Make instant memories by creating a simple family fall bucket list! You can use these 25+ ideas as a starting point and create your own. Don’t forget your FREE PRINTABLE!
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Fall Family Bucket List
We all know that fall is a great time of year to get outdoors, but it can be hard to decide what you want to do.
It’s easy for your family bucket list to turn into a chore list. There are so many things you could do, and it can be difficult to narrow down your options.
This post will help make the decision easier by giving you a bunch of creative ideas for how you can enjoy this season with your family! You’ll find inspiration here from helping others, pumpkin patches and apple orchards, as well as fun activities like crafts and hayrides.
You may not be able to do every item on this list, so some tough choices will have to be made. Either way, you’ll definitely find some great ideas for your family bucket list!
Family Fall Bucket List
Roast pumpkin seeds – Once you’re done carving out your pumpkins, don’t just throw out the seeds! It’s a great idea to roast them. Try coating your seeds with olive oil and sprinkling on some salt before cooking them in a 250° oven for about 30 minutes or until they start turning brown. They make a delicious, healthy snack!
Rake leaves and jump in – This is a no brainer. It’s pretty much impossible to not enjoy jumping in a giant fresh leaf pile. You can make it into a contest or just have fun doing it together as a family.
Bake pumpkin pie – If you want to get super fancy, you can make your own pumpkin puree, but if not the store bought kind will do just fine! Then use that to make a delicious pumpkin pie recipe like this one!
Visit the pumpkin patch – What better way to celebrate fall than by visiting one of the many farms around where you live? Many pumpkin patches allow you to pick your own pumpkins, take a hayride, go on a scavenger hunt and maybe even see some farm animals. A pumpkin patch can be a great idea for a photo op as well!
Have a pumpkin decorating contest – Let your kids use their creativity to paint and carve pumpkins. If you have littles, you can be the judge, but if you have a mix of kids, you can let them judge one another!
Eat a fall themed dinner – You can go with a traditional Thanksgiving style meal, or you can get more creative and come up with a fall themed menu on your own. For example, try a squash soup as an appetizer, then have roasted chicken and vegetable skewers for the main course. Finish it off by making some apple cider doughnuts!
Visit a local coffee shop and get your favorite fall themed drink – There are so many different fall drinks available, but a few ideas are caramel apple spice, pumpkin chai and maple pecan latte. Try going to a local coffee shop to get the full experience, especially if your kids have never been. Take time to have good conversations.
Go on a hayride – Hayrides are another great way to visit local farmlands. Some farms may also offer other activities like apple picking or corn mazes. It’s fun for the whole family!
Color a fall themed coloring page – Coloring can be a very relaxing and satisfying activity for kids and adults of all ages. Download some free coloring pages, gather up some supplies and see who can finish their page first or be the most creative!
Find 1 fall themed craft and do it together – Again, the possibilities are endless. There are tons of fall themed crafts for kids. Just a quick Google or Pinterest search can help you with this one!
Have a cozy picnic in the park – Pack up the perfect picnic basket with everything you need. If it’s sunny, find a shady spot to sit under, or if it’s cloudy and cool, pack a blanket so you can sit on the grass. Don’t forget the fall blanket. When you’re done eating, the kiddos can play and get some of that energy out.
Sit around a firepit – Speaking of blankets, snuggle up with a good blanket around a firepit to bring the cozy outdoors. Make some s’mores, roast hot dogs and just enjoy the evening!
Donate outgrown clothes to a homeless shelter – As the weather gets colder, those without homes often times are in the elements. Donate some of those outgrown clothes and help out those in need stay warm in the fall and upcoming winter months.
Make a Thanksgiving meal for the homeless – This can be a fun family project. You can make sandwiches, soups, applesauce packets and more to give out. Just double check your local ordinances on this one first to make sure you’re not breaking any laws or you can simply pick a date for your whole family to volunteer to work in a soup kitchen.
