Is it legal ?

If you are in a support bubble and you are not doing anything different from usual (other than the dinner being celebratory) I can't see the problem. Have you been invited to have the vaccine yet?

Have a "Zoom" meal and enter into the spirit of the lockdown. It won't be long for the vaccination program to really take effect and restrictions will be less. You can celebrate then. It is a small price to pay to be safe.

It's probably legal, but is it wise? It depends, I suppose, if those in your bubble are ever in contact with others not in your bubble (for work, perhaps), and who those they are in contact with have been in contact with, and so on, if you see what I mean.

I thought you are allowed only one person from you bubble inside your house at any time! Plus do you really want the police knocking on your door.

No, you’re not supposed to meet for a social gathering even if in a bubble and you do childcare as a meal isn’t essential . We had this dilemma at Christmas and in the end we all did the right thing and
had dinner in our own houses

People are better off forgetting Boris' confused set of rules, and follow common sense.
If you simply act as if you and/or others around you are infected. No matter what is legal.
Imagine the milkman is infected. What do you do? You wash the bottles and take care to wash your hands.
Things that come into the house imagine they have been touched by an infected person; wash your shopping.
When you are out keep your distance; where not possible wear a mask.
Do not touch surfaces unnecessarily; wash your hands when you have do.
If you want to have people round take as many precautions as practicle.
VENTILATION is nearly as good as being outside. So turn down the heating and wear more clothes, let the air move. This will carry viruses out of the house.

Yes it is legal if you live alone you can form a bubble with another household, and can even sleep over and hug each other.

It’s all about viral load. Sitting together around a table for a few hours in an enclosed space with closed windows where one or more of your bubble could be asymptomatic carriers is, in my opinion, very risky. You could breathe in a lot of virus and become seriously ill.
Although you help out with child care as you’re in their bubble, this carries less risk if you limit close interaction as much as possible. Obviously, there’s still risk as Covid is an airborne virus which lingers in unventilated rooms.
You say that family members enter your home at least once a week to fetch your GC but do they really have to enter?
Just because bubbles are ‘allowed’ doesn’t mean they’re safe, especially when some members are going out to work and others at school ........ I’d save any close contact birthday celebrations till you’ve had both jabs so that you have more chance of celebrating next year’s! Even after the jabs, we still need to be careful though as we could still pass it on, even though we have some protection for ourselves .....

Honestly, as we can see our way to safer times, I'd not risk it now (hours indoors together). Arrange with everyone to have an 'official' birthday this year - pick a day in high summer and have a get together that is at least partly outside. People might actually enjoy that more too WIN/WIN!

Never mind legal - do what is safe!!

Yes it's legal for you to have a meal with your bubble. I have been doing so with my bubble, until recently. My bubble started with my two adult children because I am a full time carer for my husband and felt I needed a support bubble. However recently I started to realise that I was spending far too much time with them for non support reasons and thought it might not be a good idea to continue. Both my husband and I have underlying health conditions. So after Christmas Day I announced to the family that we would be physically staying away from them and the grandchildren until we felt it wise to mix again. We have gotten round missing them by having a weekly extended family Zoom gathering. These have been great fun and allow us to mix safely. I know I can go to their house if it's really necessary and they could come here if I need assistance. Maybe zoom gatherings is something you could consider for birthdays.

I’m not sure what the difference is between feeding a family and having a birthday meal .......... other than maybe cake (skip the candles cos of the ‘spit’ in blowing them out)!

My daughter is 40 this month , lives 90 miles away, in our bubble, works from hoe, lives alone done everything right! We are going to her house for her birthday , house, car, house !
If Boris and his entourage can go to Scotland I can go to my girl’s birthday !

We have been in a bubble with our daughter and family but our son-in-law got covid. He had only met outside with a neighbour accidentally and had a brief chat and it turns out the neighbour had the virus but didn't know it at that point.
Luckily son-in-law has now recovered more or less. I'm not a happy mum-in-law.

I am in a bubble with my daughter and family and they were here for lunch yesterday. They come every fortnight for Sunday lunch. I don't see a problem with that. I had Christmas day with them also.

The responses to this query prove to me how confused everybody is.

There seems to be some confusion here between support bubbles and childcare bubbles, they are not the same thing. A support bubble has to be a single person, or single parent with young children. A childcare bubble is one solely for the purposes of providing childcare during working hours. You can have one or both, but only one of each.

If your daughter is a single parent, then if you are in a support bubble with her you are effectively one household. You can see of much as of each other as you wish and spend overnight with each other. You could certainly enjoy a birthday meal together, I hope DH or DD might cook it for you to give you a rest!

In the case of a childcare bubble, if there is a SiL in the picture too, then in theory you could only have the meal during working hours whilst looking after the children.

If you live alone and DD and her children, (your GC), are your bubble then they can have them in your house. If you look after children from other households then you don't really have a bubble.

But if you simply follow the rule that you must treat everyone as potentially infectious (including yourself) then this is much clearer than the government rules. It all becomes very simple then.

It is legal if your family are in your support bubble because you live alone.
If they are in a childcare bubble with you its for "childcare" and that's all.

The question is, is it sensible or fair to those in the NHS?
I would say go ahead as long as you can look all the doctors and nurses that are exhausted, in the eye and tell them you had a birthday tea. We have been told to take some personal responsibility rather than trying to work our way around the rules.

Most people by now have had a lockdown birthday so its not such a big deal so you are in good company.

My D is the only bubble I've got, but-----she works, looks after GC and also goes shopping. One thing's laughing at another really because her job is facing people at border control, mixing with colleagues etc. Then she visits me ?

What would I have done otherwise if she'd steered clear from visiting ?

We are in a bubble with a neighbour. We neither socialise or work with anyone she socialises with no one but us.
We have some meals with her but none of us work or come close to anyone else.
That is how I interpret a bubble. If I had to do childcare I would expect the child to be passed over at the door, not to spend anything but the briefest time with anyone who was coming into contact with others.

Madwoman11

Yes it is legal if you live alone you can form a bubble with another household, and can even sleep over and hug each other.

Correct.

LuckyFour

We have been in a bubble with our daughter and family but our son-in-law got covid. He had only met outside with a neighbour accidentally and had a brief chat and it turns out the neighbour had the virus but didn't know it at that point.
Luckily son-in-law has now recovered more or less. I'm not a happy mum-in-law.

For you two to have been in a bubble at all with them in the first place, Luckyfour, they would have to have a child under 1. Perhaps they do though.

Gwyneth

To be honest I think you are putting yourself at risk whether it is allowed or not. Can’t the birthday party be postponed until another time?

I understand that Captain Sir Tom was in hospital being treated for pneumonia, so assumed he caught it in there. Personally I don’t want to be in a bubble with my grandchildren because I am scared of catching COVID. I am surprised so many people think that this is okay. I wouldn’t risk being around them at all.