27 Bonfire Night Games, Activities & Party Ideas for Kids, Adults and Work Teams

Bonfire Night games, activities and party ideas for families, work teams, youth groups and care homes: choose from 27 ideas with steps, timings and estimated materials costs. Bonfire Night, also called Guy Fawkes Night or Fireworks Night, falls on 5 November.

Bonfire Night games are a subcategory of holiday team building activities and party games for work. They are similar to campfire games, Halloween games and outdoor group games, and they include Guy Fawkes activities and Bonfire Night games for kids. These ideas are also called Guy Fawkes Night games, Fireworks Night activities, 5 November party ideas and bonfire party games.

This list includes:

1. What is Bonfire Night?
2. Bonfire Night games at a glance
3. Bonfire party ideas
4. Bonfire Night games for the whole group
5. Bonfire Night games for kids
6. Firework games for kids
7. Bonfire Night activities for kids
8. Bonfire Night crafts
9. Guy Fawkes activities and games
10. Bonfire Night activities for adults and work teams
11. Bonfire activities for youth groups and teens
12. Bonfire Night activities for elderly people and care homes
13. Bonfire Night display and games checklist
14. Bonfire Night planning tips
15. Bonfire Night games to skip

What is Bonfire Night?

Bonfire Night is the British celebration held on 5 November each year. It remembers the night in 1605 when Guy Fawkes was found beneath the House of Lords with 36 barrels of gunpowder, part of a plan led by Robert Catesby to blow up Parliament and King James I at the State Opening. The plot failed, and an Act of Parliament passed in January 1606 made 5 November an annual day of thanksgiving. Bonfires and fireworks became part of the commemorations. The Act was repealed in 1859, but the bonfires, fireworks and the effigy on top of the fire (the "guy") carried on as a popular tradition.

Bonfire Night traditions include bonfires, fireworks and foods such as jacket potatoes, toffee apples and parkin, a ginger and oatmeal cake. You can also celebrate indoors with crafts, a quiz and a recorded display.

Bonfire Night games include quizzes about the plot, movement games and afternoon crafts. The DIY activities below use paper, battery lights and ready-made food. For live fireworks, plan a visit to an organised display as spectators, with games at a separate venue. Outdoor games take place in daylight; indoor games use a lit room.

Bonfire Night games at a glance

Pick by who is coming and where you are, then jump to the full instructions.

Setting	Start here	Time
Indoor work social for 10 to 20	Guy Fawkes Quiz, Light-Drawing Pictionary, Bonfire Night Food Table	2 hours
Family craft-and-games party	Bonfire Backdrop, Remember, Remember, Toffee Apple Decorating	90 minutes, including a meal break
Kids' party (ages 4 to 10)	Firework Moves, Straw Rockets, Glow Stick Treasure Hunt	90 minutes
Youth group or teens	Glow-Stick Capture the Flag, Wink Murder, Campfire Story Circle	2 hours
Care home or indoor afternoon	Bonfire Night Reminiscence Circle, Indoor Fireworks Afternoon, Fireworks Painting	90 minutes
Remote team	Virtual Bonfire Night, Guy Fawkes Quiz on a call	60 to 90 minutes

Bonfire party ideas

Choose a party format, food and two or three games from the sections below.

1. Bonfire Backdrop

Best for: 4 to 20 people, ages 5 and up, at indoor craft tables
Time: 30 minutes
Materials: A large sheet of backing paper, brown card, red/orange/yellow tissue paper, glue sticks, scissors and marker pens (£5 to £10)

Build a paper bonfire as the backdrop for the evening's photos and performances. Each guest contributes a flame with a word or picture about Bonfire Night.

1. Lay the backing paper across a table. Draw a broad triangle to show where the flames will go.
2. Give each person a strip of brown card to decorate as a log and a piece of coloured paper for a flame. Offer pre-cut shapes for anyone who wants them.
3. Spend ten minutes drawing patterns or writing a memory on the flames. Overlap the logs along the bottom and glue the flames above them.
4. Add a paper moon, stars and the date around the bonfire. Invite each person to point out their contribution.
5. Display the finished sheet on the party-room noticeboard. Use it behind the quiz host or the one-minute history performances.

2. Bonfire Night Food Table

Best for: Any size of group, with food quantities planned for the guest count
Time: 1 hour of prep, served over the whole evening
Materials: A trestle table, slow cooker or flask for soup, foil, paper cups and bowls (£5 to £8 a head)

Choose two savoury dishes, a sweet option and hot drinks. The costs below are planning estimates, not supplier quotes.

1. Jacket potatoes: arrange batches from the kitchen or caterer at the scheduled meal time. Offer butter, grated cheese and baked beans. Assign food preparation and holding to the person responsible for catering.
2. Sausages in rolls: serve with onions, brown sauce and ketchup.
3. Soup in a flask: tomato or leek and potato, poured into paper cups so people can hold it with gloves on.
4. Parkin: the northern ginger cake made with oatmeal and black treacle. Bake it a few days early and keep it in a sealed tin, because it softens and goes stickier as it rests.
5. Bonfire toffee: the dark, brittle treacle toffee, also called plot toffee. Buy it ready-made and put out portions with the other prepared food.
6. Hot drinks: a flask of hot chocolate with marshmallows for children, and tea, coffee or a spiced apple juice for adults.

