Countdown to Halloween!

Bring the excitement of an Easter egg hunt to your neighborhood with mini pumpkins! 🍂✨
How it works:
1️⃣ Hide mini pumpkins (painted or decorated) around your yard or neighborhood.
💡 Holiday Pro Tip: Have the kids decorate a few pumpkins in the days leading up to the hunt—it stretches out the fun and creativity!
2️⃣ Kids grab their baskets and go on a festive hunt to collect (or just spot them for the little ones).
3️⃣ Reward the hunters with a small treat after all the pumpkins have been found.

Some of our favorite expansions:
🎃 Pumpkin-Themed Dessert Bar – Serve up pumpkin cookies, pumpkin spice popcorn, or cider after the hunt.
📸 Photo Stop – Create a mini “pumpkin patch” backdrop for family photos.
🔢 Pumpkin Numbers – Number each pumpkin and hold a raffle drawing for prizes.
☕ DIY Apple Cider Bar – Hot cider with fun toppings like cinnamon sticks, caramel drizzle, and whipped cream.

Here’s a cozy DIY project that starts with a walk outside and ends in your very own at-home Fall Art Gallery — made entirely from your kids’ nature-inspired masterpieces!

👟 Step 1: Go on a Leaf Hunt!
Grab baskets or bags and head outside to collect beautiful fall leaves. Look for all shapes, sizes, and colors — they’re nature’s art supplies!

🎨 Step 2: Create Together
Try these 3 easy art projects:
🍁 Leaf Rubbings – Use crayons and paper to reveal the hidden textures of your leaves.
🖌️ Leaf Prints – Paint your leaves and press them to paper for stunning seasonal patterns.
🦊 Leaf Animals – Turn dried leaves into whimsical woodland creatures with googly eyes and glue!

🖼️ Step 3: Curate a Kid-Made Fall Art Gallery: Hang a string across a wall or hallway and use clothespins to display your mini Picassos' work. You can even host a “gallery opening night” with apple cider and cookies. 

Capture Every Cozy Autumn Moment! Looking for fun and meaningful ways to make the most of the season?

Our Autumn Scrapbook Idea List is here to inspire you! 🍁
- Picking pumpkins
- Playing in the leaves
- Do a corn maze

- Making fall arts & crafts

- Apple picking
- Decorate haunted gingerbread houses

- "Boo-ing" your neighbor

- Riding on a hay ride

- Taste testing anything pumpkin

- Wearing your favorite fall jerseys

- Volunteering or doing something kind

- Carving pumpkins

- Trick or Treating

Save this checklist and make it a family tradition to check off every cozy fall adventure.  Using the same types of pictures every year can show your little ones how "big and strong" they grow year over year. 

🍂 Create a Thankful/Gratitude Tree – A Fall Family Tradition 🍁

Here’s how to do it:
1️⃣ Gather branches from the yard and place them in a vase or jar (or draw a tree on a large poster/paper)
2️⃣ Cut out paper leaves - kids can help trace or decorate!
3️⃣ Each day, write one thing you’re thankful for on a leaf.
4️⃣ Hang the leaves on the branches.
5️⃣ At the end of the season, sit together as a family and read them all aloud.

Turn one evening into a DIY costume night and fashion show! Here’s how to make it extra special:

1️⃣ Gather Your Supplies:
Pull out old clothes, craft materials, fabric scraps, cardboard boxes, paint, and any fun odds and ends you have lying around. Think “craft store meets dress-up closet”!

2️⃣  Set Up a Creation Station:
Cover a table with paper or a plastic cloth, lay out all the materials, and make it easy for everyone to experiment. 

3️⃣ Pick a Theme (or Don’t!):
Go freestyle or choose a fun theme — like “Classic Monsters,” “Storybook Heroes,” or “Household Items Come to Life.”

4️⃣ Add Music and Host a Family Runway Show:
When everyone’s finished, turn your living room into a spooky catwalk! Announce each participant, strike a pose, and award fun titles like “Most Creative,” “Silliest Costume,” or “Spookiest Transformation.”

5️⃣  Capture the Magic:
Don’t forget to take photos for your fall scrapbook or photo album

One of our favorite traditions that’s part race, part creativity challenge, and 100% fun!

Gather your crew, grab a few pumpkins, and find a good hill — because it’s time for the Pumpkin Derby! 🏁

Here’s how to make it extra festive:

✨ Decorate your pumpkins! Paint silly faces, add googly eyes, or even carve them into characters before the race.

🚗 Get creative! Build little “vehicles” to set your pumpkins on — maybe cardboard wheels, popsicle-stick sleds, or even leaf “wings.”

💨 Race time! Line up your pumpkins at the top of the hill and let them roll! Cheer on your pumpkin champion to see which one wins.