It’s fire pit party season! September is here, the kids are in school or will be soon, and you’re looking in the back of your closet for sweaters to wear in the morning. You are ready for cooler weather! Like many of us at Big Bend Landscaping, you’ve got falling leaves and pumpkin spice on your brain. But those are the same sweaters that you’ll be shedding by noon because summer doesn’t always know what the phrase “too much of a good thing” means. Still, the seasons are changing. And eventually, you’ll need that sweater all day.
If you have a fire pit, and you’re still reminiscing over summer BBQs, 4th of July parties, and intimate evenings under the stars, it’s not hard to feel wistful. But take heart! The fun is not over. Fall is a great time to use your outdoor living area. In some ways, it is probably the best season of all! Fire pits are great all year round, but they really come into their own as the temperatures cool.
If you’re here because you’re considering adding a fire pit to your outdoor living area, then you’ve arrived at a great time. Let Big Bend Landscaping talk you into it by giving you four fire pit party ideas for fall.
Labor Day Gatherings
Labor Day is on the first Monday in September and is often a three-day weekend, which makes a great time to celebrate the end of summer and the beginning of fall with a fire pit party. If you have an outdoor kitchen, this is a terrific time to use it. In St. Louis, temperatures are still pretty warm and cooking outside is much nicer than heating up the house. And if you’re burned out on the standard BBQ fare of hot dogs and hamburgers, there are lots of other foods that taste great when grilled.
Everybody loves a good fire and a fire pit is a natural centerpiece in any gathering. Whether yours is surrounded by seating walls or you prefer to use furniture, you can accentuate it as the place to be by using it to make dessert! Campfire friendly recipes out there, like Blueberry Cinnamon Campfire Bread are easy to bake in a fire pit and your family and guests will love it. Best of all, since it’s wrapped in aluminum foil, clean up will be easy.
Back to School Celebrations
For kids, going back to school in the fall is often greeted with mixed feelings. Loss of free time and more responsibilities are balanced with spending more time with friends and taking part in activities that interest them.
Having a back-to-school fire pit party is a great way to help them anticipate the new school year. They can invite old friends and new ones alike. Depending on their ages, you can provide them with a variety of activities and games to participate in, or just give them a safe place to entertain themselves. If your yard is large enough, laser tag can be great fun. And if the weather is still warm, playing in the water one last time—whether it’s a swimming pool or sprinkler—is always a favorite with kids and teens alike. Hosting a Back-to-School Camp Out in your backyard is a terrific way to build memories!
Best of all! You can easily incorporate your fire pit into just about any outdoor gathering. Just like adults, kids will naturally gather around a fire, especially as it gets dark. And if you’ve got the making for S’Mores on hand, they might never leave!
While supervision and parental permission is extremely important, this is a great time to teach kids about fire pit safety and even give them a few tips about how to build their own camp fire in the future.
And you can find tons of games you can safely play around the fire pit that will keep active children occupied.
Grandparents’ Day
Let’s face it, Grand Parents’ Day should get more press than it does. Grandparents are on the scene for two generations of people—their children and their grandchildren. And they bring the benefit of wisdom, experience, and a huge amount of love to the table. They deserve a day of their own. Furthermore, they deserve a party.
And there is no better setting than your outdoor living area—away from distractions like television and computers. A fire pit party is a wonderful way to accomplish this. It invites everyone to sit down in one place and just talk. The grandparent in your life will love having everyone gathered in one place just to talk and listen.
The kids can play games with them or listen to them tell stories. A story-exchange game can be great fun—you ask everyone to talk about some details of their lives (like what is or was like to go to school). In a larger family, you may want to use a small ball or pass around a pen or some other object so that everyone gets a turn (whoever holds the ball, or the object is the only one who can speak). If you can surreptitiously record it all, you’ll have a beautiful memory on record to watch and re-watch.
Meanwhile, your fire pit is providing light and warmth for all. Fire is ancient—it will be one of the constants of everyone in that circle. And it will bring them all together. Make s’mores or bake a campfire dessert. Offer hot cocoa or cider or some other hot drink and even the most restless of children will settle and enjoy the moment.
Autumn Equinox Fire Pit Party
The autumn equinox begins between September 21 and the 24th every year. The equinox is the point in time that the sun crosses thecelestial equator. It is an astronomical event that happens simultaneously across the globe, converted to local time. Both day and night are exactly the same length, and it is the official beginning of fall. Each equinox means the passing of yet another season. And it marks the beginning of another. Using fire reminds people both of the end of summer heat and the need for warmth in the upcoming season.
Having an outdoor fire pit party to celebrate the autumn equinox offers a unique opportunity. Inviting family and/or friends over for a big potluck is a lot of fun. Everyone brings what they can—dishes they have the time to make or food quickly purchased at a deli. It doesn’t matter. Gathering around the fire pit while you eat and enjoy one another’s company is reminiscent of earlier times in which everyone shared equally in the harvest, regardless of how much or little they harvested that year. You can include several unusual activities, like scavenger hunts, pine cone decorating, or even pumpkin decorating. But really, it doesn’t need to beanything more than a great excuse to gather with people you love.
Great Tool in an Emergency
Winter in St. Louis often brings challenges. And those challenges sometimes translate to living without electricity for some shortstretches. During times like this, having an alternative source of heat and a way to cook can be handy. In a pinch, your fire pit can provide both. When you add a fire pit to your outdoor living space, you are adding an emergency backup plan to your arsenal.
When you talk with Big Bend Landscaping about how you intend to use your fire pit, be sure and discuss this feature with us so we can help you choose the fuel that will best meet your needs in an emergency.
And Great Teaching Tool
Got kids and a wood burning fire pit? Then you’ve got a great tool for teaching them about fire safety, how to build a campfire, and how to cook over a fire. This useful set of skills never falls out of favor. We will never be beyond needing to know this.
Invite your kids’ friends over (with parents’ permission, of course) and walk them through the safest, most effective way to build a camp fire. And kids will love learning how. You can talk to them about fire safety, respect for the flames, and the environment. Then you can all eat the food you prepare over your fire pit!
Just don’t forget to caution them about never building a fire without an adult’s permission and supervision!
Conclusion
As you can see, your fire pit months are not behind you. They are just beginning. Throw in a few birthday parties or an anniversary or two and you may find an excuse to have a firepit party every weekend.
If you don’t have a fire pit and are thinking about getting one, now is the time to get in touch with Big Bend Landscaping. We’ve been building patios, firepits, pathways, retaining walls, and seating walls in the St. Louis area for over 25 years.
We have 56 five-star reviews on Google and an A+ rating with the BBB. Our crews have a Level 1 Certification from the National Concrete and Masonry Association. This means we’re experts in our field. Check out our testimonials to see what our customers are saying about us.
Our experts can come to you and help you design an outdoor living space you will never want to leave. We will give you a CAD drawing of the space we discussed and the projected costs. Once we start the job, you will find us to be efficient and clean. And we will never make a change to a job without discussing it with you first.
Big Bend Landscaping builds fire pits that are attractive and safe, using only fireproof materials—metal, special fireproof brick and pavers. We rely on companies like Belgard, Romanstone, BP, and Pavestone because their pavers are covered by lifetime guarantees.
Big Bend Landscaping wants to help you design the outdoor living space you’ve been dreaming about. Check out our website for more details and contact us below for more information!