ChiIL Mama's 2018 Housewares Show Favorites: Firebuggz Campfire Accessories

ChiIL Mama's ChiIL Picks List: Firebuggz Fun Favorites at International Home and Housewares Show Firebuggz campfire cooking supplies turn your ordinary campfire into a gourmet glamping experience.

FireBuggz was one of our favorites at The International Home and Housewares Show at McCormick Place earlier this month. Here at ChiIL Mama, we're avid, lifelong campers and our children love the outdoors too. Since we live in Chi, IL we've made sure our city kids went to nature camp from toddlerhood through their teen years, and we make a point to spend time where the trees are taller than the buildings. We're all huge fans of campfires too. In fact, my last name Kenaz is a Nordic rune meaning fire, passion, and creativity, the creative spark, and hearth fire. Firebuggz combine that creative spark with useful tools for campfires, back yard fire pits and more. We're hoping to review some of this playfully clever line of products on our next family foray into the woods.

We also love to support family run businesses, and Firebuggz has a good backstory. Firebuggz is a family-run company with Bob, his wife Tara, his daughter Kinsley and a Micah, who runs the warehouse and is like family. Before opening Firebuggz, they had a landscaping company in Minnesota.

Take a look at their products at their website, www.firebuggz.com.

How Firebuggz Got Started

Bob has always been an inventor, and his family dreamed of having a company that had the four F’s … Food, Family, Fun and Fellowship.

The company started in 2011 with their first product, the Fire Fishing Pole, which lets you hang a marshmallow over the fire. “It’s too much fun,” said Firebuggs founder Bob Hurt. “It should be illegal. Once you pick it up, even the crabbiest people will smile.” They started by assembling their products in the garage. They spent three weeks a month travelling around the country to craft shows and other direct to consumer shows. Driving their Ford Transit Connect van from New York to Wisconsin to Colorado, they camped at night, and the kids helped to assemble the products that they sold. The best part about travelling the county and camping is that they were able to get lots of feedback and ideas about their products. “On the road we met so many super nice people who were in the same boat as we were, trying to break into retail with our products. And since we were also camping we got to really understand our customers and get feedback. They told us what they wanted and we made it.” One of the most surprising things that they learned from other campers was the importance of offering a variety of colors. “When we first started we had only one color,” explained Hurt. “When we added more colors we tripled sales. Scaling Up and Going Retail Growing Firebuggz has been a smooth ride, and the biggest challenge has been getting the products on the shelves on time and ramping up production when they started to in higher volumes. Darren Schwagel is an engineer who did all the mock ups and cad drawings for the products. They found a factory that could assemble higher volumes of the products. They chose a smaller factory that has fewer people involved in assembling the products so there are fewer opportunities to make mistakes. In 2012 and 2013 they started to attend retail trade shows. The first one was the Atlanta Gift Market. At that point they needed packaging, because they started out binding their products with rubber bands. Dan Norquist, a designer from Minneapolis, created a lot of the packaging and retail displays that helped them grab the attention they needed in a retail environment. “We spent a lot of time making the packaging just right, following the seven second rule (where you have seven seconds to get someone’s attention),” said Hurt. “Nothing looked cheap, and there were lots of pictures of families and kids.” The first two big retail outlets that sold Firebuggz were Scheels and Crackerbarrel, who bought 8,000 units when they had a camping theme in their stores. Now they have them in 6,000 locations across the U.S. and also in Australia, Austria, Japan, Norway, Canada and Sweden. In November they sold their one millionth unit, and they have expanded their product line to include campfire cookers of all types, a heavy duty cast iron pie iron, a fire grill, Smogglez (to keep the smoke out of your eyes), the Snacklebox (to transport all the treats from the car to the fire).

They are dedicated to making products that help families have more fun outdoors.

Rock Healthy Habits The Girl Scout Way With Free Downloads And The #TogetherCounts Campaign #HealthyHabits #Sponsored #GirlScouts

Check Out 

The Together Counts Campaign 

Via The Girl Scouts 

of the Nation’s Capital 

Here at ChiIL Mama, our family has 3 generations of Girl Scouts. My mom was a scout back in the 40's, when the only kind of Girl Scout cookies were Trefoils. I was a Brownie and a Girl Scout in the 70's, and now my 12 year old daughter has been a Brownie, Junior and now a Cadet over the past 6 years. That's why we were more than happy to be asked to join with The Girl Scouts of the Nation's Capital to promote their Together Counts Campaign. 

ChiIL Mama's daughter, Sage, as a Brownie

Disclosure: ChiIL Mama is a proud member of the Mom It Forward Blogger Network and we're pleased to partner up with Together Counts/Girl Scouts of the Nation’s Capital for this sponsored post. We have been compensated for sharing this information with our readers. As always, all opinions are our own.

Most people instantly think cookies, like the iconic Thin Mints, when they hear the name Girl Scouts. But Girl Scouts also provide STEM training, multicultural and cultural events, and camping. Sure the cookies are pretty great, but Girl Scouts troops are also pretty awesome at encouraging girls to develop leadership skills and healthy, balanced living.

In partnership with the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, Girl Scouts developed three "healthy habits" booklets to easily incorporate energy balance into meetings, outings, events and adventures. The free booklets help guide girls as they learn to lead active, healthy lifestyles. 

Through the use of these free resources for Daisies, Brownies, and Juniors, Girl Scout volunteers and families can guide girls in fun, easy ways to achieve "energy balance." 