3. LED Light Patterns

Best for: 5 to 50 people, ages 5 and up, in table groups of up to five
Time: 20 minutes
Materials: One battery LED wand per person, pattern cards and a phone camera per table (£10 to £25 for reusable supplies)

Create a short light routine with battery wands in a lit indoor room. This is a coordinated group performance, with seated and standing versions.

1. Put one leader at each table and give everyone a wand. Spend three minutes choosing a starting pose with space to move each arm.
2. Teach four shapes: a circle, a zigzag, a star and an upward rocket line. Practise them slowly for four minutes.
3. Give each table five minutes to choose a sequence of four shapes and rehearse it together. One person calls the changes.
4. Pair neighbouring tables to perform for each other over five minutes. An unpaired table performs for the organiser. Offer photos to anyone who wants one.
5. Use the last three minutes to perform everyone's favourite sequence together and collect the reusable wands.

4. Toffee Apple Decorating

Best for: 6 to 20 people at tables, ages 6 and up
Time: 20 minutes
Materials: One ready-made toffee apple per person, writing icing, sprinkles, paper wrappers, markers and a plate per person (£2 to £4 a head)

Turn bought, finished toffee apples into party characters. All the coating is made before the event; this station uses no pan, hob or heated sugar. Offer a paper apple cut-out for anyone who prefers a craft version.

1. Lay out the apples, icing and sprinkles with their packaging and ingredient information available. Let guests choose the food or paper version.
2. Give everyone five minutes to sketch a character on a spare wrapper: a moustached Guy, a startled rocket or a moon face.
3. Spend ten minutes drawing the face with icing and adding sprinkle patterns. Paper-craft players use markers on their cut-outs.
4. Give the characters names and line them up for a photo. Use the final five minutes for introductions and clearing the tables.

5. Display Trip and After-Party

Best for: 8 to 20 friends, family members or coworkers attending as spectators
Time: Allow 45 minutes for food and 45 minutes for indoor games, plus the organiser's admission/display times, travel and queueing
Materials: Display tickets, the organiser's visitor information, a group contact list and an indoor room for afterwards (ticket and travel costs vary; food approximately £5 to £8 a head)

Make an organised display the outing and host the games at a separate indoor venue. Build the invitation around the actual event timetable rather than squeezing a display into a fixed party slot.

1. Choose an event and read its current visitor information: date, admission and display times, ticket requirements, accessibility, transport and cancellation arrangements. Ask the organiser about anything your group needs that is not covered.
2. Book the indoor room and allow 45 minutes for food before departure. Add the journey, published arrival allowance and queueing time to calculate when the meal must finish.
3. Share the tickets, contact number and a named meeting point. Agree how guests will tell the group coordinator if they are arriving independently or leaving early. Attend under the event organiser's visitor arrangements.
4. On returning indoors, allow 30 minutes for the Guy Fawkes Quiz and 15 for Wink Murder. These capacities cover the advertised group of 8 to 20.
5. Offer the indoor programme by itself for people who do not want the display. If the event is cancelled, use a recorded display during the meal, then keep the games and finish time.

Bonfire Night games for the whole group

Use a lit indoor room for light drawing, memory games and acting. Battery wands provide the light-drawing prop.

6. Light-Drawing Pictionary

Best for: 6 to 20 players in two teams, ages 8 and up
Time: 15 minutes
Materials: One battery LED wand, a timer and word slips (£3 to £8)

Draw a shape in the air with a battery wand while teammates guess. Keep the room lights on: players follow the movement of the wand, so a long-exposure camera or dark room is unnecessary. Players can draw seated.

1. Write these 13 prompts on slips: rocket, Catherine wheel, bonfire, toffee apple, jacket potato, hedgehog, umbrella, Big Ben, Guy Fawkes hat, sausage, star, heart, moon.
2. Split into two teams and explain the rules in two minutes. Each team chooses six artists; others guess. With fewer than six people per team, artists take another turn.
3. Alternate teams for 12 turns. The artist draws one slip and has 40 seconds to trace the object with the wand, without letters, numbers or speech. Allow ten seconds between turns to hand over the wand.
4. A correct guess within 40 seconds scores one point. After 12 turns, the highest score wins. This takes ten minutes including handovers.
5. Use the final three minutes to total the scores and, if needed, play a tiebreaker. The host draws the final slip; both teams write one answer after 40 seconds. One correct team wins; otherwise share the win.

7. Remember, Remember

Best for: 5 to 15 players in a circle, ages 6 and up
Time: 10 minutes
Materials: None (free)

A memory chain named after the traditional rhyme. Play seated at a table or on a video call.

