Campfire Fun: Games, Creative Activities & Spooky Stories

There is something special about gathering around a crackling campfire on a star-filled night. The dancing flames cast a warm, flickering glow as you roast marshmallows and share stories with family and friends.

A great campfire can turn an ordinary camping trip into an unforgettable adventure filled with laughter, creativity, and perhaps a few haunting tales.

To help spark your campfire fun, we’ve assembled a guide to the best games, activities, and stories to light up your nights.

Current Amazon campfire games, food and best sellers at the bottom of the guide for cheap fun! 

Get ready to take your campfire capers to the next level with hilarious games that will have your group howling like a sasquatch, innovative activities to unleash your campers’ creativity, and a collection of spooky stories certain to send chills down everyone’s spines.

Hilarious Campfire Games

When night falls, gather around the glowing fire pit and get ready for side-splitting laughter with these hilarious campfire games:

Camper Charades

A classic game gets a camping twist! Instead of acting out movie titles or book names, players act out different camping experiences like pitching a tent, swatting mosquitoes, cooking over a fire, or getting lost on a hike. For an added challenge, ban the use of words and sounds – pure mime skills only.

Never HaveI Ever: Camping Edition

You know the game, but this version is tailored for your camping crew. Go around the circle, taking turns stating something camping-related that you’ve never done, like “Never have I ever slept in a hammock” or “Never have I ever been stung by a bee while camping.” Anyone who HAS done that thing puts a finger down. First person with no fingers left wins!

Story Circle

For guaranteed laughs, try this storytelling game with a twist. One player starts by saying “Once upon a time…” and then adding a single sentence to set up the story. Then it keeps rotating, with each player adding just ONE sentence to continue the silly tale. See how wildly off the rails you can take the plot!

Nature Themed Charades

This campfire twist on classic Charades will have you all giggling uncontrollably. Create a list of nature items, plants, animals, and outdoor scenarios for players to act out while their teammates try to guess the words. A woodpecker, a bear raiding a cooler, pitching a tent with a broken pole – the funnier the better!

Two Truths and One Campfire Lie

A portable version of the beloved get-to-know-you game, this one gets the whole group involved. Players take turns stating three camping-related statements — two true things they’ve experienced while camping, and one total lie. The rest of the players vote on which statement they think is the lie. Points for fooling everyone!

Creative Activities Around the Campfire

Aside from laughs, a campfire is the perfect setting to fuel your creativity and try new activities:

Constellation Picnic

Turn stargazing into an activity by setting out a nighttime picnic right at the fire pit! Spread out a blanket and munch on snacks and hot drinks while you try to spot and identify different constellations. Award prizes to the first person who spots Orion, the Big Dipper, or other classic celestial sights.

Gourmet S’mores Cookoff

Sure, a classic s’more is hard to beat. But for a creative activity, hand out random ingredients like peanut butter, graham cracker crumbs, chocolate hazelnut spread, cookie butter, crystallized ginger, mini pretzels, even strips of cooked bacon. Set a time limit and challenge campers to construct the most delectable, outside-the-box s’mores creation.

Campfire Cooking Fun Challenge

Put your campfire culinary skills to the test! Give each small group a bag of mystery campfire-friendly ingredients like eggs, canned beans, tortillas, tinfoil packet veggies, etc. Set them loose to cook a one-pan campfire meal – judged on creativity, presentation, AND taste. Reward points for strategic use of the actual campfire too.

Group Storytelling

Sitting around the fire is the ideal backdrop for storytelling – but this time, you create the story together from scratch. One person starts by saying a single sentence to launch the premise. Then it keeps rotating around the circle, with each person contributing JUST one additional sentence to push the narrative forward. Can your group keep it cohesive or will it veer off into surreal territory?

Nature Art Collage

Bring the beauty of nature into your campfire fun hangout with this creative project. Have everyone collect leaves, pebbles, twigs, pinecones, flowers, etc. from around your campsite. Then, provide a base canvas or cardboard and let campers arrange their gathered items into a nature-inspired collage, framed with popsicle sticks or twine.

Spooky Stories for Sharing Around the Fire

Finally, no campfire would be complete without a few eerie tales to tell under the night sky. From classics to little-known Bigfoot spine-tinglers, gather close to the flickering flames and prepare to feel the chills with these spooky stories:

The Hairy Hands

An oldie but a goodie for putting some scare into your group. On foggy nights long ago, drivers along an old country road would feel hairy, claw-like hands grabbing violently at their steering wheels from the backseat…only to find their cars empty upon slamming the brakes. To this day, those hairy, disembodied hands are rumored to prowl that stretch of road, searching for new victims.

The Expressionless

A group of campers wake in the middle of the night when something feels…off. In the dim glow of the dying fire, they realize the trees surrounding them have taken on expressionless human faces, silently watching their every move. As the first camper screams, the faces morph once more into twisted expressions of horror…

The Wendigo: Creepy Campfire Fun

Drawing from Algonquin folklore, this campfire story tells of a creature born from starvation and cannibalism – impossibly tall with sickly yellow skin stretched over its emaciated frame. Those who see the Wendigo are overwhelmed with insatiable cravings to eat human flesh, forever cursed until they give in or starve.

The Souls in the Moon’s Smile

An ancient folktale says that when the crescent moon appears to be smiling, you can see the souls of the dead trapped within. Gaze too long into that haunting lunar smile, and one of the vengeful souls may become yours – latching onto you until your dying day. The only cure? A complex, dark ritual that’s best not spoken of…

The Lawnmower Man

In the small suburb of Willow Creek, the town lawnmower repair guy was a gruff, unfriendly sort. Then one day, the entire town woke to discover every single yard had been mowed in the night – in bizarrely intricate patterns and designs. An anonymous trail camera captured what appeared to be a shambling, humanoid lawnmower creature completing the task with its roaring, spinning blades…

By incorporating some of these crazy campfire games, entertaining activities, and haunting stories into your next outing, you’re guaranteed to create lasting memories around the fire pit. Some laughs, creativity, and perhaps some campsite chills await your very own campfire fun capers!