How often do you hear: “We should really do something fun together again.” You meet up at someone’s house, or in a cafe. And at the end of the evening, you conclude that it was nice, just like all the evenings you spend together.
When you go for dinner and an overnight stay with friends in nature, you know for sure it will be different. Not just another night out. You are going to celebrate your friendship; truly being together, enjoying good food, an evening and a night where time slows down, conversations last longer, and the bond feels tighter. At Yūgen Forest, we have put together a special package for this. This article explains what it is, who it works for, and why.
Celebrate Friendship: what it looks like
Celebrate Friendship is a friendship package from Yūgen Forest. No grand party, no frills, just quality time together. Just you, enjoying the outdoors in our Forest Room, with the sauna and hot tub heated up for you, our delicious honest food from our own market garden, a campfire, and maybe even a guitar.
It looks something like this:
- Arrival in the afternoon with a snack and a drink.
- Check-in/dropping off bags in your glamping tents and/or cabins where the comfortable beds are already made.
- A short tour of the market garden with our farmer.
- Sauna and hot tub for those who wish.
- An extensive BBQ package is ready for you in our Forest Room. Carefully prepared by our chef, so you can get started with it yourselves right away.
- A campfire full of stories and laughter, reminiscing and making new memories.
- When everything has been said, you’ll have a good night’s sleep at the edge of the forest.
- The next morning, a lovely relaxed breakfast buffet awaits you.
- Around 12 PM, everyone heads back home.
The friendship package starts from €165 per person (for a group of 16 people) and is available for groups of 10 or more. Drinks are charged based on consumption.
What a friends weekend in nature sparks
Nature does something to groups. Attention shifts, the rhythm slows down. Among the trees, there is no menu card determining the evening’s course. Someone gets up to put wood on the fire or food on the BBQ, another walks along. You hear an owl, you share a blanket. Conversations arise that wouldn’t happen otherwise.
That difference isn’t just in the mood. Research by anthropologist Robin Dunbar shows that eating together and sitting around a fire measurably strengthen social bonding. Especially for groups that don’t see each other often, such a long evening does much more than you might expect. No one needs to be on their phone, no one has to be home before midnight, no one has to worry about what’s waiting tomorrow morning. An evening and overnight stay in the forest isn’t an escape from daily life; it’s more of an interruption; a moment to pause with and for each other.
You determine the rhythm of the evening
Celebrate Friendship is all about you, so we consciously stay a bit in the background. Of course, we are always nearby and reachable, but we aren’t around you all evening. This allows you to experience more freedom and a sense of group connection. The food is prepared by the chef, so you can finish it yourselves on the BBQ. Drinks are in a stocked fridge with a tally sheet. The sauna and hot tub are heated for you, and you keep the campfire going as long as you like; you wrap up whenever you feel the evening is over.
Upon arrival, you will of course receive a warm welcome. During the evening, we check in occasionally to see if everything is to your liking and if we can do anything for you, but otherwise, we leave you to yourselves in your own space. So no waiter asking how the food tastes, but someone you can call on if anything is needed.
If you wish, your friendship package can be expanded with all kinds of activities. For example, a cocktail bar (with a bartender) or fermentation workshop, a foraging walk, or ritualistically planting a tree together in our Intention Forest, as a green monument to your friendship.
Who it works for, and who it doesn’t
Celebrate Friendship is a beautiful package for groups who want to feel their friendship. Old friends who don’t see each other enough. People with busy lives who want to pause together for a moment. A group that organizes something annually and wants to try something different. Lovers of the forest, being outdoors, good food, and a campfire. Friends who want to mark a milestone, a move, a birthday, the end of a life phase, a new beginning.
It works less well for those expecting the luxury of a hotel or the structure of an organized outing. Our cabins and glamping tents are comfortable but off-grid: no private bathroom, no room service. Those looking for that are better off elsewhere.
The value lies in the shared experience. What stays with you is a specific conversation at the BBQ, enjoying delicious food around the fire together, a walk in the morning mist, words that hadn’t been shared before. That’s what it’s about.
Welcome to Yūgen Forest
Yūgen Forest is a 52-hectare nature reserve in the Flevopolder. Near Dronten, an hour’s drive from Amsterdam and 25 minutes from Zwolle. Celebrate Friendship costs €165 per person, for groups of 16 or more. Included: welcome drink, market garden tour, sauna and hot tub, BBQ package, campfire, overnight stay, breakfast. Drinks based on consumption.
→ Plan your weekend via info@yugenforest.nl
→ Download the private brochure here