My daughter's Cadets troop just did both the Get Moving! with Healthy Habits workbook and the WOW! Wonders of Water with Healthy Habits. We highly recommend both. Check out these fabulous resources right here as a free download.

• Between Earth and Sky with Healthy Habits - girls learn about the many plants, trees, and animals that flourish in nature, and also build important leadership skills.

• WOW! Wonders of Water with Healthy Habits - girls discover the many forms and paths that water takes and how to protect it. They also learn how to engage in teamwork, speak effectively to convey a message, and inspire others

• Get Moving! with Healthy Habits - girls learn how to use their energy to protect Earth’s energy and build important leadership skills.

The Together Counts™ campaign is a nationwide program by the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation to inspire active and healthy living via physical activity and nutrition, a fundamental underpinning of efforts to reduce obesity. The principle behind the program is called Energy Balance, which just means balancing the calories we consume with the calories we expend. 

Achieving Energy Balance outdoors is easier than ever during the warm summer months. It's a pretty easy concept to follow Energy In is the calories you get from eating and drinking. Energy Out is the calories you burn from physical activities.

*Health and fitness have been part of Girl Scouting since girls ran foot races in 1912!*

Camp Out
Camping is essential to Girl Scouts mission. It is about the outdoors, and developing a deep appreciation for nature. Girls enjoy camping with their troop or attending a Girl Scout day and evening or resident sleep-away camp. From high adventure with kayaking, archery and rock climbing to traditional camps with crafts, singing, hiking and cooking over an open fire, Girl Scout camps give girls an opportunity to grow, explore, and have fun under the guidance of caring, trained adults. 

Find your local council to enroll girls in camp programs.
Girl Scouts’ leadership program is girl-led. And Girl Scouts sure do a lot with guidance from caring adult mentors! From national badge programs to council-wide events, each council offers a variety of exciting program opportunities for girls of all ages.

Help Out

I've been a volunteer for my daughter's troop for the past 6 years. Volunteers are supported with program level and subject training courses online and in classroom settings. There is a lot of peer-to-peer support and mentoring, and quality publications to support the delivery of high quality programs. 

Get Social With Girl Scouts Social Media, Free Downloads & Handy Links Below:

• Healthy Habits booklets download: Here you’ll be able to download three free booklets for Daisies, Brownies, and Juniors.  Girl Scout volunteers and families can guide girls in fun, easy ways to achieve "energy balance." 
• Girl Scouts of the Nation’s Capital Twitter: On Twitter, GSNC shares council information including awards, resources, highlights from council events and volunteering opportunities. 
• Girl Scouts of the Nation’s Capital Facebook: Similar to Twitter, the GSNC Facebook page shares photo albums of troop activities, news from around the region, and partner content from Together Counts. 
• Together Counts Website –The website is consumer friendly—aimed at parents and educators and provides resources, tips, recipes and more.
• Together Counts Blog – The Together Counts blog is the main source of all consumer-friendly news including HWCF campaigns, announcements and content from HWCF partners around the topic of healthy eating habits and incorporating more physical activity. 
• Together Counts Twitter – On Twitter, Together Counts shares everything from digital assets (video, infographics) to industry or conference news related to food in addition to campaign and partner news.
• Together Counts Pinterest – Together Counts’ resource for sharing recipe inspiration from across the network, family activity ideas and pins from partners that relate to family eating and activity including Girl Scouts, Healthy Dining Finders, etc.

Disclosure: Once again, ChiIL Mama is a proud member of the Mom It Forward Blogger Network and we're pleased to partner up with Together Counts/Girl Scouts of the Nation’s Capital for this sponsored post. We have been compensated for sharing this information with our readers. As always, all opinions are our own.

Psycho Killer Camping

I'm a sucker for the macabre and dark humor, so when I saw the Bonnie and Clyde sleeping bag I knew it had to be mine.  Does it go with the Jeffrey Dahmer camp stove and Robert Wayne Daniels tent?   Perfect for fugitives from justice and family camping, this versatile bag quickly converts into two bags or zips together.   Not recommended for disposal of victims.  

Du-Jay has outgrown his plush lion bag and Sagezilla's black panther is bulky, so we decided it made more sense to kick our good Slumberjack bags to the kids and get a set of square ones that can zip together for us.   So, the children will no longer rest in the bellies of large, predatory cats and we will cuddle up like killers on the lam.

We love to camp as a family.   Despite the 11 degree wind chill weather today, I am already planning, scheming and dreaming of camping possibilities.   My son and I both have birthdays this month and I asked family for a new sleeping bag and a roll up, wooden "table in a bag" to take to concerts, the beach etc.

Kettlemoraine campgrounds in Wisconsin are by far our favorites and Warren Dunes in Indiana are fun as well.   Both state parks are only several hours away from Chicago and good for a weekend get away.   I love living in the city, but tell the kids that I'm much happier and relaxed when we can spend some time "where the trees are taller than the buildings" to recharge.  

We will again be returning to Three Sisters Campground in Chillicothe, Il over Memorial Day weekend for Summer Camp, a 3 day music festival.   The kids' music education will continue the following month as well.   The band, Phish, is making a  comeback, with their first tour since 2004.   We will be camping on a small, lovely lake for two nights with a group of friends and taking the kids to Alpine Valley for their June shows.   It took 4 hours on line, right when tickets went on sale, to finally lock in 4 tickets for each night, but when I read about people paying upwards of 1,000 a ticket for their first Hampton shows, I felt like we got off easy with face value and a little time.

So, here's to summer, warm weather, camping out with friends and family...............and a killer new sleeping bag to die for.   What can I say?   It had my name on it.