The air is crisp but the sun is still shining, making the perfect sitting-outside-for-blog-brainstorming weather! Yes, Fall has arrived! People are putting up cinnamon-scented brooms, those cute orange and brown centerpieces on the table, and hanging wreaths of leaves on the door. Last year, I winged an idea for a DIY monogrammed wreath that came out pretty cute!

Our family gets really into the fall season. There are so many great traditions in our household, and a few new ones developing since we’ve moved to our new home in our cute little town.

HALLOWEEN

We start planning our Halloween costumes as early as Christmas because of our themes. My husband and I really enjoy dressing up for Halloween and it’s fun to go as a family. We figure that we only have a few years with each kid before they don’t want to be seen matching their parents and we’re taking advantage of it!

When my oldest was a baby, she went as the Easter Bunny and I was the Tooth Fairy. When I was pregnant with my second, I made my husband and I Diego and Dora costumes, my oldest daughter went as Boots, and a friend came with us dressed as Swiper. The next year, I did a pretty bang-up job hand-sewing my youngest daughter’s Hook costume (all out of old clothing and pillow stuffing!), improvised a Wendy costume for myself and Peter Pan for my husband, and bought Tinkerbell for my oldest. After that, I was a nine months pregnant Fiona, my husband Shrek, my oldest Boots, and my second daughter was Donkey. My husband couldn’t make it the next year so we were all Disney Princesses. Last year, we were the Wizard of Oz where I was Elphaba and wore my son, a flying monkey, my husband was the Tin Man, my oldest was Dorothy, my second daughter was Glinda the Good Witch, and my youngest daughter was the cutest scarecrow I’ve ever seen.

We’ve always had so many compliments, people think it’s adorable. Last year was probably our most popular year. A lot of people stopped us for pictures! I’m excited for the reveal every year, too, since we keep it a surprise!

HAUNTED ATTRACTIONS

A date night MUST in our house are the haunted attractions. My husband and I both get a kick out checking out new ones. There’s a popular place not far from here, called Eastern State Penitentiary, that’s said to be actually haunted and has had plenty of television specials but I’ve never checked it out and I’m told to avoid it at Halloween because the fancy stuff takes away from the actual scariness of it. However, there are a lot of great places all over the place. Haunted hayrides, buildings, mazes, etc. The love for haunted stuff runs in the family. The last time I saw my uncle who lives in North Carolina, he was visiting for a convention that educated on how to create your own haunt to include special effects makeup and his haunt, Devil’s Playground has its grand opening this weekend in Linden, North Carolina. (Definitely check it out if you’re nearby! He and his entire staff have been educated pretty thoroughly and he’s more obsessed with Halloween than any person I know, so I expect nothing less than phenomenal!)

Those of you out there who live in my area, near Atlantic City, New Jersey, feel free to share with me some of your favorite haunts so Hubby and I can check them out! We’ve moved about two hours from our favorite attraction so we need new places to check out and they really are the coolest date nights we’ll do all year.

FAMILY

Fall means family to me above all else. So many moments to bond! We always take a hayride pumpkin picking where I’m sure to snag a fresh gallon of apple cider (this year I might even try my hand at making my own apple cider donuts!) and go to some fall festivals. This year we’ll be attending our church’s Harvest Soup Party which seems wonderful with a chili cook-off and even an apple pie baking contest. I volunteered to be a judge, I hope they let me. I told them I wasn’t sure if I could cook but I know I can EAT!

For the three weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, I make sure I spend time stating what I’m thankful for and I was thinking about even making a thankful tree this year with the kids. I like to do a lot of crafts with the kids, throughout Fall and Winter! For Thanksgiving, we usually spend the day with my mom and stepdad and it’s always a really nice time!

There are so many awesome opportunities in Autumn to just kick back and enjoy your family. You can (and should!) do it all year-round but who can turn down baking a pumpkin pie with Mom or jumping into Dad’s freshly raked pile of leaves.