Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the crisp air and the changes occurring in nature. I especially like bringing items from nature, such as pumpkins and gourds, into our home as a daily reminder of the changing seasons.

As a family with several introverts, our favorite fall evenings are often the ones spent at home together, where it seems there’s never enough read aloud time or cinnamon, apple, and pumpkin spice everything. And the entire family looks forward to fall outings as well.

Each year, I gather our fall books and my family notebook, along with lists from previous years, and start planning. Everyone contributes to our bucket list, which includes old favorites and new ideas to try.

Fall Family Favorites:

Out and About:

–The Fair/Fall Festivals: Every October we gather the family for an outing to the fair or a fall festival. The kids look forward to the rides, animals, games, and treats (for us funnel cakes and fried Oreos)! Also, our library system holds a Fall Festival each year with games, candy, and a costume contest for the kids!

-Apple picking: This is something we’ve done as a family for years. The orchard we visit is picturesque, and we’ve made so many wonderful family memories on these trips. We take along a picnic and our sense of adventure!

–The Farmers Market: We are fortunate to live in an area with an incredible farmers market. In Fall especially, the selection is fantastic, apples, muscadines, persimmons, pears, and pecans! We try to make it to the market as often as possible this time of year.

–Pumpkin Patch: We all get excited when there’s a trip to the pumpkin patch ahead! In addition to pumpkin picking, the patch we frequent has animals, hayrides, and a sunflower maze to purposefully get lost in. You can even take home a bouquet of freshly picked sunflowers, along with your pumpkins. There’s also a hay tower we climb for a family photo each year. Most pumpkin patches offer as-they-grow photo ops that you can take every year too! Additionally, these patches are a great place to find bargains on corn stalks, heirloom pumpkins, and other natural materials for crafting or decorating.

–Corn Maze: We love navigating a corn maze together as a family. and its an entertaining way to work on team building skills! There’s a corn pit at the maze we go to and the boys love burying themselves in corn. There’s also a petting zoo and pony rides.

–The Great Outdoors: We love the great outdoors! We also enjoy the cooler fall weather, so we get in as much biking and hiking as possible this time of year!

–Picnics: We try to have as many picnics as possible in the fall to admire the glorious red, yellow, and orange foliage. We aim for at least one a week, even if it’s in our own backyard!

At Home:

–Fall is in the Air: I usually have a fall scented candle burning, especially in the morning, at meals times, and in the evenings. I also like to simmer mulling spices on the stove.

–Fires & Bonfires: These is nothing better than sitting in front of a cozy fireplace, with the people you care about most, on a cool fall evening! Telling stories and roasting marshmallows around a bonfire is a close second!

–Pumpkin Carving and Painting: We make a special event out of our evenings spent carving and painting pumpkins. This year the boys want to try painting a minion pumpkin! We do a mix of painted and carved pumpkins because the painted pumpkins last so much longer, but the boys relish getting their hands dirty with the carving!

–Games and Puzzles: We pull out a fall themed puzzle at the beginning of the season and put it at the end of the dining room table to work on as time permits. Games come out every family night, as usual, but they are especially fun around the fire or while enjoying fall treats.

–Leaf Pile: Raking up a huge pile of leaves for the boys to jump in, usually makes the list too.

–Front Porch Decor: We decorate the front porch with pumpkins, mums, homemade wreaths, and other homemade seasonal decor. Several years ago we made a scarecrow with some old overalls, stuffed with hay, and with  a pumpkin head to greet anyone who came to our door. Our oldest son still speaks fondly of his scarecrow making memories.

–Halloween Movies: We watch a ‘not so scary’ Halloween movie with the family every year. There’s a great selection of family friendly Halloween movies at your local library.

–Home Halloween Party: After trick-or-treating on Halloween night, we all settle in for a family party. We bob for apples, play a bean bag toss game, and see who can eat their hanging donut the fastest, with their hands held behind their backs. It’s great fun and even the boys end up tuckered out after these shenanigans!

Fall Crafts:

–Apple Prints: We make apple prints with apples we pick at the orchard. You can cut the apple in different ways for prints. Make sure to find the star inside of the apple and read an accompanying story about it!

–Homemade Play Dough: We make cinnamon or pumpkin spice scented play dough in the fall. We’ve been making our own play dough for years and these scents in particular are pleasant for the kids to work with.

–Preserve Leaves: We’ve had fun in the past preserving leaves with glycerin for decorations and crafts, and we’re going to give it a try again this year.

–Leaf Art: We appreciate simple art projects that use items collected from our own back yard or on nature walks. We have been collecting leaves, and we’ve painted them, made leaf impressions, and are planning a leaf wreath.

Fall Food:

–Apple Everything: With our yearly trips to the orchard, there is an abundance of apples. So, we are usually busy making as many apple recipes as possible. Our favorites include baked apples, apple chips, apple crunch muffins, instant pot apple butter, and caramel apples…

–Pumpkin Everything: As far as I’m concerned the more pumpkin I can fit into my diet the better! We make pumpkin bread, pumpkin butter, pumpkin spice waffles and pancakes (we also add pecans.) Pecans are plentiful at our farmers market this time of year!

–Apple Cider: Everyone in our family loves apple cider. I’m planning to linger over my first hot apple cider of the year shortly!

–Popcorn: Popcorn balls are a hit with our boys. They’re a little messy and a whole lot of fun. We used the Pioneer Woman’s popcorn ball recipe, with candy corn, last year and plan to use it again this year. Anything with candy corn is going to get an approval from our boys! In the fall, we also like to make caramel corn and haven’t met a recipe yet that we didn’t enjoy! I especially like sweetening popcorn with maple syrup and sprinkling a bit of sea salt on top.

–Soup with Homemade Bread: We make and devour soups, stews, and chili, served with homemade bread or cornbread, and the more autumn veggies, the better!

–Silly Food: The boys are big fans of funny food, like drawing jack-o-lantern faces on oranges and ghosts on bananas. I’m always trying to come up with fun food ideas to get them laughing!

What are you most looking forward to this Fall? What are your favorite traditions? Do you have any new ideas you want to try with your family this year?