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I’ve never been to keen on Summer. But Fall? Fall is my dream come true. It’s something that I’ve also passed on to my children. They love all things pumpkin, all things sweater, and all things
Instead of trying to meet impossible standards (thanks, Pinterest), try and focus on the simplicity of the season.
I’ve rounded up a small list of my favorite Fall Family Bucketlist Items for you to check out. Make sure to pin and save the printable below!
Visit a Pumpkin Patch
What could be more basic than a pumpkin patch?! Nothing! But that’s the beauty of the season. My husband and I bought our pumpkins from the store once. And, at the time, that was fine. But there’s just something about picking out your own pumpkin — flaws and all — that makes the carving and painting process that much more special.
Go on a Hayride
One of my favorite memories as a child is my families annual hayride. The hayride was actually a “haunted hayride” at our towns Century Village. Truth be told, it was always a bit spooky, but it was also incredibly fun.
Over the last several years, the little family of my own has done a more traditional hayride. And every year the kids love it more and more.
Does it matter that we’re only going through the pumpkin patch? Heck no! It’s amazing to them nonetheless.
Jump in a Leaf Pile
If I could name my top three most-despised adult chores they would rank the following: 1. Laundry. 2. Dishes. 3. Raking leaves.
Funny enough, until recently we’ve never had a large yard. But year after year we would spend countless hours raking (and blowing) the leaves in our yard. It felt like an impossible task, as there were always, always, more leaves to rake.
Now, with kids, I see things much differently. The idea of raking leaves actually brings me joy… because I know how much my kids love jumping into leaf piles.
Pumpkin Painting or Carving
I’m going to admit something to you right now — I am not great at carving pumpkins. And also? The whole process can be a bit exhausting.
The tracing, the gutting, the cutting… I’m not the best or most patient with this process. So there have been years where we opt for pumpkin painting instead. And guess what? The kids still adore it. That’s what I call a win-win, folks!
Trick-or-Treating
Okay, so maybe this one seems like a given. But when my kids were teeny I considered not taking them. And that would have been a huge mistake. There’s nothing cuter than a teeny tiny first-time trick-or-treater. It’s, like, a fact. Everyone will ooh and ahh over how cute your little pumpkin looks.
So suit them up, take them out for approximately 20-minutes, get a few pictures and a handful of candy, and call it a night.
Bake Cookies
I know that the holidays are generally the time for baking all of the things. But, for me, Christmas is just too busy of a season to truly enjoy baking. It feels more like a chore than a fun event.
Instead, my kids and I bake cookies and other treats in the Fall. We decorate cutout cookies to look like mummies and ghosts; throw together a Fall-themed trail mix; and snack on goodies like Chocolate-mummy-pretzel rods!
Apple Picking
I’m sure we’ve all recently seen the meme about buying apples from the store for $5 versus taking your family on a grand excursion to pick their own apples for $25, but there’s something to be said about seeing where our food comes from.
We are lucky to have several apple orchards within a few minutes of our house, so we’ll pick a nice day in early Fall (during honeycrisp season) and go to an orchard.
Drink Apple Cider
Is there anything better than warm, mulled, apple cider? The answer is no. Definitely not.
Grab a couple of mulled cider recipes from here and here and enjoy with the family on a cool, Fall evening.
Be sure to print this handy checklist to keep track of all of your Fall Family Fun!
Such a fun bucket list for fall! I need to do some of these with my kids.
Fall is my absolute favorite season!! There is so much to do and my family and I have plans to visit the pumpkin patch. A hay ride would be so much fun too!
Kileen
cute & little
I really like your fall list, they are all activities I want to do as a family. I take note.
Unlike you, I am a HUGE fan of summer. But I also love fall. It’s winter (well, at least post-Christmas winter) that I’m not such a fan of. I would suggest adding “Take a drive to see the fall colors”, if you live in place where you get to truly enjoy the change of seasons.
This list is great, I wish we had an apple orchard in my area but now I’m researching one that I can plan an weekend to visit it.
I love creating bucket lists for the different seasons! What a fun way to enjoy fall with the family.
This fall list is great.
I’m with you! Fall is my favorite season. This is such a great list of fun activities & love that you made it printable! Thank you for sharing.??
definitely a great list for the fall time! I also love fall but it’s a little too wet for my liking over in the PNW so I dream of the crisp fall days without rain.
Fall is my favorite! I live in the desert so I don’t get a real fall, but I fake one. Lol. I’m so excited about fall baking. Cookies might be the first check mark on this list for me.
So, co cute! How much I wish to jump on leaves! Loved your simple to-do list! 🙂
I loved your ideas. Well in India it is monsoon now and your ideas just tempt me to run and enjoy the Fall season. I love the changing colors, it is so lively and awesome. Your kids seem to be enjoying a lot.
Thats an absolutely perfect checklist to start the fall with!!!!!
Nice planning. It makes the waiting so much more exciting.
I am loving all of these tips for things to do in fall. Fall is my favorite season and I love it all but I especially love memories of jumping in the leaves when I was a kid 🙂
Great list, I would love to visit a pumpkin patch but we don’t have them in the UK
These are all the favorite things to do for our family in the fall too! I think I like apple picking and drinking cider the best.
It will be so much picking our own pumpkins and apples. I second you of how exhausting the carving process is and I prefer painting myself. And I agree that nothing is cuter than small kids dressed in pumpkin clothes, trick or treating.
It’s a great fall bucket list of things to do. We have done a few of them already and plan to do a few more this next weekend. At least I hope to do it next weekend.
OMG! I just made our family bucket list for the Fall as well! Seeing that picture of that donut, though, made me realize I needed to add that my list too 😉 Today is Mulled Apple Cider day, too, so maybe I’ll have to peek at one of those recipes and make some tonight 🙂
Weirdly, I’ve never done a lot of these! I need to get so Szalay’s ASAP, though. It’s my favorite fall spot.
Beautiful photos and well-intentioned family-oriented article. You strive to unite loving people in common activities and fall is the season of color and adventure with your list in hand.
I would love to do some of these with my kids. Thanks for sharing.
These are fascinating tips. Fall is my favorite season, especially because of the pumpkin patch!
I love these activities, espacially carving and painting pumpkins since I’m an artsy person.
I love pumpkin carving. I found a blog lately that gives so many designs to choose from and I am so excited to try them.