PIONEER CAMPFIRE SINGING

I guess I could have spent a little more time tucking in the tulle better
before I took the picture. I promise to make it look better for the kids.

I love to go  camping; albeit, in my 31 1/2 years of marriage I've evolved over the years from camping in tents and using the great outdoors as my lavatory (way before there were campsites with restrooms) to a comfy, cozy 5th wheel with indoor plumbing and a king-sized bed I grew accustom to from home living. I figured I did my time all those many rough camping years, I finally should be able to enjoy a little less roughing it now.

One thing I do love when I'm camping that no trailer can replace is sitting around a campfire with my family singing songs. So hey, why not bring a campfire to Primary? I did this once before a while back and the kids loved it. It was something different and interesting to do and it is a wonderful way to sing all those pioneer songs. Singing just sounds so much better around a campfire, don't you think? And what could make it even better I ask? How about a guitar?!?! I discovered a few months back that my pianist dabbles a little with the guitar. Now how cool will that be singing pioneer songs around a campfire to the musical strums of a guitar? Campfire singing can't get better than that.

HOW TO MAKE THE CAMPFIRE

Making a campfire is pretty easy to put together and cheap since you probably have most of this stuff around and outside your home. This is how I make mine. Put the campfire together in the order I've listed the items below.

• A large piece of cardboard to build the campfire on. This is optional, but it does make it easier to build the campfire ahead of time on it and then all you have to do is drag it out to the middle of the floor when it is Singing Time; otherwise, it would take too much time to build it right when it is time to sing.
• A piece of brown fabric to place over the cardboard to help give more of a dirt feel. My heavy duty cardboard is white, so if your board is brown, that can look like dirt on its own just fine.
• Rocks (they grow in my yard): enough to make a small, loose enclosure for a campfire. Don't want to haul more rocks than you have to.
• Christmas twinkle lights. I have a set that has about 7 different twinkling options on it. I like the wave and the sequence options for the most authentic campfire flicker.
• About 1 1/2 yards of red tulle and 1 yard orange tulle. If you just want to use one color, red of course is the way to go. Tulle is pretty cheap at about $1.50 per yard—even less if you have a 40% or 50% coupon.
• Circle the red tulle along the inside of the circle of rocks with an opening in the center and the cut edges of the fabric up. Tuck a little under the edges of the rocks so it doesn't fluff out so much over the rocks, like in my picture above.
• Place the orange tulle in the center of the red tulle with the cut edges of the fabric up.
• A few small logs: I use the dried limbs we cut from our apple trees. BTW, dried wood from fruit trees I've discovered doesn't smoke as much in campfires—just a helpful camping tip. It is probably the harder wood.
• Pull up the cut edges of the tulle and arrange through the logs to help make it look like some flames. It is hard to see the "flames" in the picture above.
• Extension cord for the lights—make sure it is long enough to reach the plug from where your campfire is.
• A ox 5-gallon bucket to haul it all in or some other container.
• And there you go. Just drag your fire out and plug it in when it's singing time.

As I mentioned in the Wagon Wheel Spinner Post, I'm going to do double duty and bring my spinner also for a way to pick the songs. I'll also share some little fun facts about pioneers. See the key sheet from the Wagon Wheel Spinner for the Fun Facts. So yeah, combining two BIG different things together, I think I will need my handcart to help me haul all this stuff to Primary. I think this will be the most stuff and the heaviest I will have hauled in for singing time. I'm sure my husband's eyes are rolling to the back of his head at the thought of this. I'm sure I'll have to massage his poor aching muscles afterwards. 

Of course, with the campfire you have to sing at least one song with the lights out. The kids will surely be disappointed if you don't. So, make sure you bring in some extra light if your primary room gets pitch black like mine does without any windows because the twinkle lights probably won't give off enough of a glow for the room. Don't want to frighten those young'uns. I will bring a battery powered lantern and a handheld tripod flashlight that I can stand up on the piano for the pianist to use.

And don't forget to wear your pioneer apron and hat!  I get too hot with the hat on, so I just let it hang down my back. An apron is rather easy to make. Here are some Pioneer Trek patterns for a bonnet and apron if you are interested in making them sometime.

Pioneer Apron Pattern

Pioneer Bonnet Pattern