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How to Have Fun with your Family Outdoors – Campsgiving Style!

Celebrate Campsgiving by spending time outdoors with your loved ones. You don't have to plan an actual camping trip–just head out your back door!

campsgiving

Not long ago, my family decided to spend some time outdoors. We only had an afternoon, so we knew that an actual camping trip was out of the question. We also knew that if we decided to go for a hike at one of those “cool places to hike within an hour's drive from us,” we would spend most of our time in the car going to and from the trail. But we had the perfect answer–we packed up our gear and headed out…to our backyard!

Getting outside together was one of the main reasons that we joined Cub Scouts when Parker was old enough. So, when the Boy Scouts of America asked me to share a story about spending time together outdoors, I was happy to! It's part of a campaign to encourage folks to start a new tradition, Campsgiving, where you and your loved ones head outside to enjoy your time together.

As experts in providing one-of-a-kind outdoor experiences, the Boy Scouts of America can help families make the most of getting outside and spending time together. Visit Be A Scout to find out how to join.

Campsgiving - a new tradition

This post is sponsored by the Boy Scouts of America, but the experience and opinions are mine.

Campsgiving Game

Our backyard adventure was a blast! We started our fun afternoon by playing Flickin' Chicken. I found out about the game when I shared some ideas for Cub Scout leader gifts.    It looked so fun that I decided to buy it for my family. I mean, what could be more fun than throwing rubber chickens at a target?

flickin chicken campsgiving

The game works a little bit like golf–the person with the lowest score wins. My avid golfer husband, Scott, wasn't exactly amused that I compared a rubber chicken game to golf!

It did take us a couple of minutes to understand how the game works. Everyone stands in one spot, and the youngest person throws the target to start the game. Then each person flicks their chicken toward the target. The goal is to get your chicken on the target with the fewest number of throws.

Everyone tosses their chicken toward the target from the starting spot. After everyone takes their first throw, they go to their chicken. Starting with the person whose chicken is the furthest from the target, each person takes their second toss. Play continues like this until everyone's chicken has landed on the target.

grant throwing chicken campsgiving

Each player will tell the scorekeeper how many throws it took him to get his chicken on the target. This ends the first round. Continue playing for nine rounds. At the end, add up everyone's scores. The player with the lowest score wins.

parker throwing chicken campsgiving

Our game started with Grant throwing the target into a tree! The boys used their “Scout senses” to figure out how to get it down.

target in tree campsgiving

From Parker making his chicken talk to my granny shot throws to Scott's intense game face to Grant's under the leg flicks, we were all laughing so hard that we had trouble finishing all nine rounds.  We decided that we wouldn't total up the scores. Enjoying each other made all of us winners.

We have the actual game, but you could play Flickin' Chicken by using bean bags or balled up socks for the chickens and a frisbee for the target.

Campsgiving Personal S'mores Makers

The boys and I created personal s'mores makers from terracotta pots while Scott built a fire in our chimenea.

chimenea fire campsgiving

What you'll need:

Here's how we made them:

Start with a terracotta pot. We had these 10″ ones, but we could have made them with much smaller pots.

Line the pot with heavy duty aluminum foil, and fold it over the edge of the pot. Make sure the aluminum foil reaches all the way to the bottom of the pot.

Put the charcoal briquettes into the pot. We used quick light charcoal because I didn't want to use lighter fluid to get them going.

Before you light the charcoal, make sure that the pots are in a safe place such as a driveway. We have a rock patio, but we decided to put them on a leftover piece of tile rather than directly onto the rock. In hindsight, putting the pots on a terra cotta saucer would have probably been the best thing to do.

Don't forget to keep the kids (and your pets) away from the pots while the charcoal is hot.

We lit the charcoal and ate dinner while we waited for it to burn down.

Finally, we were ready to make our s'mores! Then I couldn't find the long marshmallow roasting sticks. Yikes! Scott remembered that we have a fondue set, so we used the skewers from that.

smores campsgiving

Luckily, we only had one marshmallow disaster when Parker's slid off the skewer into the charcoal! We ended our fun day by enjoyed our s'mores sitting by the fire in the chimenea.

grant eating smores campsgiving

See how simple enjoying the outdoors with your family can be? Instead of sitting on your couch in a turkey-induced daze on Thanksgiving afternoon, hustle everyone outside to start a new tradition–Campsgiving! 

So, what will your family do for #Campsgiving this year?

Yours in Scouting,
Sherry

P.S. Check out all the fun #Campsgiving photos!

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Kelly

Monday 18th of December 2017

My son and I will have to try the flower pot idea. I love all the nifty ideas I find on this website.

Stacy Eastwood

Monday 18th of December 2017

Looks like something my family would enjoy!