Bonfires are one of my favorite summertime activities. I love watching the mesmerizing flames, hearing the crackling of the wood burning, and the next day smelling the smoke on my clothes and hair.

Bonfires were a staple in my childhood. It was a rare summer weekend that my Dad didn’t have one burning away. I loved sitting around them on a lawn chair in the dark, listening to the adults talk, getting louder and louder as the night wore on and they imbibed in their drink of choice. 

My Dad would start telling silly stories that made my sister and I laugh uncontrollably as they got more and more unbelievable. Inevitably Schmidt beer big-mouth glass bottles would end up in the embers with people poking at them as they got hot, trying to shape them into glass ashtrays. The hardest part was getting them out successfully, as they would usually cool too fast and break. 

The best part for us was, of course, s’mores. Warm gooey marshmallows and melting chocolate, held together with a graham cracker, there was nothing better. I would work hard at rotating my roasting stick so my marshmallow would puff up and turn golden brown. If it got even a hint of black on it I wouldn’t eat it. And if it started on fire, it ended up in the fire.

Although he could make a fire without it, my Dad always used what he called ‘Girl Scout juice’ to get the fire roaring because he was too impatient to wait for it to get going on its own. He’d take a jug of flammable liquid and squirt it over the logs. Unsafe, but it worked. He still does it. 

As teenagers, bonfires were the center of summer parties, along with the keg of beer we weren’t old enough to drink.

Why are bonfires the perfect summer activity? Number one for me is that you get to be outside. Yes, you have to deal with mosquitos, but they usually die off after a while. You don’t have to dress up, it’s easy to meet and talk with new people, and you can have some great conversations. 

Bonfires make everything better. I’m so glad I’ve been able to share the experience with my kids as they grew up. I hope everyone gets to experience at least one in their lifetime.