Published: October 5, 2018
By: Holly Tomlinson
After summer, autumn is cited as Americans’ most loved season. And truly, what’s not to love? For most of the country, the air is beginning to chill, we’re pulling out our coziest sweaters, the leaves are changing, and the holidays are just around the corner. Here are a a few ways to ensure this fall is one for the books!
Host a Pumpkin Carving Party
If you’re planning on hosting a party this fall, consider making it a pumpkin-carving fest! The best part about pumpkin carving is how inexpensive and easy it is to find pumpkins during the fall. With Halloween and Thanksgiving right around the corner, pumpkin patches and local farms are selling pumpkins for just a few dollars a pound. When your guests arrive have your pumpkins and carving supplies ready. You may even consider making the pumpkin the focus of your party’s theme. Create a special menu complete with pumpkin spice martinis, pumpkin pie, and, once those jack o lanterns are cleaned and gutted, toasted pumpkin seeds!
Plan a Casual Backyard Event
With the air cooling, the weather is pretty much perfect for a bonfire. Host a casual, backyard soiree complete with a firepit and all the smore fixin’s! You may even consider setting up a outdoor movie night so your guests can enjoy a flick while cuddling around the fire. All you need is a blank screen and a projector. Set out your comfiest blankets and pillows, make some popcorn, and serve some warm apple cider or hot cocoa, and voila! All the ingredients for a perfect fall gathering.
Explore Your City
Perhaps your neighborhood features a famous haunted house, or maybe there’s a historical home or area that holds candlelight cemetery tours. What about the restaurant known for their killer apple and pumpkin pies or that bar that does seasonal beer and food pairings? Do a bit of research to see what unique autumn events may be going on in your city or town. Better yet, pick a handful to create an itinerary of the most interesting. Invite a few friends to put on their best Halloween costumes and have them join you for a “Fall Crawl.”
Harvest the Season
The fall season is ripe with fun activities that are centered around the season’s bounty. Check out local farms and restaurants to see what fall-focused activities they have lined up. Often, restaurants will feature specialty farm-to-table menus that showcase a variety of fall flavors. Or head straight to the source itself! Plan a pumpkin-picking outing with close friends, family or your significant other. Many local farms feature a variety of fun fall activities, including corn mazes, apple bobbing and hayrides. And typically, while pumpkins tend to steal the show during this time of the year, local farms will usually also offer a variety of other seasonal harvest items, including acorn squash, rainbow carrots and golden beets.
Host a Fall-Themed Dinner Party
Hosting a dinner party is always a little bit easier when you have a theme to work with, and a fall focused event is pretty much as perfect as it gets. The best part about it, is the season already offers plenty of ways to decorate inexpensively, whether you choose to design centerpieces for the table with bowls of acorns and pinecones or dress up a few pumpkins (white pumpkins make especially tasteful table decor), there are plenty of options to add a bit of fall color to your event. The same goes for the menu! Explore seasonal ingredients and offerings to curate a special autumn menu for your guests. You may even consider offering a fun, seasonal cocktail or two, such as a caramel apple mule, a maple old fashioned, or a Kahlua pumpkin spice hot cocoa. You can also consider making a simpler main dish, such as a pork loin cooked in an Instant Pot and have friends and family bring their favorite fall side dishes to share!
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Tomlinson is a Los Angeles-based health and wellness writer looking to help readers make positive changes both physically and mentally. Her insightful content about healthy living, delicious recipes, and mental acuity is made for every type of reader. Years of experience as a wellness guru and numerous dietitian courses have given Holly valuable insights and strategies that she can use to help boost the accuracy and relevance of your health-related blog.