Everything You Need To Have An Extraordinary October With Your Family & Friends!!

Halloween is such a nostalgic time of year and it is always fun to gather with family and friends. We love to try new recipes and activities to make the holiday more vibrant and exciting.

We have gathered about 20 different ideas for you to make your fall more special and memorable. Enjoy!

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Your Halloween Table- Eats, Treats & Tablescapes:

I know some people are really not fans of the creepy halloween vibes of October. I get it. There are times you want to forgo all the commercial type decor and instead surround yourself with the beauties of the earth and the harvest at this time of year.

So to start off, I thought I would share a tutorial on how to make a Beautiful Fall Flower Bouquet. This bouquet brings out the lovely colors of fall, and would be a great addition to any autumn themed gathering.

For those who like a little of the jack-o-lanterns and spine-chilling themes of the fall, I think you will love this! One of our favorite family traditions during the month of October is to have a Spooky Dinner. We prepare a bunch of Halloween and fall inspired food, crank up the halloween music, and make our own “witches brew” (some kind of drink with dry ice).

This whole spooky dinner idea came to be after talking with Andrea Nielsen on our podcast. We talked about all things Halloween that we like to do with our families; decorating, costumes, activities, fun food, trick or treating and more. Andrea has some super fun traditions!!

Before we get started on the food, let’s talk about the decor! A little ambience goes a long way. I love the tablescapes from Lemon Drops N Lilies. My favorite purchase this year were these spider web placemats! Aren’t these the cutest?! For 20% off at check out of anything in the shop, use our code: happiness

Now for the Eats and Treats!

For appetizers, I love this Halloween Charcuterie. Along with the charcuterie recipe, we have a fun printable for you. It’s a Toil & Trouble Shakespeare Quote while we like to read when we are making our witches brew.

Fall Fresh Salad - this salad could be a meal on its own. It is packed with fall fruits and veggies. The crispy bacon adds a smoky, salty crunch that balances out the sweetness of the pears and sweet potatoes.
We love serving Baked BBQ Ribs because of the bones. With this recipe, the meat gets nice and tender. The bones pull out super easy. It’s always a big hit with the kids as well.
For dessert it is really fun to serve this scary snake cake! (See it on YouTube here.) It’s made from our Andes Mint Chocolate Bundt Cake. (See the Snake Cake on Pinterest here!)
It was inspired by Nagini from Harry Potter.
We served this cake at a Harry Potter Christmas Party one year and it was a huge hit. (If you are a big Harry Potter fan like me, you will love this post all about our Harry Potter Studio Tour in London!!)

Appetizer

Fall Fresh Salad

Baked BBQ Ribs

Fall Flavors

Apple Recipes:

Fancy Caramel Apple Cider with Whipped Cream

Heath Apple Dip

Candy Apples

Pumpkin Recipes:

Easy Pumpkin Cookies

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Snickerdoodle Frosting

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Ginger Cookie Crust

We have some very detailed recipe guides for Thanksgiving, Christmas & Easter for you in our VIP Freebie library. Pop in your email below and we will email you the password to access all those freebies!!

Halloween Crafts & Activities:

These are a few activities and printables that we use during the month of October.

Lily and Thistle is our favorite place to go for watercolor tutorials. This one is really fun and easy for families. It’s some cute little autumn trees. If you are interested in joining their Watercolor School with us, check it out here! They have tons of holiday projects and lots of other great tutorials.

Keeping the house clean and tidy through the busy fall season can be quite the project. We use these halloween chore charts to make the chores a little more fun for the kids.

Pass the Witch - this is an activity we like to do during dinner time that I learned from podcast guest: Angie Hyde. In our house, we have a wooden witch we pass around the dinner table. When you have the witch, the rest of the family takes turns telling what they love about you and the fond memories you have together.
I encourage you to try it out at your house. Maybe you won’t have a witch, but maybe you pass the plate, or the pumpkin or something else that is fun or special. And make sure you listen to that podcast with Angie. She is an amazing mama. I learned so much from our chat.

Fall Themed Podcasts:

We recently had realtor Tammy Goolsby on our podcast giving us tips about selling and buying homes, but we also talked about a neat fall tradition her family has: The Night of the Gourd Dinner. It’s a Gratitude/Harvest Themed gathering where everyone brings a dish that contains pumpkin or squash. It’s been a meaningful way for them to enjoy October without the commercialism of Halloween.
Fall decor with Stefani Bellows is an episode where Stefani shares her love for decorating and how it is wrapped up in her family traditions. She has some great ideas that are simple and easily implemented.
Lastly, you want to listen to this episode with Cameron and Natalie Andelin about Life on the Andelin Farm. They have created a corn maze and fall festival on their property. It is inspiring to see how it came about and their creativity as it grows and thrives. If you are in the Reno, Nevada area, you’ve got to go pay them a visit!!

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