Excerpted from Ceremonies in Girl Scouting, copyright 1990, Girl Scouts of the USA, used with permission. You may check out this and other helpful books from the council library.

A campfire brings people together by encouraging them to share their feelings, stories, and experiences. It provides an opportunity to get to know one another at the beginning of a campout, to promote good fellowship, teach girl Scout ideas, recognize achievements, and say good-bye at the end of a campout. The campfire ceremony may bring on laughter, tears, or both; whatever the case, it could be the most memorable part of the outing.

Set-up of the campfire site should be planned in advance and announced to all the involved leaders. Girls should be seated where they can see clearly.

First, consider safety. Review the appropriate sections of Safety-Wise. Girls should not sit so close to the fire that a stumble could result in a burn. Water buckets should be placed where no one will trip over them but close enough to the fire circle for quick use.

Beyond safety considerations, plan your setup for the audience. The most successful setup is a variation on a regular circle. The girls should sit in a rounded horseshoe with the open end being the stage area. If your program only has a song leader, but if groups will be performing skits, you will need a larger area. With this arrangement the girls' attention is focused on one area rather than on shifting areas.

Finally, the arrangement of the girls is very important. Seat the smaller girls nearer the stage area so that they do not have to try to see over the shoulders of the older girls.

Planning for your program should involve both girls and adults!

The girls should decide whether the program will be just songs, songs and skits, just skits, or something else. Once you decide what you want to focus on, decide who will do what. Let each patrol, troop, or unit prepare something.

The program coordinator makes sure that the performing groups don't plan the same thing. She is in charge of transitions during the program: the times when one group is returning to their place and the next group has not yet come up to perform. The song leader can assist in the flow of the program by leading the audience in songs during periods of transition.

The mistress of ceremonies keeps the program moving at a steady pace and adds a sense of humor. She announces each performing group. Along with the job of program coordinator, the mistress of ceremonies is a good leadership experience.

Starting the ceremony

• Begin your fire by laying it ahead of time.
• Light your fire with a solemn ceremony (use a torch, light with a wish, read or sing something special).
• After the serious part of lighting the fire, rejoice and sing some silly, loud songs that all know. You could also mix in skits.
• As the fire begins to die down, tell some stories and legends. If you have a small group, try a chain story with everyone adding on to it as it goes around the circle.
• When the group quiets down, move to serious songs of friendship and memories made here at camp. Girls can be told to store some of these thoughts away for another night.

Enhancing campfire ceremonies

• Special logs decorated by each troop or patrol can be used to start or end the last campfire of a campout.
• Girls write wishes (for themselves or someone else) on pieces of paper, bag them up tightly, and toss them into the fire. As a wish starts to flame, it ascends to the sky with the smoke. A girl's wish can reach the stars.
• Girls gather up wish bundles - small twigs to represent wishes for family and friends.
• "Pot of wishes" - everyone puts her wish in a pot (nice if she puts in two, one for herself and one for someone special). Each wish is drawn out and read before it is cast into the fire.
• Singing taps or playing it on a trumpet is very effective as you walk your way back to camp