Wear matching fall PJs – Whether you go with the classic flannel pajamas or get really creative, there are so many fun fall themed outfits out there! You can do this around Halloween to make them more like costumes or you can wait until it’s later in the fall season with more generic jammies. Take a picture and then compare how your family changes year after year.
Take fall family photos – Speaking of jammies photos, why not get all dolled up and get a professional photographer to take photos of you and the family? It may be a little pricier than some of the other options on here, but it will be so worth looking back on these in years to come.
Visit a fall festival – This is one of my absolute favorite things to do in the fall. There are carnivals, pumpkin patches and all kinds of fun things to do! If your kids love animals, a petting zoo can be a highlight as well. They just never seem to get old because there are usually things to do for kids of all ages.
Make S’mores – My kids love to make them and they love to eat them! There’s something about roasting the sweet gooey marshmallows over an open fire that seems like an activity exclusively for kids. Try it out, but make sure you have extra napkins on hand. All the marshmallow fluff just never seems to come off their fingers!
Eat one of everyone’s favorite fall candies – Another favorite of mine is everyone gets to choose their favorite fall or Halloween candy and the rest of the family gets to try it! Maybe only one person gets to go a night so that your kids aren’t all hopped up on sugar.
Find or make caramel apples – If you have a local produce stand, a lot of times they will have these when the season comes around. However, if not, you can make a go at making them yourself!
Go apple picking – Apple orchards are a staple of this time of year, and it’s an activity that all ages can enjoy. Bring a book and spend time choosing the perfect bunch of apples to take home, or go in search of some other fall foods like hayrides and hot cider. When you get those apples home, try your hand at a homemade apple pie!
Attend your favorite football team’s game – If you live near a professional football team stadium, this would be a great experience for your kids, but if not, a college game can be just as fun!
Have an outdoor movie night – Projectors are great quality and can be relatively cheap (like this projector from Amazon) now. Buy a cheap outdoor projector screen and watch some Halloween themed shows or even scary movies from Netflix or Disney Plus (if that’s your thing). If the climate is right, this can be a blast for you whole family to do together!
Pick out mums – This may sound boring, but I think it’s a great fall tradition. Taking your family to a local nursery to pick out the mums when they come in stock and then taking them home to put them on your porch. Something so simple, yet can create a lot of memories. And you can always add to your plan by going out for ice cream or something afterward.
Make a hot chocolate bar – Depending on where you live, it may get cold enough for a hot chocolate bar in the fall. If so, this is a great option—buy some vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and all sorts of different toppings. It will be delicious and fun for the kids, plus it’s easy to change up each year to keep with tradition or try new variations on your favorites.
Drink apple cider – I love apple cider and I especially enjoy drinking it when the weather starts to get cooler. You can make your own or buy it, but either way it makes you feel like fall! My kids like it cold like apple juice, but I love to warm a batch in the crockpot because not only does it taste delicious, but it makes your house smell amazing.
Take a scenic drive to look at the fall foliage – This is one of my favorite things to do in the fall! I love driving around with my kids and seeing all the different colors that are on display. Don’t forget your camera–this would be a great time for family photos, too. You can bring even the littlest ones in on this by talking about shapes, colors, and numbers of leaves you see. If you’ve got preschoolers, make it into a fun scavenger hunt.
Do a candy scavenger hunt – Speaking of scavenger hunts, this is a wonderful fall activity for kids. It’s so easy to set up on your own and make it work for your family! Use some of your Halloween candy and on the day you’re ready to go out, just write down a random item on each piece of paper. Put the papers in a hat, have your kids draw one out at a time, and see who can find that item first! Make it more complicated by adding numbers or math problems if you want to challenge them even further for the older kids.
Fall is just around the corner, and with it comes cooler temps, pumpkin spice lattes, sweaters, leaves changing colors. It also means family time! We hope this list of things you can do with your family in the fall has inspired you to make some memories this year.
If you want a printable version of this fall bucket list for your family, just tell me where you want me to send it below:
You can add these things (and more!) to your family’s bucket list and make family fun memories that will last a lifetime.
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