1. The first player says, "Remember, remember, the fifth of November, I took to the bonfire a..." and names one item, for example "a toffee apple."
2. The next player repeats the line and the whole list so far, then adds an item: "...a toffee apple and a woolly hat."
3. Play continues around the circle. A player who misses or muddles an item is out, or, in a friendlier version, the group helps and the chain simply continues.
4. Stop after ten minutes or 20 items, whichever comes first. In elimination mode, remaining players share the win; in cooperative mode, celebrate the completed chain.

8. Hot Potato

Best for: 8 to 30 players in a circle, all ages
Time: 10 minutes
Materials: One foil-wrapped potato (cold) and a phone with a playlist (free)

The classic passing game with the right prop for the night. The potato goes around the circle while the music plays, and whoever holds it when the music stops is out.

1. Sit in a circle indoors. The host controls the music from outside the circle, facing away from the players.
2. Pass the potato to the right, hand to hand, with no throwing. Play music.
3. When the music stops, the person holding the potato steps out of the circle. If it is in the air between two people, both stay in.
4. Keep each music burst under 15 seconds and pause briefly for eliminations. Stop after ten minutes; if several players remain, they share the win.
5. Offer the winner or joint winners a small non-food prize.

9. Bonfire Night Charades

Best for: 6 to 20 players in two teams, ages 8 and up
Time: 25 minutes; 30 minutes for 17 to 20 players
Materials: Prompts on slips of paper, a timer (free)

Charades with a Bonfire Night prompt list. Play indoors with the lights on. Mime every prompt without physical props.

1. Write the 20 prompts on slips and fold them into a bowl. Actions: lighting a sparkler, bobbing for an apple, toasting a marshmallow, a rocket launch, a Catherine wheel, a damp firework fizzling out, a hedgehog curling up, carrying a tar barrel, building a bonfire, writing your name with a sparkler, eating hot soup with gloves on, putting on a woolly hat and scarf, a dog hiding from the bangs, Guy Fawkes creeping into the cellar. Things: Big Ben, a jacket potato, a bucket of water, a wheelbarrow of leaves, a very cold person waiting for the display to start, a fire marshal with a clipboard.
2. Split into two teams. One player draws a slip and acts it out silently; their team has 60 seconds to guess.
3. A correct guess scores one point. If time runs out, the other team gets one guess to steal.
4. Play eight turns per team, then add the scores. Allow up to 25 minutes including scoring; for 17 to 20 players, add a turn per remaining player and allow 30 minutes.

For more words, use our random charades generator.

Bonfire Night games for kids

These Bonfire Night games for kids suit ages 4 to 10 and a crowd of excited children in coats. They run in daylight, in a garden the adults have walked first. Use an indoor room for the table games if preferred. The firework games and the crafts for the afternoon follow in the next two sections.

10. Glow Stick Ring Toss

Best for: 4 to 20 players taking turns, all ages
Time: 15 minutes
Materials: A pack of glow stick bracelets, six plastic bottles filled with water, a glow stick dropped into each bottle (£5)

The bottles glow as targets and the bracelets become rings. Set up in daylight, with enough light to see the ground and throwing line.

1. Fill six bottles with water, crack a glow stick and drop one into each. Stand them in a triangle on a flat patch of lawn or patio, with the far bottles worth more.
2. Connect glow sticks into bracelet-sized rings, three per player.
3. Mark a throwing line about two metres away for children and three for adults.
4. Each player throws three rings. A ring over the front bottles scores one, the middle two score two, the back bottle scores three.
5. Run it as a tournament of best scores, or add individual scores into team totals.

11. Glow Stick Treasure Hunt

Best for: 6 to 20 children, ages 4 to 10, in a garden or fenced area
Time: 15 minutes
Materials: A pack of 50 to 100 glow sticks in several colours, a bucket per team, a torch per adult and boundary rope (£5 to £8)

Teams collect glow sticks by colour. Play in daylight; stop if the ground or boundary becomes difficult to see.

1. In the afternoon, walk the hunting area and remove tools, hoses and other obstacles; exclude loose paving, holes and uneven ground from the play area. Mark a play boundary that excludes any pond, steps and areas used by other activities.
2. Just before the hunt, crack the glow sticks and tuck them around the area at a child's standing height or lower: in flower beds, on the lawn, in plant pots, on low branches. Nothing goes anywhere that needs climbing or lifting to reach. Leave some sticks in plain sight for younger children.
3. Split the children into teams by colour: the red team collects red, the green team collects green. Mixed colours score for nobody.
4. State the boundary and the one rule: walk, do not run, and stay inside the rope. An adult with a torch stands at each edge of the area.
5. Give five minutes. Teams bring their sticks back to their bucket, and the team that finds all of theirs, or the most, wins. Every child keeps a glow stick to wear.

