What to Wear to Bonfire Night So You Stay Warm Till the Finale

Bonfire Night is the one night of the year we all agree to stand in a cold, damp field for two hours and call it a treat. It falls on a Thursday this year, 5 November, so check whether your local display is on the night itself or the weekend around it before you plan anything.

It's the standing still that gets you, more than the temperature. The Met Office's long-term UK average for November (1991 to 2020) is a 9.4°C high and a 3.6°C low, and a fireworks display happens after dark, so you're dressing for the lower number. Last year was the odd one out: it only dropped to 14.4°C at Teddington overnight, which made 2025 the mildest Bonfire Night on record. I wouldn't bet the outfit on that happening twice.

So start at the ground and work up: boots, coat, what goes under it, and the hat and gloves that decide whether you stay for the finale. Everything here is women's and from the high street, and none of it should make you look like you've borrowed your dad's fishing gear.

Boots for a wet, muddy field

Grass in November is wet even when it hasn't rained, and once a few thousand people have walked over it, it's mud. Trainers are the mistake I'd steer you away from. Mesh lets the wet straight in, and cold feet will send you home before the bonfire's properly going.

Pick by the ground you're standing on. A chunky Chelsea boot with a lug sole covers a park display and still looks right in the pub afterwards. Lace-up boots are better for a proper field, because you can pull them tight round the ankle and they won't get sucked off in the mud. Wellies are for the farm displays where the car park is also a field, and they look more deliberate with a long coat than a cropped jacket.

Prefer knee-highs or slouchy suede? Those are covered in the first cold snap edit, along with long wool coats and puffers.

A coat you can stand outside in for two hours

Nobody thanks you for opening an umbrella at a fireworks display, so a hood does that job instead. Then it's about length and how much you can fit underneath.

A parka with a faux fur trim is the warmest option and usually sits at the thigh or lower, which keeps the wind off the bit of you that sits on a cold bench. A quilted jacket is lighter and shorter, but there's room under it for a chunky cardigan, and that combination is easier to take into a pub than a duvet. If the forecast says mild and wet, a raincoat over a fleece makes more sense than either.

One opinion on colour: I'd go khaki, brown or burgundy over black. Black is fine, it's just that everyone else is wearing it too, and you'll be trying to find your friends in the dark after the last rocket.

What to wear under your coat

Two medium layers do more than one enormous jumper, and you can take one off when you end up inside somewhere warm afterwards. A chunky cardigan works well here because it opens up. Wear it over a long-sleeve top and you can button it to the neck by the time the display starts.

A half-zip fleece is the outdoorsy version of the same idea. The zip is the useful bit: up to the chin when the wind picks up, down when you're queueing for a hot dog by the fire. A borg one in cream or brown looks less like a geography field trip than a technical fleece, if that's a worry.

The trick nobody sees is under your jeans. Thermal or fleece-lined leggings go under wide-leg jeans or trousers without adding much bulk, and your legs are the part that gets coldest when you're standing on grass. Black or dark brown, so nothing shows at the ankle.

Hats, scarves and gloves

The coat and boots are doing a practical job, so let the hat be the silly bit. A bobble hat in a colour you wouldn't wear as a coat (green, for me, always) also helps your friends spot you in a crowd.

Gloves are worth more thought than they usually get. If you're holding a sparkler, fire services advise gloves for everyone, not just children, so pack a pair even if your hands are fine. Touchscreen fingertips are handy if you want to film the finale without taking them off. And if there are sparklers about, tuck the ends of your scarf into your coat, since the standard safety advice is to keep loose, flowing fabric away from them.

If the forecast turns mild

If it ends up another warm one like last year, swap the parka for the raincoat, keep the fleece, and lose the thermals. The boots stay either way, because the ground will still be wet. Prices and sizes move quickly once the weather turns, so if you need boots for the night, sort them this week rather than the Tuesday before.