There are still a few good weekends ahead where you can get out by the campfire in the backyard for s’mores or head to the woods for a weekend of peace and quiet while camping with family and friends.
Sometimes it’s hard to know what to do when you’re camping and the sunset is so early in the evening - tonight the sunset before 7 PM on Mackinac Island! If you’re camping in the Upper Peninsula over the next few weeks, it will continue to get earlier and earlier!
Here are a few campfire games to have ready, just in case you find yourself around a campfire when the conversation has reached a lull!
Telephone: It’s probably been years since you played this game! Start by saying a certain phrase like “Sally sells sea shells by the sea shore.” Whisper it to the person next to you. Go around the entire circle doing this, until you get to the end. The last person will say what they heard. No one wins or loses, but it creates a lot of laughs for everyone participating!
Two Truths & a Lie: Simply stump your best friends by telling them two true things about yourself and one false thing. See how well they really know you!
Numbers: The goal is to count to 100 as loud and fast as possible. One person starts by saying 1 and the group counts up from there. However, the trick is, two people can’t speak at once / say the same number and you can’t gesture to anyone that they should go next. As soon as two people say the same number at the same time, you have to start over. Do you think you can do it, without speaking at the same time?
Word Association Game: This is a fun one around the campfire. Use a word, such as campfire, then the next person has to say a word that is associated with campfire, i.e. hot dogs. Then someone else would say “ketchup” and keep going from there.See how long you can go down one trail of thought before having to start over!
I Have Never: This is an easy one, but it can be fun with friends to test and see what you do / don’t know about each other! Start by holding up 10 fingers. The first person will say: “I have never gone camping.” If someone in the group has gone camping, they have to put one finger down. You go around in the circle until just one person has finger(s) remaining. It can be tricky with friends, so you have to think of things that you haven’t done together.
We hope that when you go camping this fall and you’re looking for something to do when it gets dark early on in the night, you will have fun playing some of these campfire games with your friends!