Saturday night is ‘treat night’ in our house. This involves BB being allowed to stay up late and watch X Factor, Stars in their Eyes or whatever the latest family entertainment show is and eat popcorn. It’s a great bribe during the week and we always look forward to it, but I’m ashamed to say we did this throughout the summer months even though it was light outside and even though we live just a stone’s throw from the beach.
Now the nights are drawing in firewood company Certainly Wood has launched an autumn campaign encouraging families to spend more time outside and less time in front of the TV. They’ve created gourmet s’more campfire kits and very kindly sent us one to try out.
If you have no idea what a s’more is you’re not alone: I’d never heard of one either. They’re an American campfire treat involving biscuit, marshmallow and chocolate sandwiched together and are so named because you always want ‘some more’. They’re not a new thing either; apparently they were mentioned in a 1927 copy of ‘Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts’.
Traditionally s’mores are made with Graham Crackers, but since they’re not readily available in the UK Certainly Wood has teamed up with Italian celebrity chef Felice Tocchini to make a British equivalent, and everything we needed – wood, matches, firelighters – arrived in a neatly packaged box.
So instead of piling on the sofa and switching on the TV on Saturday night we wrapped ourselves up and headed to the beach instead.
Needless to say Misery Guts had great fun building the fire…
…while I worked out the best way to make the s’mores.
Apparently there are two methods:
1. You roast the marshmallow on a skewer then sandwich it between the chocolate and the biscuit.
OR
2. You put the s’more together, wrap it in foil and place it in the embers.
We tried both ways and there are pros and cons with each – if you roast the marshmallow on the skewer it gets a nice and golden skin on it but the chocolate doesn’t melt, however if you wrap the whole thing up and put it in the embers the chocolate melts, but the s’more tastes of wood smoke and you don’t get the golden skin.
I guess it depends on your taste.
We all had a whale of a time: Little B was mesmerised by the flames, BB loved learning about how to build a fire and roast marshmallows, Misery Guts enjoyed being the ‘man in charge of fire’ and I realised that despite living in a flat with no garden we should get outside in the evenings more often…
Linking up with…
I’d heard of Smores before but haven’t ever tried them although the kids’ favourite camping activity is finding twigs and then using them to toast marshmallows and I can see no bother at all adding chocolate and biscuits into the mix!! 😀 We may have to give it a go. I agree wholeheartedly with the idea of doing more outside, although the lure of the sofa is usually far too strong after a long day. I think we will have to make a point of doing more outdoors. #bestandworst
They are delicious, if your kids like marshmallows you should definitely give them a go!x
Hard to beat an evening on the beach with a campfire and smores, move over x factor as you say, they is always i-player!
That’s so true!x
It’s great that you all got out and enjoyed the fresh air together, the kit’s a fab idea for encouraging kids to enjoy the great outdoors and learning some important fire safety making s’mores with you guys. Thanks for linking up with me on Country Kids.
It was a really fun activity for all the family x
I worked a summer in an American Girl Scout camp when I was 21. Don’t think I’ve had a s’more since then. More’s the pity. I loved them! Yum.
Looks like such a lovely evening. Much better than X Factor.
Thanks so much for linking up with #bestandworst!
It really was fun and I’m sure BB will remember it because of the novelty factor…
Wow, what an amazing concept. Little J would love this kit. At his school holiday club they toasted marshmallows on the campfire and he still talks about it. I will take a look, thank you! #whatevertheweather
I really recommend them x
Brill idea. I love this (and always wondered what s’mores were?)
Feeling inspired #bestandworst :0)
We love them now!
Oh yum, can’r beat a marshmallow over a camp fire. These look lush. We always toast smores when we go camping
We’ll be making them too from now on!
I’m so jealous – I would love to try these and you have a lovely beach so close to you. I really like pebble beaches. We will definitely have to try s’mores some time!
You should build a fire and do it!
We love s’mores. Camping and summer wouldn’t be complete without them. #whatevertheweather
We’re converts x
Jealous of you living so close to the beach, that would be great for spending the evenings having fun and even in the autumn and winter you could do a little stargazing there?! I’ve heard of S’mores, but never tried them , mainly because they don’t have graham crackers here, but we do spend almost every Monday morning in the woods, where we make a fire and cook on it, so I should really try making these sometime! Your family all look like they’re having so much fun too.
Thank you so much for linking up to #Whatevertheweather 🙂 x
There’s a lot of light pollution but you can see the stars – this has made me realise we really don’t make the most of it!
I love to do this unfortually we don’t live near a beach looks like you had a fab time 🙂
Maybe you have a garden or some woods?x
Love this post, so much better than the X-factor 😉 #whatevertheweather
Yes it was!x
I love smores, although we tried it in the microwave once and it wasn’t the same as having it over the fire. This looks AMAZING. I really want one of these kits. It’s the perfect excuse to go and watch the sunset on the beach with your little campfire kit. Thank you so much for linking up to #whatevertheweather x
I hadn’t thought of the microwave – that’s not a bad idea!x
Loving the look of smores. We do loads of camping so going to give this a try. Much better than a night in front of the TV! #CountryKids
You’ll love them I promise!x
I think there are a lot of families who have movie or xfactor nights but this sounds so much more fun. I want to pack up & move close to the sea again x
We really should make more of being by the sea as we might not always be so lucky!x
Oh this looks like the perfect way to spend an evening, my kids would love this!
It really was such fun!
Growing up in Canada I was raised on s’mores! A proper s’more also contains peanut butter and uses chocolate chips instead of a square of chocolate. The peanut butter keeps the chocolate chips stuck to the graham cracker! 😀 #CountryKids
Ooh will definitely try the peanut butter!x
I love that idea! How nice to get out to the beach on an autumnal evening with a fire and smores. We love smores and the children always enjoy making them.
We’ll certainly be doing it again!x
I love being at the beach at sunset – there’s something special about watching the sun go down over the water. Those s’mores are making me hungry! #happydiaries
We’re very lucky living where we do that we get to enjoy it a lot x
What a lovely thing to do on a Saturday evening! I often wish we lived nearer the coast as I can’t imagine anything better than what you have just described! The kit is such a great idea too. Thanks for sharing #HowToSundays
You could always do it in a back garden or park – s’mores are yummy!x
I’ve heard of s’mores but i thought they were a lot of fuss! obviously not haha these are a great idea for when we next go camping! Thanks for sharing #howtosunday
No fuss at all – make them, you’ll love them!x
Popping by again from #howtosunday , I love this! Great to get outdoors in the evening and fires are wonderful for cooking on as well as keeping warm. I still haven’t tried s’mores, but I will do sometime soon!
Thanks so much for linking up to #howtosunday 🙂 x
We would certainly do this again, it was really good fun and BB still talks about itx
I have never in mu life eaten a toasted marshmellow. Infeel Im missing out in life. Thanks for sharing with us, Tracey xx #happydiaries
You are most certainly missing out!!
I love S’Mores, and I bet eating them on the beach was awesome, looks like a great night
They were so nice! We’ll definitely be doing it again!x
I’ve never had S’mores. This looks fab and what a lovely thing to do as a family on the beach! A fab way to get out from behind those screens. Thanks so much for linking up with #FamilyFun
I’m looking forward to doing it again this summerx
This looks a great evening out and I love the kit – what a fun thing to take out somewhere 🙂
We’ll certainly be doing it again x
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