Fall Traditions You Need to Start with your family
Fall is here — cue the pumpkins, cozy sweaters, and about 10,000 pictures of your kids in leaf piles.
The days are getting shorter, the temperatures are cooling down and school is back in session. We all know what that means, fall is on it's way! Now don't get me wrong, I do LOVE summer and I'm not quite ready for it to be over but I do love Fall. I'm ready for the cozy sweaters and all the spookiness that comes with Halloween. DUH, It's the most wonderful time of the year.
With fall comes all the fun adventures and activities for you and your little besties to enjoy. Life has slowed down from all the summer madness, it is a perfect time to set up some new traditions with the family to create lasting memories.
Why should you create traditions?
Think back to your childhood. What are some of your favorite memories that you had with your family? I bet a good portion of them were traditions that you and your family did, I know mine were!
When I say to create traditions, I don't mean you have to plan big extravagent trips or parties every year. It doesn't have to mean a bunch of stressful planning and spending a bunch of money. It could be as small as having a movie night on Fridays where you get pizza for dinner, or the first Saturday of every month you go on a donut run as a family.
The purpose of traditions is to get your family together to do something fun! To bond and create memories in any way that you want to. You know, it's funny the things that your kids will remember that you think in the moment are small and insignificant.
Not only are you creating special memories, you are creating excitement and magic, especially this time of year.
Types Of Traditions You Can Start
1. Fall Kick-Off Traditions
Ideas:
Family Trip to Pumpkin Patch/Apple Orchard
This is my all time FAVORITE. Who doesn't love a good pumpkin patch. Most of the time, these types of places have lots of things going on. Carnival games, rides, snacks, petting zoo's.. you name it. You can spend the day or just a few hours and wrap up the trip with everyone picking out their pumpkin that they want to carve later.
Family Movie night
Get the fam together and make a list of all the fall/halloween movies that you want to watch. Then, pick the one you want to start with, grab your snacks and a blanket and snuggle up for your first (of many) movie nights this fall season.
The Great Baking Challenge
Who said that you can only get together to bake Christmas cookies? Scroll Pinterest and find some yummy call recipes and get to baking!
(Pro Tip: Grab those pumpkins or apples from your family outing and use those for your delicious treats 😉 )
2. Decorating Traditions
Ideas:
Time to Decorate
Take those kiddos to the Dollar Tree or the Target dollar spot and let them pick out some new decorations for the house and let them help you decorate your home! They will feel so happy and proud whenever they come home and see the decorations that they helped with.
DIY Activities
Back to Dollar Tree we go! There are ton's of crafts that you and the kiddos can do that are inexpensive or FREE! Depending on the age level, the possibilites are endless. This is is great too for just a time filler whenever you need to keep the kids occupied.
'Decorate the house day'
This kid of goes back to letting the kids decorate the house. Make a day of the decorating. Make it a big thing that you are switching the vibes of the house from summer to fall. Get out all the fall candles, cozy blankets and pumpkin lights. Hype it up! The change of seasons is so so fun!
3. Spooky Season Traditions
Ideas:
'Spooky Snacks'
Create fun spooky snacks and drinks that are family friendly. Make fun charcuterie boards with mummy pigs in a blanket or little pumpkin clementines. Or start the day off with some pumpkin or ghost shaped pancakes.
Festive Drinks
Go get that warm apple cider or pumpkin hot cocoa. This is pretty versitile that you can make it kid friendly or adults only.
4. Costume Traditions
Ideas:
Family Costume Themes
There are SO many ways that you can incorporate everyone in the family for one big costume idea. Easiest Idea: Think of your favorite movie and everyone can dress up as a different character.
DIY Costume Night
Time to let the little gremlins join in on the fun again. Let them pick out what they want to be for Halloween and let them help make their costume! Don't focus on it being 'Pinterest Perfect'. They won't remember how amazing the costume is, they will just remember how fun it was to make it with you.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, fall traditions aren’t about perfectly curated Instagram photos or hand-carved Pinterest-level pumpkins (though if that’s your thing, you go girl!). They’re about the giggles during a leaf pile jump, the sugar crash after too many “just one more” fun-sized candies, and the warm fuzzies that stick around long after the pumpkin spice is gone.
So grab your crew, pick a couple of these traditions, and start making memories that will outlast the candy corn in your pantry.
