So I bought one of those electric fireplace inserts for my fireplace. I never liked using the Duraflame type logs — there’s a lot of ash, they don’t really burn warm enough, and since they don’t the convection current is not always strong enough to draw the smoke out, so we get backdraft, causing us to open the windows and turn on fans, with the opposite effect of a warm, cozy evening by the fire.
I’d like to get a gas insert, but my cohort doesn’t respond well to gas appliances and is very sensitive to that sort of thing. So I got an electric one, which really has a very compelling illusion, especially once you put it behind a glass fireplace door. I think this might be corny and I may regret it ten years from now. But right now it’s kind of cool.
Then I decided the illusion was not complete without sound effects. So I downloaded some fireplace crackling mp3s and hid my little mp3 player behind the fireplace door, and wala*, a complete illusion. It’s fake, it’s dumb, but it’s also cool and I like it.
* I know how to spell voilà
You’ll need some incense that smells like burnt logs.
I was thinking of just handing out scratch and sniff cards to my guests.