15 Fun Family Traditions for Fall

Southern California Fall Family Traditions

Since having children, it has been very important to build our family traditions. Growing up, I didn’t have many traditions, but it is something I looked forward to creating with my family.

Here are 15 of our top fall family fun traditions!

1.       Local fall & Halloween festivals: Boo at the LA Zoo, Local elementary schools for their Halloween festivals & local churches for their fall carnivals

2.       Tapia Brothers: pumpkin patch, hay rides, playground

3.       Underwood Family Farms: petting zoo, pumpkin patch, horse rides, animal feeding, hay rides, playground

4.       Pumpkin painting

5.       Pumpkin carving

6.       Roasting pumpkin seeds

7.       Decorating your house as a family

8.       Letting the kids pick out special decorations for their room or play room

9.       Building a spooky house (you can find a kit, or you can use cookies, icing, & small candies)

10.   Watching spooky movies: Curious George: A Halloween Boofest, Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween Movie, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Coraline, Nightmare Before Christmas, Kubo and the two strings, My Neighbor Totoro, & Casper. Here are some other suggestions: https://www.parenting.com/article/halloween-movies-for-kids & https://www.redbookmag.com/life/mom-kids/advice/g534/halloween-movies-families-children/

11.   Apple picking (making apple cider & apple pie)

12.   Looking at Halloween stores

13.   Walking in the neighborhood at night to look at the Halloween decorations

14.   Spooky science: There are SO many fun science experiments that revolve around fall & Halloween, we tried out several this month (glow in the dark explosion, monster slime, screaming ghosts, dry ice bubble and more)

15.   Fall arts & crafts: just head to the local dollar store and pick up little items to throw into water tables, playdough, & sand boxes to create the fall theme (bugs, skeletons, eyeballs, pumpkins, scarecrows etc.). Don’t forget little paintable ceramics, coloring books and other items to have themed arts & crafts.

The day of Halloween Traditions:

*Have the kids wake up to fun Halloween music playing

*Make a special Halloween breakfast…Monster face pancakes! (Dye pancakes green, with either food coloring or blending in spinach & let them make their own monster face with berries).

*Getting into your costume right away. Run all errands in your costume. We did this last year and the kids had an absolute blast!

*Lunch: Halloween sandwiches for lunch with cookie cutters

*Dinner: Stuffed mini jack-o-lanterns: use orange bell peppers and cut out a little face. Just use a regular stuffed pepper recipe: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/ASySH2LH_pzN3KXqid6-NGt8O8LtHF5NN-WyPUHJaBV8yh4pmRl9vBk/

*Make sure to pack snacks & water for trick or treating & depending on where you go, either have their pajamas out and ready to put on when you return, or bring them with you, along with wipes for a quick wipe down before the drive home*

What fun family fall & Halloween traditions have you started in your house?