12. Apple Scoop

Best for: 4 to 12 players taking turns, ages 6 and up
Time: 15 minutes
Materials: Six apples, a shallow tub of water, a large slotted spoon, a tray, towels and a food-safe marker (£3 to £5)

This apple-bobbing variation uses a spoon to collect apples. There is no biting, face-dipping or eating during play. Put the tub on a stable table indoors or outside in daylight.

1. Float six apples in the tub and place a tray beside it. Mark three apples with one dot and three with two dots using a food-safe marker.
2. Each player gets three scooping attempts. Use one hand to hold the spoon and lift an apple onto the tray; the other hand stays off the apple.
3. Add the dots on the collected apples. An apple that falls back into the tub scores zero for that attempt. There is no timer.
4. Return the apples for the next player. Highest total wins; tied players share the win. Wipe spills between turns.

Firework games for kids

These two games use fireworks as a theme. Play outdoors in daylight or indoors with room for the activity. Stop outdoor play if the ground or boundaries become hard to see.

13. Firework Moves

Best for: 6 to 30 children, ages 4 to 9
Time: 10 minutes
Materials: None (free)

A caller names a firework and players act it out. Outdoors, choose level ground in daylight. Offer seated arm movements for anyone who prefers them.

1. Teach six moves: Rocket (crouch, then shoot up with arms straight overhead), Sparkler (stand still and wiggle all ten fingers above your head), Catherine Wheel (turn slowly on the spot with arms out), Banger (jump and clap once above your head with a shout), Fizzle (sink slowly to a crouch, hands drifting down) and Bonfire (wave both arms side to side like flames).
2. Practise each move once as a group, standing an arm's length apart.
3. The caller shouts moves in random order, leaving time to complete each one without rushing.
4. Play it as a game of Simon Says: a move is only done when the caller says "Fireworks say..." first. Anyone who moves without it sits out a round.
5. Finish with one giant "Rocket" everyone does together, then straight to hot chocolate.

14. Straw Rockets

Best for: 4 to 20 children, ages 5 to 11, in pairs
Time: 25 minutes to build and launch
Materials: Drinking straws, paper, pencils, sticky tape, scissors, a tape measure (£5)

Each child builds a paper rocket and launches it with a straw. Use an empty indoor launch lane or an outdoor area in daylight; keep everyone behind the launch line.

1. Cut a strip of paper about 15cm by 4cm. Roll it around a pencil (slightly wider than the straw) and tape the seam to make a tube.
2. Fold or pinch one end closed and tape it; this is the nose. Cut two paper fins and tape them to the open end.
3. Slide the tube over a straw, stand behind a launch line with everyone else behind you, aim up at about 45 degrees, and blow hard.
4. One adult measures where each rocket lands. Give every child two trial launches and then one measured launch.
5. Longest flight wins, with a second prize for the best-decorated rocket.

Bonfire Night activities for kids

Set up an afternoon craft table, then use the finished work to decorate the indoor party room.

Bonfire Night crafts

Try fireworks painting or battery-lit jar lanterns. Use the finished decorations on the indoor party tables and noticeboards.

15. Fireworks Painting

Best for: 4 to 30 people, ages 3 and up, any indoor space
Time: 30 minutes
Materials: Black paper or card, poster paint in bright colours, cardboard tubes, plastic forks, old toothbrushes, paper plates for palettes and wipes (£5 to £10)

Use cardboard stamps, forks and toothbrushes to print colourful bursts on black paper. Put a wipe at each seat and paint plates in the middle of the table.

1. Pour paint onto paper plates. Give each person a sheet of black paper.
2. Cut the end of a cardboard tube into strips about 3cm long and bend them outward to make a starburst stamp. Dip it in paint and press it on the paper for a burst.
3. Dip a plastic fork in paint and drag it outward from a central point for streaks, then flick a toothbrush loaded with watery paint over the sheet for sparks.
4. Add a bonfire at the bottom with fingerprints in orange and yellow, and a tiny crowd in black.
5. Dry the sheets on a line and hang them indoors as decorations for the evening.

16. Jar Lanterns

Best for: 4 to 20 people, ages 5 and up
Time: 30 minutes, plus drying
Materials: Clean glass jars, tissue paper in orange, yellow and red, PVA glue, brushes, battery tea lights, decorative ribbon (£5 to £10)

Make a tabletop lantern with a battery tea light for the indoor decorations.

1. Tear tissue paper into small pieces. Brush a thin layer of watered-down PVA onto the outside of the jar.
2. Press tissue pieces on in overlapping layers, orange and yellow at the bottom for flames and darker colours at the top for the night sky. Brush more glue over the top to seal.
3. Tie decorative ribbon around the neck of the jar. Keep the jar on the table rather than carrying it by the ribbon.
4. Leave to dry for an hour, then drop in a battery tea light, switched on, so the lantern works the moment a child gets it.
5. Arrange the finished jars on an indoor display table.

Guy Fawkes activities and games

Guy Fawkes activities tie the party back to the story it commemorates. The quiz below has 20 questions with checked answers, the Guy contest turns the effigy tradition into a craft, and the two games turn the plot into a performance.

