When I was the park naturalist for Laura S. Walker State Park, near Waycross, GA, I led campfires for the campers and any visitors every Friday night. The campfire was always one of my most popular programs, and some nights there wasn’t enough seating available! However, it didn’t matter if I had 30 guests or just 2 – my job was to make sure that they had a good time. If you ever find yourself planning a campfire, there are just a few things to keep in mind to ensure your success. Yes, I said planning! A good campfire can be spontaneous of course, but a great campfire, full of marshmallows, games, and stories, is planned.
Have marshmallows, or even better, s’mores
These are expected. If you can’t really afford s’mores for a large group, marshmallows are fine. If someone complains about not having s’mores (which some people actually have the gall to do), don’t worry about it. I had to pay for all the marshmallows I went through and I could not afford to make s’mores. Buy metal marshmallow roasting sticks at the dollar store. If you don’t have enough for everyone, tell people to roast one marshmallow then pass the stick on to someone who needs it. Bring more than you need. Nothing is worse than running out of marshmallows!
Bring a list of songs
…but don’t expect to sing them. If your group is large enough, you can get a few songs going, but the smaller the group, the less likely people are going to feel comfortable participating. Short and sweet are best. I had success with one song usually: “Do Your Ears Hang Low?”. It’s short enough that people don’t feel put upon, and most people have fun with the motions that go along with the song. Even sulky teenagers sing it! If the group is small, say, 6 people or less, put the song list away. I led my share of awkward songs before I realized everyone is happier without them.
Bring a list of games
The games are the best part of the campfire experience (besides the flaming marshmallows). I would be prepared to do more than what I actually intended, if one fell through for some reason. I would always do: Mad-Libs, fill in the blank list of popular sayings (ex., “A bird in the hand is worth ___ ___ ___ ___”), I’m Going Camping (a memory game that sometimes took up the whole campfire but people really enjoy), and a short true or false trivia game related to my park and the area’s natural history. I would also do an animal skull ID game (everyone got to hold the skulls) – people loved that one the best.
Keep it short
If you’re leading a campfire for strangers, like I did, keeping it short and sweet is the best idea. I experimented with a longer, more involved format one weekend, and to my dismay, people were leaving before it was over. I had kept them too long. If you keep it concise – marshmallow roasting, then games, then more roasting or maybe a story, people like that the best. They don’t want to hang around for an hour – people get antsy. Keep the fire small, and it will burn out in about 30 minutes. I successfully used this as my timer for ending the campfire.
Finally, people like to help
Children love getting a task to do from a person they look up to. As a park naturalist, children loved helping me. The work ethic of children scrambling around picking up all the pine cones in sight to dump at my feet is probably surprising to their mothers, who I’m sure have to cajole them to pick up their rooms. Give the children a task, like gathering sticks or pinecones, while waiting for the campfire to start – they love it. Or, ask one to be the “marshmallow person” and hold the bag. Or, the “stick collector” and gather the used roasting sticks after everyone’s done. Appoint an older person to be the “fire keeper”, whose job is to stoke the fire while you’re busy leading games, but only if it gets low! One campfire, I asked a young man to be my “fire keeper”, and he didn’t just stoke it when it got low. While I was doing the games, he had turned it into a small bonfire behind me!
Planning and leading a great campfire is not hard, but it does take intuition into your group. Plan for a longer campfire just in case, bring more marshmallows than you need, delegate tasks, don’t force people to sing, and end it on a timely note. And remember, it needs to be fun! Be friendly and cheerful. I’ve made many friends at my campfires. I wish you good luck, and have fun out there.