Midsommar (Midsummer, the biggest summer holiday in Sweden) with children works if you build the day around the children rather than around the celebration: a nap before the dancing, food they recognise, a flower crown fastened with wire rather than string, half an hour of games, and home before it gets too late. The dancing around the maypole starts at two or three in many places, so the nap needs to be done by then. The rest is a bonus.
Midsommarafton (Midsummer's Eve) is a Friday at the end of June, and in Stockholm it is the day when more families with small children leave town than any other. To the in-laws' summer house, to a friend's place in the archipelago, to a celebration in a park. It makes for a long day: sun, crowds, late light and lots of adults who want to drink their coffee in peace. This is how we plan it so that it lasts until the evening, and how we make the flower crowns so they are not hanging like wet flannels by three.
The day in the right order
| Time | What | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Morning | Pick flowers, make crowns, dress the maypole if you are where it is being dressed | The children are fresh, it is coolest, and the crown has time to sit in the fridge |
| 11.30 | Early lunch, what the children usually eat | Before the herring is laid out and the adults sit down for two hours |
| 12.30 to 14 | Nap, in the pram or a darkened room | Without a nap, the dancing at three ends in a meltdown |
| 14 to 15.30 | Dancing around the maypole, games | This is what the children remember |
| 16 | Strawberries, fika (coffee and cake), quiet play in the shade | The sun is at its strongest, and the children are tired |
| 18 | The children's dinner | The adults' dinner is often late, and the children cannot wait |
| 19 to 20 | Bedtime routine, even though it is light | The same order as at home, with blackout |
Flower crowns that last all day
- Ring. Soft steel wire or a bendy birch twig, measured around the child's head plus two centimetres. Twist the ends together.
- Greenery first. Wind birch leaves, twigs or grass around the ring with thin wire. It hides the wire and gives something to fasten the flowers into.
- Flowers. Oxeye daisies, harebells, buttercups, clover, cow parsley. Short stems, fastened one at a time with florist's wire. String does not work, it comes loose.
- Water. Put the crown in a plastic bag with a few drops of water in the fridge until it is time. The flowers last hours longer.
- Children from five make their own if you make the ring and show them how to wind the wire. Children under five hand over flowers and put the crown on. That is enough.
Do not pick in nature reserves or on anyone's land. Roadside verges and meadows are enough. And check that no child picks giant hogweed or hogweed, which burn the skin in sunlight. Teach the children to ask before they pick anything they do not recognise.
Games at the maypole and on the lawn
The dancing around the maypole lasts half an hour, and small children manage ten minutes of it. The rest of the afternoon needs games that work for mixed ages and need no equipment. These work on a lawn with seven children between two and ten.
- Sack race. Bin bags work. Children from three jump, the younger ones run in the sack with help.
- Tug of war. One rope, children against adults. The adults lose. Always.
- Kubb. The Swedish lawn game, for real from five, from three as throwing sticks at blocks.
- Balloon game. One balloon per child, keep it in the air as long as you can. Works from two.
- Five-event challenge. Five stations, for example throwing a ball into a bucket, egg and spoon, hopscotch, ring toss, crab walk. Every child gets a card that is stamped. Everyone wins.
- Water balloons if it is warm and you are standing well away from the adults in white clothes.
- Små grodorna and Prästens lilla kråka, the classic Midsummer dancing songs, can be done without a maypole, in a ring on the grass, for the smallest ones who do not want to be in the crowd.
More ideas are in Outdoor games for kids, and almost everything there works at midsommar.
Sun, water and swimming
Midsommar is often the first really warm day the children spend outdoors from morning to night. Sun cream in the morning and again after the nap, a hat, and shade between twelve and three. Water in a bottle the child can drink from alone, and refill it more often than you think is needed. If you swim: one adult in the water with every child under six, however shallow it is, and a life jacket on the jetty. Several adults who all think someone else is watching is the most common recipe for a Midsummer accident. Say out loud who has the children, and swap every hour.
The evening and the light night
Your child will not fall asleep at seven when the sun is high and thirty people are laughing on the veranda. But they will fall asleep at eight if you do the same things as at home, in the same order, in a room as dark as you can make it. Bring a blackout blind, your child's own pillowcase and whatever usually works. Expect one of you to go in with the child while the other stays, and swap next year. A child who falls asleep at 21 and sleeps until seven has had a good midsommar. A child who falls asleep on the sofa at 23 wakes at 5 and ruins Midsummer's Day for everyone.
How we do it with our families
Nike usually joins a family in Nacka on midsommarafton at their summer house, because the parents want to be able to sit at the table with their friends once a year. She takes the morning with the children, who are three and six: flowers in a bucket, crowns made at the kitchen table, into the fridge. At half past twelve she goes in with the three-year-old for a nap while the six-year-old helps dress the maypole. At the dancing she has both of them, at four she takes them to the beach with strawberries, and at half past seven both are in bed. The parents get their evening, and the children get a midsommar they remember. We work out the price for a day like that at the first meeting, see Prices.
Would you like a nanny who comes on the same days every week and whom the children know? Book a free first meeting with the nanny in your home, and we will work out a plan around your hours.
Read more: Outdoor games for kids · The Stockholm archipelago with children · Sun protection for children · A nanny at the weekend
Frequently asked questions
How do you make a Midsummer flower crown that lasts all day?
A ring of steel wire or a soft birch twig, wound with greenery first, flowers last. The flowers are fastened with thin steel wire or florist's wire, not string. Put the crown in a bag in the fridge until the dancing, so it is not drooping after an hour.
What should children eat at midsommar?
What they usually eat. Potatoes, meatballs, prinskorv (small cocktail sausages), crispbread and strawberries are enough. Herring, soured cream and gravlax can be on the table for the adults. Forcing a Midsummer spread on children only gives you a hungry child at four o'clock.
How do you get a two-year-old to sleep when it is light?
Blackout in the room or the pram, the same routine as at home, and accept that it will be an hour later. A child who misses the midday nap at midsommar is no fun at the maypole at three, so plan for the nap before you plan for the dancing.
Can children join the Midsummer celebrations in Stockholm?
Yes, the big celebrations in Stockholm, for example at Skansen, are family events with dancing around the maypole in the afternoon. Check the current times on their website and expect big crowds. Many families choose a smaller celebration in their own municipality or on an island in the archipelago instead.
Do you have to celebrate midsommar at all?
No. A Midsummer's Eve at home with strawberries on the balcony and a song is just as much midsommar as a day in the countryside. Children under four notice no difference, and whatever you can manage is always better than what you cannot.