17. Guy Fawkes Quiz

Best for: 6 to 60 players in teams of 3 to 6, ages 10 and up; works on a video call
Time: 20 to 30 minutes
Materials: The questions below, answer sheets, pens, a prize (free)

Run this as a pub-style quiz: read each question twice, allow 45 seconds per question including the reading, then reserve ten minutes for marking and the tiebreaker. Award one point per fully correct answer; use the same rule for every team. Question 2 distinguishes the plot’s leader, Robert Catesby, from Guy Fawkes.

#	Question	Answer
1	In which year did the Gunpowder Plot take place?	1605
2	Who was the leader of the plot?	Robert Catesby (not Guy Fawkes)
3	How many plotters were there in total?	13
4	In which English city was Guy Fawkes born?	York
5	Which country's army did Fawkes fight for before the plot?	Spain's army, in the Netherlands
6	Beneath which chamber of Parliament was the gunpowder stored?	The House of Lords, in a rented cellar
7	How many barrels of gunpowder were found?	36
8	Who received the anonymous letter that gave the plot away, and on what date?	Lord Monteagle, on 26 October 1605
9	What false name did Fawkes give when he was arrested?	John Johnson
10	At what time of day was Fawkes discovered?	In the early hours of 5 November 1605, with fuses and matches
11	Where and when were the surviving plotters tried?	Westminster Hall, 27 January 1606
12	Where was Fawkes executed, and on what date?	Old Palace Yard, Westminster, on 31 January 1606
13	Which Act made 5 November an annual day of thanksgiving, and when was it repealed?	The Thanksgiving Act (also called the Observance of 5th November Act), passed in January 1606 and repealed in 1859
14	Which ceremonial search still takes place before every State Opening of Parliament?	The Yeomen of the Guard search the cellars of the Palace of Westminster
15	Complete the rhyme: "Remember, remember..."	"...the fifth of November, gunpowder treason and plot"
16	Which Sussex town is known for its Bonfire Night processions?	Lewes
17	In which Devon town do residents carry flaming tar barrels through the streets on Bonfire Night?	Ottery St Mary
18	Which king was the plot intended to kill?	James I
19	Parkin, the Bonfire Night cake of the north of England, is made with which grain?	Oats, as oatmeal (with black treacle and ginger)
20	Does the cellar used by the plotters still exist?	No; it was destroyed in the 1834 fire at Parliament

Historical answers follow UK Parliament's Gunpowder Plot FAQ and the sources linked with the historical handout. The local-tradition answers are documented by Visit Lewes and Ottery's Tar Barrels organisers; these are quiz facts, not suggested outings. Sarah Cook's parkin recipe at Good Food confirms the oatmeal answer. Question 15 quotes the traditional anonymous rhyme, reproduced in Hansard’s record of 17 October 2019. That record verifies the wording, not when the rhyme originated. For more rounds, see our trivia games for adults.

Tiebreaker: give teams 30 seconds to write down the year in which the Gunpowder Plot's 400th anniversary fell. 2005. If teams remain tied, share the win.

18. Build-a-Guy Contest

Best for: 6 to 30 people in teams of 3 to 5, ages 6 and up
Time: 40 minutes
Materials: Old clothes per team (trousers, shirt, jumper), newspaper or straw for stuffing, string, a pillowcase for the head, felt tips, a hat, paper voting tokens and a labelled vote bucket per team (free to £5)

Make a stuffed guy, vote on the entries and keep them as decorations. Announce before starting that none of the entries will be burned.

1. Give each team a set of old clothes, a pillowcase, a pile of newspaper and string. Set a 30-minute timer.
2. Teams stuff the trousers and shirt, tie off the cuffs and ankles, and join the two with string. The pillowcase, stuffed and drawn on, becomes the head; the hat finishes it.
3. Teams give their guy a name and a one-line back story, which they announce to the group.
4. Line the guys up in the indoor display area. Give every guest one paper voting token to put in the bucket beside their favourite.
5. The guy with the most tokens wins; tied teams share the prize. Keep the entries as party decorations, then let their makers take them home.

19. The Gunpowder Plot in 60 Seconds

Best for: 8 to 30 people in teams of 4 to 6, ages 10 and up
Time: 25 minutes
Materials: A timer, a one-paragraph summary of the plot for each team, whatever props are to hand (free)

Each team performs the plot in exactly one minute. Use the summary below, then decide which details fit the time limit.

1. Print the historical handout below for each team. Read it together before the ten-minute rehearsal; performances should cover the plan, warning letter, discovery and aftermath.
2. Teams get 10 minutes to cast the parts (volunteers can play people or props) and rehearse.
3. Each team performs with a visible timer. At 60 seconds the host shouts "Stop!" and the performance ends wherever it is.
4. The audience scores each performance out of 10 for accuracy and out of 10 for drama.
5. Highest combined score wins. Settle ties by a 20-second encore of the arrest scene.

