Each year, we reach out to our readers for submissions of their favorite fireside memories and s’mores recipes during our annual National S’mores Day Fire Pit Giveaway. This year, we received over 17,000 submissions! Thank you to everyone who shared special moments and unique recipes with us. As part of our celebration, a random name was chosen to receive a Belgard fire pit and two Adirondack chairs for making treasured fireside memories and yummy s’mores in their own backyard. Congratulations to this year’s winner:
Audry V. • Colorado Springs, CO
Enjoy some of our favorite submissions from this year’s S’mores Day celebration.
Fireside Chats
There’s just something about sitting around a fire that breaks down barriers created by generation gaps and personal differences. So many of our submissions were all about how the fondest memories are created or shared while sitting around a campfire or a backyard fire. Here are some of our favorite heartwarming submissions of fireside memories:
A bonfire on the beach with family and friends back in 1967…The sky was clear, the moon was big and bright. The sound of the tide slowly coming in was so peaceful, and life was waiting for me to live it!
— R. Boatwright (Helena, AL)
My favorite memory is a fall daytime hike through the Virginia woods spotting all the wildlife….including a bear… and soaking up the beautiful colors. Coming home to a simple grilled dinner and sitting around my daughter’s fire pit spending time with my grandchildren and the pups. The joy and atmosphere was amazing!
–– C. Collins (Haymarket, VA)
One night, we ran out of graham crackers and made extra large s’mores on matza… ’cause it was the only thing left in the cabinets. It’s now a family story everytime we make s’mores!
— A. Tzanetos (Westfield, NJ)
I remember being up north at the lake — the campfire was just logs in the sand. A bag of marshmallows didn’t last long when my ten siblings and I would roast them while watching the stars in the sky and hear the crackling of the fire on a quiet summer night!
— P. Sokolnicki (Fenton, MI)
Last summer at a friend reunion, we sat around the fire pit roasting marshmallows to eat and put in chocolate graham crackers. It was a lovely annual gathering of good friends, spending time together, sharing stories, and picking up where we left off from the previous year. I hope we can do this again in the near future.
— H. Bloom (Havertown, PA)
Growing up and going to my parents lake house with all the family gathered around the fire pit at night, listening to the waves crash and bugs zap while enjoying s’mores and marshmallows are some of the most cherished memories.
— Anonymous (Charleston, SC)
Growing up in upstate NY in the 70’s, every family had Adirondack chairs. My grandfather made all of our families chairs, and they were a true piece of art. We all sat around campfires roasting marshmallows — s’mores were not invented then, at least our family never made them. So many good times with our families, birthday parties, reunions, graduations, bbq’s, etc… always sitting in our beautiful chairs. I miss those times, but every time I see an Adirondack chair, those childhood memories come flooding back.
— R. Lavalley (Rochester, NH)
We have fires so often that our wedding cake was s’mores themed. We had a chocolate cake with marshmallow filling and a graham cracker frosting… It was to die for. Our kids are always looking for new candies to try, we’ve even tried flavored marshmallows and WILL NOT be doing that again. We do know if you dip a strawberry into marshmallow fluff and roast it, they are delicious.
— V. Hamburg (Mays Landing, NJ)
Our kids outgrew their playhouse, and we could not figure out how to get it out of our fenced-in back yard. So… we broke it apart, had a bonfire, roasted s’mores and talked about all the fun memories we made in the playhouse!
— Anonymous (Mooresville, NC)
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Ooey Gooey Yumminess
A lot of the s’mores recipe submissions incorporated switching out the graham crackers for a different type of cookie, using a different kind of candy bar instead of milk chocolate, or adding in a fruit or jam layer. All of that sounded fantastic and made us want to run to the grocery to buy a smorgasbords of options for a build-your-own s’mores bar. Some folks got really creative. Enjoy these entertaining submissions:
Substitute Peeps for the marshmallows in s’mores. It is amazing!
— C. Marsilii (Wilmington, DE)
S’mores Banana Boats: Slice a ripe banana (still in the peel) lengthwise. Place chocolate and marshmallows into the banana. Wrap it in foil. Put it over the fire until mallows and chocolate are melted. Eat with a spoon.
— Anonymous (Valley Springs, CA)
Graham crackers, a sprinkling of coconut, and Hershey’s dark chocolate topped with a marshmallow. Sometimes I add a sprinkling of sea salt instead of the coconut for a sweet/salty taste. Place in a grilling basket with a handle and….viola….S’mores!
— B. Mott (Gainesville, FL)
Candied Bacon S’mores: Coat some strips of bacon with brown sugar, place them on an aluminum foil lined baking sheet, bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until the bacon is crispy, transfer to paper towels and cool. Toast your marshmallows and add the bacon to your s’mores. Yummy!!
— S. Enz (Richboro, PA)
Caramel Apple S’mores … INGREDIENTS: 8 marshmallows, 2 Granny Smith apples thinly sliced and cored, 4 squares of Hershey’s chocolate, Warm caramel for drizzling. DIRECTIONS: Toast marshmallows until golden, sandwich the s’mores: Top one apple slice with a Hershey’s square and two toasted marshmallows, drizzle with caramel and top with a second apple slice. Repeat to make four apple s’mores.
— Anonymous (Apex, NC)
Chocolate Caramel Pretzel S’mores: Replace regular chocolate bar with a fun size Milky Way, cut it into 4 equal size pieces like you were slicing bread, use two pieces per s’more, and add 2 small pretzels per s’more.
— Anonymous (Greenfield, MA)
Reese’s S’moreos: Take an Oreo, open it, put on the toasted marshmallow, and then put on a Reese’s peanut butter cup and close the Oreo with the top cookie.
— A. Burnham (Ashtabula, OH)
S’moritoes: Soft taco shell, Toasted marshmallows, Milk Chocolate chips, Sliced bananas (optional), Sliced Strawberries (optional). Place ingredients on top of the soft taco shell and toast marshmallows over fire till golden brown . Put marshmallows on top and wrap like a burrito. ENJOY!
— J. Setter (Depew, NY)
S’mores Cones: Stuff sugar cones with Reese’s mini cups and marshmallows. Wrap in foil and warm on a grate next to the fire.
— Anonymous (Bliss, NY)
S’mores Bread: Wrap sticks with foil, then twist Pillsbury breadstick dough around it. Bake the bread over the fire, then remove the bread from the stick and stuff it with toasted marshmallows and chocolate chips, then top with whipped cream.
— S. Stapler (Turlock, CA)
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4 comments
Adding strawberries to s’mores is an amazing idea
Right?! Yummy.
I never thought of adding anything to our Smores. My grandkids love them at the cottage over a fire pit. Strawberries would be a great flavour to add for sure.
Our fire pit is nothing fancy though, just a hole in the ground surrounded by rocks. Just an bit of an addition to my above comment.