for your child’s party. As you’d expect, they all have something to do with nature, wildlife or just the great outdoors in general – no surprises there!

Some choices include (but aren’t limited to):

• The Gruffalo
• The Gruffalo’s Child
• We’re Going On A Bear Hunt
• Superworm
• Frozen
• Sensory (focussing on sights, smells and sounds)
• The Three Little Pigs/Peppa Pig
• Butterflies and Caterpillars

We have plenty more options and are always happy to tailor a theme, if possible, to match your child’s preferred choice.

A party as unique as your little one

We love creating a bespoke experience based around what your child enjoys. This can include story-led games, animal tracking, den building, crafts and more.

We conclude each party in the same way as our regular sessions; toasting marshmallows around a campfire and enjoying a warm drink together. The children love the atmosphere from the fire, toasting their treats and the sense of togetherness it brings. It’s something our regular attendees look forward to and the birthday parties are no exception! I should add at this point that all our parties are ‘stay and play’ and children will often need supervision from their adult when it comes to the campfire fun.

We will often complete a planting or crafting activity, the results of which each child will get to take home. And we provide a special gardening themed gift for the birthday boy or girl.

A special experience

I absolutely love chatting with parents and the birthday child, finding out what it is they really want from the experience, and then helping to create the party of their dreams for them!

To me, birthdays are incredibly important and are all about celebrating life; what better way to do that in amongst Mother Nature herself?

Thank you to all my recent party attendees, it really makes my week celebrating your birthday with you!