Historical handout: In 1605, Robert Catesby led a plan to kill King James I at the opening of Parliament. The plotters rented a cellar beneath the House of Lords and stored gunpowder there. On 26 October, Lord Monteagle received an anonymous letter warning him to stay away from Parliament. Searches followed. Guy Fawkes, using the name John Johnson, was arrested in the early hours of 5 November; 36 barrels of gunpowder were discovered. The surviving conspirators were tried for treason in Westminster Hall on 27 January 1606 and convicted. Parliament also passed an Act in January 1606 making 5 November an annual thanksgiving. The commemorations grew to include bells, bonfires and fireworks.

Handout sources, checked 17 October 2026: Royal Museums Greenwich's account of the plot, UK Parliament's chronology and Parliament's history of the commemorations.

20. Wink Murder: Spot the Plotter

Best for: 8 to 25 players seated in a circle, ages 8 and up
Time: 15 minutes
Materials: Slips of paper with one marked "plotter" (free)

Wink Murder, the classic circle game, with a Bonfire Night frame: one secret plotter is eliminating the other players with a wink while a detective tries to work out who it is. Play it indoors with the lights on; it does not work in the dark.

1. Choose the detective first and send them out of earshot. Everyone else draws a slip; the one marked "plotter" stays secret.
2. Call the detective back to stand in the middle. Players sit in a circle and make eye contact with each other. The plotter winks at one victim at a time.
3. A winked-at player waits a few seconds, then signals they are out with a theatrical sigh and stays seated silently. Do not act out a fall.
4. The detective has three guesses to name the plotter. A wrong guess costs one guess; a right guess ends the round.
5. The plotter wins by eliminating everyone except the detective. Limit each round to four minutes; if neither side wins by then, reveal the plotter and start again. Play three rounds.

Bonfire Night activities for adults and work teams

For a work team, choose a bake-off, a scheduled social or a virtual event. Confirm the venue and guest numbers before buying supplies.

21. Parkin and Bonfire Toffee Bake-Off

Best for: Work teams of 8 to 50, anyone who bakes
Time: 30 minutes of judging on the night; bakes made in advance
Materials: Entrants' bakes, paper plates, scorecards, a prize (free to £10)

Invite entries in two categories: parkin and bonfire toffee.

1. Announce two categories a week ahead: parkin and bonfire toffee. Entrants bring their bake on the night with a number and a complete ingredients and allergen card, including any relevant cross-contact information from the cook or packaging, but no name.
2. Parkin bakers get a tip: bake it a few days early and keep it in a sealed tin, because it softens as it rests.
3. Lay the entries on the food table with their cards. Guests may taste the entries that suit their dietary needs and score them out of 5. Judge by average score per entry rather than total votes.
4. Calculate each entry’s average score. Award a prize per category and a "best story" prize for the recipe with the best origin (a grandmother's tin, a Lancashire-versus-Yorkshire argument, a first attempt).
5. Whatever is left is the pudding course for the party.

22. Bonfire Night Work Social

Best for: 10 to 20 coworkers in an indoor room with tables
Time: 120 minutes, 5pm to 7pm; food and entries prepared beforehand
Materials: Prepared food, bake-off entries, quiz sheets, pens, a battery LED wand, word slips and a timer (approximately £8 to £12 a head)

This indoor agenda gives each activity its full running time and includes handovers. Assign one host to the quiz and games, and one helper to the food, bake-off scores and room reset. It fits all 10 to 20 guests without simultaneous games.

Time	What happens	Participation and lead
5:00–5:20 (20 min)	Welcome and prepared food table	Everyone eats; helper oversees the table
5:20–5:50 (30 min)	Guy Fawkes Quiz, including marking	Host reads; two to four teams of 3 to 5
5:50–5:55 (5 min)	Break and set out word slips	Helper resets; host totals any remaining scores
5:55–6:10 (15 min)	Light-Drawing Pictionary	Two teams; six artist turns each, volunteers draw and everyone may guess
6:10–6:15 (5 min)	Set out bake-off scorecards and entries	Helper; guests choose whether to taste or read recipe stories
6:15–6:45 (30 min)	Bake-off judging, score calculation and prizes	Helper runs judging; host announces results
6:45–7:00 (15 min)	Wink Murder, three timed rounds	Whole group with the host facilitating; helper clears the food table

For a display outing, use Display Trip and After-Party as a separate schedule based on the event's actual times. A journey and display are not included in these 120 minutes.

23. Virtual Bonfire Night

Best for: Remote and hybrid teams; the hosted event takes 10 to 1,000 people, and this DIY plan is for up to 25 on one call
Time: 60 to 90 minutes
Materials: A video call; for the DIY version, a hot chocolate sachet and a bar of bonfire toffee posted to each person (£4 to £8 a head including postage); the hosted event is priced per person on its event page

A remote team can mark 5 November on a call with something warm, something sweet and a few games. The DIY programme below is a flameless quiz-and-stories call. For a separately hosted format, our tiny campfire includes camp-style icebreakers, a haunted riddle challenge and a shipped s'mores kit; ask the booking team about its format, kit requirements and delivery for your locations. Its minimum booking lead time is 14 days.

