Campfire Cookies

An Easy to Make Treat for Your Camping Family Reunion

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One side of our family always goes camping for our family reunions and when I saw a photo of these campfire cookies I just knew we needed to add them to our reunion schedule.

Begin by frosting a sugar cookie with green frosting. Crush 2 snack size Oreo cookies on top of the frosting to resemble dirt.

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Add 3 unwrapped Tootsie Roll candies for logs and cut up red, yellow and orange gummy candies to resemble fire.

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Put 3 mini marshmallows on the ends of 3 pretzel sticks. Place sticks on each cookie in a pyramid shape over the campfire, making sure the marshmallows touch at the top.

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For added fun, take a lighter and run it over the marshmallows to give them a roasted look!

campfire cookies

Aunt Lynn’s Camping Match Game

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Aunt Lynn’s Camping Match Game has been a favorite activity at our family reunions for over 20 years. You play this game like you do most match games but instead of only one winner, everyone that finds a match receives a prize.

To play the game lay the cards face down on a flat surface.

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Youngest player goes first.

Players take turns turning over 2 cards at a time.

The cards must be turned over completely so that all players can see them. A player makes a “match” if the two cards turned over are identical. (When printing the cards you will need to make two copies)

When a match is made the player puts the pair of cards beside them and takes the prize associated with that match. (see list below) and the next player takes their turn. We don’t let the person that finds a match continue to make matches until they don’t make a match. That way more people are able to earn prizes.

Examples of prizes for matches include-

Hike-  Rocky Road

Logs-  Tootsie Roll

Mosquitos-  Slap Stick

Mountains-  Mounds

You can give a grand prize to the player with the most matches if you want to.  

You can download the complete printable game here.

5 Gallon Bucket Seats For Your Camping Reunion

Making and decorating their own 5 gallon bucket seat is a great ice breaker activity for your family reunion.

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5 Gallon Bucket Seats for Your Family Reunion

If your family reunion is held at a campground you might find these 5 gallon bucket seats a fun and useful addition to your reunion. They’re easy to make and handy for storing anything you might want to access quickly such as flashlights, sunscreen, bug  spray, gloves etc.

What you’ll need:

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5 gallon bucket (Have everyone bring their own bucket.  If you have family that will be traveling long distances to attend your reunion, purchase their buckets for them.)

Fabric-I like using bandanas

Polyethylene foam or quilt batting for the cushy part of your seat.

Particle board or for a more economic solution use cardboard.

Scissors

Sharpies

Staple guns

NOTE: Be sure and have plenty of scissors and staple guns so that people are not standing around waiting to use them.

Step 1. Cut the circles out of particle board or plywood scraps

Trace the lid for your pattern then use a jigsaw to cut circles from particle board or any scrap wood you may have.  You will want to have these cut in advance if you are camping.  Of course,if you are using cardboard they can be cut at the campsite.

Step 2:  Add The Padding.

For the first buckets we made we used very thick (2- 3 inch) foam but we found that any padding at all makes the bucket more comfortable- even a couple of layers of quilt batting works well.  Our best buckets were made with  1/2 inch Polyethylene Foam.

Place the wood circles on the foam and trace them. Cut the foam to fit.

NOTE: Be sure the handle of your bucket can move up and down. If your foam is too thick the handle won’t be able to move.

Step 3: Attach the fabric

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Lay the wood piece on top of your fabric and add three inches to the circle. Cut out the fabric and then  using staple guns attach the batting and  fabric to the wood circle. Pull the fabric tight before stapling it on the board.

Step 4: Decorating Your 5 Gallon Bucket

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Here’s the fun part!  If someone in your family has a vinyl cutting machine such as a silhouette, ask them to cut a variety of shapes and designs that can be used to personalize buckets.  Supply alphabet stickers, glitter glue, sticky jewels, buttons, ribbon  and permanent markers so family members can decorate their buckets in their own personal style.

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