RED WHITE AND BLUE SMORES – Patriotic Smores Buffet Spread for Your Party!

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If you’ve been following me for awhile, you may have heard me talk about my addiction to S’mores – it’s pretty much my favorite reason for camping! And last year we happened upon a sale at Target on fire pits, so we bought one as an anniversary gift to ourselves so we could eat S’mores all summer long outside around the fire! It’s one of our favorite family pastimes in the summer to sit around & chat while chowing down on delicious S’mores!

Here is an idea you can use for your 4th of July celebrations. Its a great way to entertain a crowd on a budget, as Smores can stretch. Make this fun RED, WHITE AND BLUE S’MORES theme buffet bar!

RED, WHITE AND BLUE S’MORES  – Buffet Style! 

We were excited to have a fun gathering with friends to eat some S’mores & have an early 4th of July celebration. We had planned to do it on Father’s Day, but my husband came up with a great idea the day before to have a spur of the moment gathering that night with some neighbors we wanted to get to know better. Enjoying S’mores around the campfire seemed like a great way to mingle & enjoy each other’s company!

I ended up being gone all day & made a quick stop at Walmart on my way home & picked up all the ingredients for our S’mores get-together. We got it all set up in about 20 minutes, which is what I love about how you can keep it so simple with S’mores!  I’d been seeing lots of ideas on Pinterest of fun S’mores buffets. So, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to try out different variations of S’mores & we could find out what were everyone’s favorites! It made for very simple set-up too. {As you’ll see on the Pinterest board, you could really go all out with the S’mores buffet, using wooden skewers to display the marshmallows, fruit & more}

S’mores Buffet Combinations:

• Marshmallows – Star-shaped marshmallows in red (okay, it was more like a pink but we pretended they were red), white & blue (perfect for 4th of July); Coconut covered marshmallows & regular marshmallows
• Graham Crackers – I’ve even heard of offering pretzels as a variation of graham crackers too
• Chocolate – Hershey’s Chocolate bars, Hershey’s Cookies & Creme bars, York Peppermint Patties, & Reese’s Peanut Butter cups
• Sprinkles – Red, white & blue sprinkles (we knew the kids would have fun with these) – they were fun to roll the gooey marshmallows in sprinkles before eating
• Nutella 
• Peanut Butter
• Strawberries and Blueberries – had to have something healthy with all that sugar! :)

Decor:

For decor, we kept it very simple for the RED, WHITE & S’MORES theme using classic star patterned plates mixed with solid colored cups, napkins & serving platters. Everything was very portable so we could leave it indoors or when the weather was cooperating, bring our favorite combinations out closer to the campfire.

Marshmallow Flag

My husband also decided to get creative & he and our girls colored some marshmallows with food coloring to make the American Flag (these were just for display), so that added to our patriotic theme.

This can definitely be a pretty frugal way to host a gathering with a number of people. With the patriotic theme (which really works all summer long, not just on the 4th of July), you can pick up items on clearance after the 4th of July or just stick with the solid red, white & blue colors to keep it simple (you can even go to the dollar store to purchase the solid color supplies). Utilize the serving dishes you already have on hand for displaying your S’mores buffet, too. I really liked this idea of using buckets & tins with wooden skewers to create a fun S’mores bar.

Enjoying S’mores around the Campfire:

Now, this is the Pacific Northwest, so of course the weather was being tempermental. If you’re a Northwester, though, you learn to adapt quickly. We had some decent showers when everyone was arriving, but by the time we were ready to go eat some S’mores it dried up & we had a good time sitting around the campfire. We just brought out towels to sit on since our chairs got soaked before we noticed it during the quick rainstorm. We have a covered patio area, so we were able to keep the S’mores essentials under cover for those times when it did start sprinkling again.

 

My little gal & her neighbor buddy enjoying some S’mores! He roasted the star marshmallows & she tried out the coconut marshmallows.

The kids all had a blast making up all sorts of unique creations from the S’mores buffet. I think the favorite of the kiddos were the Hershey’s Cookies & Creme bars & the York peppermint patties mixed in the S’mores. My husband is definitely a Reese’s Peanut Butter S’mores guy & I loved the Nutella with my S’mores. But honestly, my true favorite is still the classic S’mores – I roast my marshmallow & get it all good & brown, then let it catch on fire at the end (I know – I’m weird like that!) & then add it in with the Hershey’s chocolate bar & graham cracker – mmm, perfection!

Best buddies enjoying their S’mores creations together! 

Patriotic S’mores  – the kids loved dipping their gooey marshmallows in the sprinkles

Our neighbor gal with quite the S’mores combo – roasted strawberries & blueberries, coconut marshmallow, cookies & creme bar & chocolate bar! I think the kids were defintely more adventuresome than the adults with their S’mores combos!

We had such a great time connecting with our neighbors, trying out new varieties of S’mores &  enjoying them by the campfire, that we decided to do it again the next night with some friends. What a fun night it was sharing stories & laughter around the campfire. Everyone loved trying out all the fun combinations of S’mores – although hands down, the classic S’mores were still the favorite, but it was fun to add some variety to our campfire gathering!

Perfecting their roasted marshmallows  (and yes, there really is a fire there – my camera wasn’t on the right setting! Ha! )

You think he likes his Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup S’mores? 

Perfect way to end the weekend – S’mores with my sweetie! 

All in all, we had such a fun time hanging out with our neighbors and friends. I love the fact that you don’t have to put a lot of prep work into an evening gathering – just relax and enjoy the conversation that flows so easily around a campfire. Even better, have your guests bring their favorite S’mores toppings & you could experiment with all sorts of fun combinations.  I hope this inspired you with some ideas to create your own CAMP BONDFIRE experience this summer!

So, what’s your favorite S’mores combination? Let us know if you decide to host a S’mores buffet!

You might also be interested in No Churn 4th of July Ice Cream (only 5 ingredients needed!).

This post is part of my participation in the Hershey’s CAMP BONDFIRE campaign. All opinions expressed are mine.  Please see my disclosure statement for more details.