Campfire Costume with Marshmallow Roasting

by Cassie
(Colorado Springs, CO)

What's a great ghost story without the glow of a wicked campfire? We spooked up our Halloween by making our 12 year old daughter into a walking ring of fire which set the scene for the perfect night of fright.

A Girl Scout since Kindergarten, she has spent many a night spinning tales of terror while roasting marshmallows next to a crackling pit of fire. She and I worked together to take a broken hula hoop from the back yard combined with some old wire garden fencing to form a ring of fire that she could trick or treat in.


Here is what we used:
• Hula Hoop
• Wire Fencing
• Spool of 10 Gauge Wire & Wire Tools (frame for flames)
• Red, Orange & Yellow Vinyl Table Cloths (covering for the wire flames)
• Gold and Red Foil Wrapping Paper (covering for the wire flames)
• 1 Yard of Red Felt (skirt under base)
• Battery operated Christmas Lights – Blinking & Stationary
• 15 to 20 Pieces of Grey Felt or Grey Material (different shades – for Rocks)
• Newspaper (to fill the Rock Forms)
• Spray Adhesive
• Hot Glue & Glue Gun
• Orange, Red & Yellow Tulle
• Foam Sheets – White (for marshmallow), Light Brown (for stick), Dark Brow (for logs in fire)
• Foam Floral Ring – the Size of the Wearers Head


We started by cutting the fencing to fit the hula hoop and wiring it around the edges of the hula hoop. We then cut an opening in the center for her to stand in. We then formed a skirt with the felt by laying the hula hoop base on top of the felt, gathering the felt slightly in the center opening so that when cut for her to stand in, it would fall at her hips. Then we hot glued the felt around the circle of the hula hoop frame so that she would not be scratched by any exposed wire and the Christmas lights would not shine from beneath the campfire costume.


To form the look of a fire pit we took wadded up newspaper rock shapes and wrapped them with grey felt sheets (different shades & patterns). We hot glue them closed and then glued them to an excess piece of foam that fit around the base of the hula hoop and glued it in place.


We spent several days making wire flames that we covered with vinyl table cloth material and foil wrapping paper. We made approximately 4 different sizes of flames, each one unique. We cut matching sandwich pieces of covering, wadded each piece first so it would have a textured look instead of smooth (more like a real 3 dimensional flame), used spray adhesive to adhere the wire to the coverings and then cut around the wire frame jaggedly so they would look more realistic.


Next we took the four pieces of dark brown foam and formed them into logs. After wiring the “logs” into place, we started wiring each flame into place onto the fencing. As we wired them we took our battery operated lights and attached them to the flames with a dab of hot glue so they would make the flames appear to glow. The tulle was cut into strips, slightly twisted and laid into the bottom at the base of the wired flames to cover the wire and light wires.


We formed the campfire to her with a pair of suspenders that we made out of a pair of old black pants. She entered the costume by slipping it over her head.

The marshmallow head was made by taking the white foam sheets & hot gluing them together and to the floral wreath. The top was a circle of foam traced and cut to match the floral wreath’s size.

The stick was made with light brown foam that was wrapped around a piece of wire (so that it would look like a real stick shape). The bottom of the “stick was poked into the foam wreath so that it would securely stay in place. The top of the stick was also stuck through the top of the foam with a wire tail that stuck into the foam base as well. We made it to look as though it was going through the marshmallow diagonally just like how you would really roast a marshmallow.

The lights were set to blink so that it looked as though the flames were flickering. Imagine sitting around those dancing flames, wondering if the strange sounds behind you are coming from the fabled escaped mental patient who’s roaming the woods looking for his next victim, just like a “real,” campfire experience.