A fireworks display involves standing on wet grass, in the dark, in November, not moving, for about two hours. It is one of the coldest things anyone does voluntarily, and it is colder than the temperature suggests because you generate no heat standing still.
Warmth comes from the middle layer
Most people approach this by buying a bigger coat. The coat is the least effective place to add warmth, because it is the layer with the most air movement and it has to fit over everything else.
The layer that actually decides whether you are warm is the mid layer — the fleece or wool jumper between your base and your coat. It traps air, it is close to the body, and it is the one most people skip.
The working combination for a two-hour stand:
- A base layer with long sleeves. Wool or synthetic. Not cotton, which holds moisture and then chills you.
- A real mid layer. A proper fleece or a dense wool jumper.
- A windproof outer. Wind is what steals heat in an open field; waterproof matters less than windproof unless it is actually raining.
The extremities do most of the complaining
Core warmth is straightforward. What ends an evening early is feet and hands.
Feet. Standing on cold wet ground conducts heat away continuously. Thick soles matter more than thick socks — a thin sole on frozen grass defeats any sock. Wellingtons are warm only if you put a proper sock inside them; the boot itself has no insulation.
Hands. You will be holding something cold, taking photographs, or holding a child's hand. Gloves that let you use a phone save you taking them off eight times.
Head and neck. A hat and something round the neck are the highest warmth-per-bulk items available, and unlike a bigger coat they do not change your shape.
Not disappearing into it
The reason people end up looking like a shapeless bundle is that all the warmth has been loaded onto the outermost layer.
If the warmth is in the mid layer instead, the coat can be a normal coat rather than a duvet, and you keep an outline. The other thing that helps is keeping one visible thing that is yours — a scarf in a colour that suits you, a hat that is not purely functional. In photographs taken in the dark, the only things that read are your face and whatever is next to it.
Which makes the colour of that scarf worth a moment's thought, since it is the one thing lit by the fireworks. The colour hub covers which shades work next to your face.
What not to wear
- Anything you mind about. Bonfires produce smoke and embers, and the smell does not come out of wool easily.
- White or pale trainers. Wet grass and mud, in the dark.
- Long unstructured coats. They drag on wet ground and gather everything.
- Cotton next to the skin. It gets damp and then it makes you colder.
- A new pair of anything. This is not the evening.
For children
The same three-layer structure, one size looser to trap more air, and something reflective or light-coloured — a field in the dark with several hundred people is exactly where you want to be able to see your own child from a distance.
Ear protection is worth more to a small child than any garment on this list.