Four Fun Frugal Fall Festivities
Here in the midwest, fall is in the air. I breathe in crisp, cool, and clear air every time I’m outside. At least for the past week I have. Although this year is trying its best to go from summer to winter in one fell swoop (it is lightly snowing as we speak, and it was in the 70s only two weeks ago) I’m still trying to take advantage of fall as much as possible before it disappears. Here are four fun and frugal activities my family has enjoyed this year and in years past.
1. Visit a pumpkin patch. You don’t have to buy a pumpkin when you visit (although that can be fun too) but just wandering around a pumpkin patch is a fun time. If you have children, it can be fun just to watch them stomp around and explore. And a pumpkin patch is a fun frugal stroll for anyone, big or small.
2. Rake leaves, or find some to jump in. We own our home which means the big maple tree in our yard is our responsibility to clean up after. Although you may think raking leaves to jump in is a fun activity just for kids, I must admit that i find it rather soothing to roll around in a pile of leaves. Just don’t tell my kids I’m the one that flattened their pile.
3. Take a drive to see the sights. If you live in an area where the leaves change on the trees this time of year, you can take a nice drive to check them out like we do. But there is more to check out than just the changing leaves. We live in an area that decorates their houses for Halloween almost as elaborately as they do for Christmas. We take walks through our neighborhood and the occasional drive just to check out all the scarecrows, witches, ghosts, pumpkins, and other decorations that can be found.
4. Use a pumpkin to its full potential. I must admit I am not too skilled at this one, for even carving a pumpkin is beyond my usual repetorie. But if you buy a pumpkin to carve, you can roast the seeds for a tasty snack as well as make a fun porch or window decoration for your home. Or you can just buy decorative gourds that are also edible, and cook them after you are done with them (I did this for my kids when they were eating baby food - mashed up gourd was one of their favorite foods!).
What’s your frugal fall plan for fun?
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October 28th, 2008 at 9:18 am
Texas Book Festival here this weekend…2 days of amazing prominent authors, seminars and music at our state capitol building…all free!
Also, free concerts outside our green city hall every Friday.
October 28th, 2008 at 10:05 am
Some great suggestions! You forgot to mention that the fall beauty makes for some fantastic family fun pics! Kids in a pile of leaves or pumpkins are some of my favourites!
Y
ou can probably find pumpkin carving stencils online if you’re looking for some help.
And I think it’s funny that you mentioned your maple leaves being your responsibility - we are always complaining (jokingly) that we have the most leaves on our front yard on our street….yet we have NO mature tress on our whole lot! Our neighbours with the huge trees NEVER show up to help us rake them!
October 28th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
this is the only (and best) time of year i buy apple cider. I especially like to heat it in the microwave to warm me up as i sit in a house heated to 58 degrees.
October 28th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
You can also go apple picking
I remember a few people I know went apple picking and they came back with so many apples they had to give them away. Spending quality time with friends and family is a great way to relieve some of that stress too. I feel like end-of-the-year angst can start around this time, so it’s a good idea to start refreshing yourself ASAP!
October 28th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
i dont do this anymore since there is no pumpkin patch near my house, but when i was upstate for college a few years ago me and all my friends would go to a local pumpkin patch for a day and buy pumpkins, than we would go back to a girl’s house whose family lived in the area. and we would carve the pumpkins and while we finished up the carving her mom would roast the seeds for us to bring back to school. plus make us a pretty awsome dinner
October 29th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Awesome article. I was just racking my brains trying to come up with some inexpensive activities that my family would love to do this fall. I gave you some link love over at my blog. Thanks!
October 30th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Great ideas. We took part in many of them this year. Of course fall for us ends by the second or third week of October (darn northeastern climate) - the snow started falling yesterday.
November 2nd, 2008 at 3:55 pm
You are welcome to come rake leaves at my house any time you’re looking for some frugal entertainment!