See tiny campfire details and current pricing for the hosted format, duration options and booking information.

1. For the DIY version, post a hot chocolate sachet and a bar of bonfire toffee to each person ten days ahead (longer for addresses abroad) and ask people to confirm when it arrives.
2. Open with Remember, Remember in groups of up to 10; use breakout rooms for larger calls and one caller per room.
3. Run the Guy Fawkes Quiz in breakout rooms of four or five, with one person per room submitting the answers.
4. Send the same rooms back out for a five-minute round of childhood Bonfire Night memories, or each country's equivalent fire festival, 30 seconds each, then ask one person per room to retell the best one to everyone.

Bonfire activities for youth groups and teens

Schedule the field game in daylight. The seated story circle can follow indoors. Assign leaders to each group and to the field boundary.

24. Glow-Stick Capture the Flag

Best for: 10 to 40 players in two teams, ages 11 and up, on a flat field with a clear boundary
Time: 30 minutes
Materials: Glow stick bracelets in two colours (one per player), two bundles of glow sticks as flags, cones and glow sticks for the centre line and the boundary (£8 to £12)

Play in daylight. Glow bracelets identify teams; they are not lighting for the field. Stop when you cannot clearly see the ground or boundary without them.

1. Walk the field in daylight and set the boundary well inside anything that could hurt a sprinting teenager: ditches, fences, posts and the car park. Mark the boundary with cones and cracked glow sticks. Use a dedicated play field separate from any display venue, and assign leaders to watch the boundaries.
2. Each team wears its colour on the wrist and gets a flag (a bundle of glow sticks) to place in its own half, visible but at the back.
3. Players cross into enemy territory to grab the flag. A player tagged in enemy territory goes to "jail," a marked corner, and is freed by a teammate's touch. Use a light shoulder touch, with no grabbing or tackling. A tagged flag carrier returns the flag to its starting point before going to jail.
4. A flag carried back over the centre line wins the round. Play three rounds of up to seven minutes, swapping ends. An uncaptured flag makes that round a draw; most round wins takes the match, with ties shared.
5. Stop the game when it is too dark to see the boundary without the glow sticks, and move everyone to the story circle.

25. Campfire Story Circle

Best for: 6 to 12 people per circle, ages 11 and up; split 13 to 25 into two or three circles
Time: 20 minutes
Materials: Prompt cards and a timer (free)

Finish with a seated story round indoors, or in a lit seating area separate from the active games. The campfire theme needs no live flame or toasting activity.

1. Assign one facilitator per circle of no more than 12. Allow two minutes to settle and explain that anyone may pass.
2. Choose one prompt for the whole circle: your earliest Bonfire Night memory; a memorable firework; an unexpected weather story; or the Gunpowder Plot retold as a school mystery. Save the others for another session.
3. The facilitator models a story of up to 60 seconds. Continue once around the circle, including the facilitator in the 12-person limit. Reserve 15 minutes for this round, including handovers.
4. Use the final three minutes for a shared ending: each person adds one short sentence, then the facilitator closes the story.

For more prompts, see our campfire questions.

Bonfire Night activities for elderly people and care homes

Offer an indoor afternoon with optional sound, seated activities and food selected by the care home’s staff for each resident.

26. Bonfire Night Reminiscence Circle

Best for: 4 to 15 residents and visitors, seated
Time: 30 to 45 minutes
Materials: Prompt cards; refreshments selected and served by care-home staff; a box of objects to pass round: a woolly scarf and gloves, a battery light wand, an empty treacle tin, the rhyme printed large, old photos of bonfire nights if the home has any (£5 for the treats)

Use photos, familiar objects and optional questions to invite Bonfire Night memories. Offer the object box first, and let anyone listen without speaking.

1. Arrange the refreshments with care-home staff beforehand. Sit in a circle and pass round the box of objects first; staff serve the refreshments as agreed.
2. Choose two of these questions. Invite each person to speak for up to a minute per question, or pass: Did you make a guy as a child, and what did you stuff it with? What did your family eat on Bonfire Night? What was the biggest bonfire you ever saw? Did you have sparklers, and who lit them?
3. Write the best memories on a flip chart as people talk, so the stories build on each other.
4. Read the "Remember, remember" rhyme together, and ask who remembers a different version.
5. Close by reading the memories back as a group story of Bonfire Night across the decades.

27. Indoor Fireworks Afternoon

Best for: 6 to 30 residents, families and staff
Time: 90 minutes
Materials: LED sparkler wands or battery candles, a projector or large TV with a recorded fireworks display, hot chocolate, jacket potatoes, the Fireworks Painting kit (£15 to £25)

A Bonfire Night without noise or cold: the food, the painting and a display on screen with the sound low, or off for anyone who prefers it.

