Cultivating easy fall family traditions can take normal everyday life and make it feel like an occasion for celebration (and rightfully so!). Enjoy this list of our top 5 favorite tried and true easy fall family traditions.
- Easy Apple Orchard Apple Picking
Our family enjoyed visiting a local (1 hour drive) orchard to pick apples at the end of August/September for our area in Kentucky. There was an older gentleman on this family farm that had his big red tractor hooked up to a wagon with benches inside. He transported us to the hilltop where the orchard was located. That was an experience !
I recommend going in the morning if you go at the end of August, because it was hot the day we arrived at the orchard for their first apple picking of the season! However, heat or no heat, this was a fun fall family tradition for all of us and we will definitely be repeating this annually. I hope you get your family on board with this easy tradition! For $20 per giant bag of apples, I’d say it was well worth the timeless treasure this experience was to us.
Orchards can be visited up until late October for most variates of apples. This was our monthly family trip. (A monthly family trip is a family tradition we try to do, even if it’s an outing for ice cream.)
1a. Tradition in the kitchen after orchard visit
Perhaps even more fun for the family in fall are the tastes and smells coming from the kitchen. Here are some easy, healthy, and family favorite recipes to add to your family’s fall traditions in the kitchen: (note: if there is no link to a recipe and you’d like me to make one, just comment and let me know! I’ll be happy to try to get it posted.)
- EASY Dessert: Apple Cobbler
- EASY Snack: Slice apples side to side (so as to create circles, not wedges). Top with Nutella and crushed Pistachios for the perfect FALL flavor touch to a snack time in the trenches with many littles.
- EASY Dinner: Sheet Pan Maple Apple Chicken & Veg Bake
- EASY Breakfast Side: Simple Cooked Apples. Simple, easy way to add fall flavors to your breakfast menu! Top oatmeal with them or just serve alongside your eggs & toast/biscuits. DELICIOUS!
- Quick Cinnamon Apple Breakfast Muffins
- Fun: Apple Jelly (easily made from the scraps leftover from peeling/coring your apples! Nothing goes to waste.)
- Cinnamon Apple Raisin French Toast Bake (prepped the night before makes for easy breakfast tomorrow morning. just pop in oven & bake!)
- Apple Pie is a classic
- Apple Raisin Cookies
- Apple Fritters
- Easy Apple crisp: Another great all-in-one staple recipe you can use for many fruits!
2. Visit a Pumpkin patch
Just like the orchards in late august & September, pumpkin patches are a fun fall family tradition. Most pumpkin patches are open and ready to harvest by late September to mid October!
2a. Tradition in the kitchen after pumpkin patch visit
Imagine being 5 and waking up the day after visiting a pumpkin patch to PUMPKIN PANCAKES! Especially these pumpkin pancakes with their EASY bonus recipe of pumpkin roll filling. Winner with the kiddos and husband every time! And we cannot drive past this classic (but much healthier version) pumpkin roll recipe (*post coming soon*). It is a staple in our home for fall and I share it in hopes it will bless your family as well. Kids will love licking the bowl/spoon(s) and so will you! Waiting for it to cool in order to put the icing inside is the hardest part. These are sure to be a hit in your kitchen this fall!
3. Building a wood fire or simply gathering around a gas fire place to share food, coco, or roast marshmallows.
Don’t underestimate the power of simply gathering around fire as a fall family tradition. Whether your family wants to make gathering around a fire a monthly, seasonal, weekly, or nightly tradition, it is one you do not want to miss.
Gather for a meal (like our family favorite easy hot dog chili mentioned below) cooked over the fire or simply gather to roast marshmallows for dessert. (You can use store-bought or these healthier homemade ones.) Serve with this gut healing hot coco (or just buy Swiss miss if you must). Don’t overthink it, done with joy is better than perfect without it. The kids will love this tradition. If yours are anything like mine, they’ll be begging to do it again “tomorrow”. *note: check back here for these simple, fun recipes to add to your favorites before fall ends!*
4. Camping & starting a wood fire with a flint
Even if it’s simply setting up in your yard (like we did here) & building a fire, it’s sure to be a good time. We had a simple tent, chairs, sleeping bags, fire pit, bucket, food & a few baby supplies for an overnight stay (diaper bag, pack n play, Paci, bottle etc for baby). Being pregnant, the tent was not the easiest for mama, but it was well worth the night spent outside.
The boys enjoyed climbing the trees and playing in a small ditch/creek nearby as we built the fire and began dinner. Walmart has a great fire starting kit that really had our boys engaged in starting a fire without a lighter. Amazon has a great similar flint fire starter kit here. Just strike the flint onto the waxed tinder in your designated fire pit area and get ready for fun around the fire. This one activity led to us enjoying a simple meal of hot dogs served with chili (try our family favorite easy hot dog chili ready in just 1 hour with our home made hot dog buns!) & chips.
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We followed dinner up with cups of hot coco & marshmallows for dessert. I found these healthier non gmo marshmallows on amazon for when I needed a healthier convenient option! They were delicious! Stargazing and just being in awe of creation is a fun tradition but it pairs nicely with coco, fire, and family too.
It doesn’t have to be fancy to be fun. In fact, for kids, it’s often the simple things like this that mean most to them. This is a timeless fall family tradition for sure!
5. Learn 1 new skill
We have incorporated this tradition during the months of September, October, and/or November. This idea was born when we wanted to teach our homeschooling boys some useful skills. It has since evolved into another use: gift giving. The skill the kids learn or reiterate learning during the fall season can be a fun family tradition.
Perhaps this year you learn how to make these easy candles and you can gift them to family for Christmas. They are so cute and EASY to do with many littles underfoot. No mess or stress!
Next year you might choose to learn simple pottery like this and gift a small bowl (for salsa or other dips) for Christmas.
See this post for more DIY gifting ideas.(*Coming soon! check back before fall ends to add one of these to your end of fall traditions & make gift giving extra special this Christmas season with a homemade useful gift that won’t make mama crazy in the process. Simple and fun skills for all!)
These are our current easy and fun fall family traditions. Check back as I update this post with easy recipes and diy tutorials your family will look forward to every fall! I hope this post has inspired you to take one idea and enjoy a good time with your loved ones!
Pin it for later to keep all the ideas and recipes in one place.
Thanks for being here,
Brittany