1. Tell residents beforehand what is planned and whether sound will be used. Start with Fireworks Painting at tables, and hang the results on the lounge wall as the decorations.
2. Pause for refreshments selected and served by care-home staff.
3. Hand out battery LED wands for a seated "light-pattern minute" with optional music; keep the room lights on.
4. Play a recorded fireworks display on the screen, with the volume agreed with residents and staff.
5. Finish with questions 1 to 10 from the Guy Fawkes Quiz as a group, hands up for answers.

Bonfire Night display and games checklist

Use this checklist to organise a spectator visit and a separate flameless party. The display organiser supplies the event's visitor instructions; your group coordinator handles tickets, meeting arrangements and the indoor programme.

Plan	Confirm before the invitation goes out
Display visit	Read the organiser's current visitor information, admission time, accessibility details and cancellation policy. Book the required tickets.
Group arrangements	Name a coordinator, share a contact number and meeting point, and agree how guests report independent arrivals or early departures.
Travel and timing	Add the journey, arrival allowance and queueing to the published display time. Give the indoor activities their own full slots.
Party supplies	Pack battery wands, paper decorations, quiz sheets and prepared food. The DIY programme contains no fire lighting, real sparklers or fireworks handling.
Games	Match attendance to each activity's capacity. Use a dedicated daylight space for outdoor games and a lit room for indoor games; assign a facilitator per simultaneous group.
Alternative programme	Offer indoor games and a recorded display with optional sound for guests skipping the outing, or if the event is cancelled.

Bonfire Night planning tips

Use these planning suggestions to adapt the list to your group.

• Allow time to eat. Put a meal break on the schedule. A Cornell University study published in Human Performance in 2015 found that firefighter platoons that ate meals together more often received higher supervisor ratings of work-group performance than platoons that rarely ate together (Cornell Chronicle). This is an association in a fire department, not evidence that a Bonfire Night meal improves attendance or retention.
• Separate the activity slots. Finish outdoor movement games while the ground and boundaries remain clearly visible. Schedule the quiz and acting games indoors.
• Offer roles and breaks. Invite volunteers to act, keep score or read questions. Let people sit out without a forfeit.
• State the finish time. Put the agenda on the invitation so guests can plan transport and other commitments.
• Explain the history. Read the definition before the quiz. Invite participants to share another celebration if they wish; our Diwali celebration ideas offer a separate festival format.

Bonfire Night games for small groups and large groups

	Small group (under 15)	Large group (40+)
Best games	Remember, Remember, Light-Drawing Pictionary, Wink Murder, Toffee Apple Decorating	Guy Fawkes Quiz at tables, Firework Moves in groups of 6 to 30; Glow-Stick Capture the Flag in separate games of 10 to 40; Build-a-Guy Contest in groups of 6 to 30. Assign a facilitator and separate space to each simultaneous group.
Display outing	One coordinator shares tickets and meeting arrangements	Split into named travel groups, each with a coordinator; confirm group booking arrangements with the display organiser
Light patterns	Groups of up to five rehearse a four-shape sequence	Table groups of up to five, each with a leader; pair tables for simultaneous performances
Who runs it	One host	One overall coordinator, a facilitator per activity group and boundary leaders for field games
Food	Jacket potatoes from the oven	A trestle table, a caterer or a local food van

Bonfire Night games to skip

Leave out these formats and use the alternatives below.

Game	Why skip it	Play instead
Chubby Bunny (marshmallows in the mouth)	Mouth-filling contests make eating the performance; this programme keeps food in the meal break	Tell stories in the Campfire Story Circle
Drinking games (Sevens and the like)	A drink forfeit excludes guests who do not want to drink	Remember, Remember, with the same counting-and-concentration fun
Marshmallow peeling records	The supposed record has no agreed scoring or useful endpoint	The Bake-Off, which has real judging
Spin-until-dizzy races	Spinning adds a forfeit to a race when a short movement game would fit the theme	Firework Moves, with slow turns and a seated option
Balloon popping by sitting on prompts	Wet grass, dark, balloons that do not pop; nothing to do with the night	Bonfire Night Charades for the same acting prompts
Sticker "mosquito bite" games	The sticker mechanic does not use the Bonfire Night theme	Glow Stick Treasure Hunt
A DIY fireworks display for a crowd	A display needs its own event planning; it is outside this games-and-spectator programme	The Display Trip and After-Party
Real-sparkler drawing games	A burning prop determines the turn length and cannot be reused between rounds	Light-Drawing Pictionary with a reusable battery wand and a timer

Final thoughts

Choose a party format, two or three games and a clear finish time. Run movement games while there is daylight, then move to the indoor quiz, crafts or story circle. Match the group sizes and timings to the people attending.

If you would rather have a host run the games, browse our virtual and in-person team building events.

Next, check out our lists of large group games, indoor group games for a wet November and Halloween office party ideas for the week before.