This is my FAVORITE time of year! I love the leaves, the cool air, the smells, the memories- and all the holidays! Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas right in a row- it just makes for a magical 3 months! I always start the season out with the greatest intentions- but sometimes I just let the busyness of the day-to-day things get to me and we don’t do nearly as many festive things as I’d like.

While there’s many things that can help, one of the things I have found the most helpful is creating a bucket list. Essentially, this is a list of all the things you want to accomplish within a certain time frame- like autumn, for example ;). My family just created our fall bucket list- and it’s a great way to give yourselves some direction on where your priorities lie, what traditions you absolutely want to make sure you continue.

You can whip up a list quickly over lunch (or even during a car ride), or you can make it a family event and create a list at the dinner table over a cup of hot cocoa.

Sometimes it’s hard to come up with ideas just off the top of your head, so here are some ideas to get you started! (With a lot of emphasis on food- because that’s what we do here, right? ;) )

• Visit a pumpkin patch
• Go to a corn maze
• Carve pumpkins
• Paint pumpkins
• Make caramel apples
• Have a caramel apple bar
• Have a hot chocolate bar
• Make homemade hot chocolate
• Go bobbing for apples
• Go on a hayride
• Jump in a pile of leaves
• Talk a walk or hike in the mountains or somewhere with lots of beautiful leaves
• Drive up the mountains to look at the colors!
• Get family pictures done
• Paint nails in fall colors
• Host a murder mystery party
• Prepare a special Halloween dinner (with fun spooky food!)
• Make a gratitude tree
• Keep a gratitude journal
• Make homemade chili
• Try a new soup!
• Do a turkey craft
• Do a leaf craft
• Make pumpkin cookies
• Make pumpkin bread
• Make homemade apple cider
• Make a unique pumpkin dessert like pumpkin sheet cake, mousse, or truffles
• Make at least 3 different pies
• Toast pumpkin seeds
• Go stargazing
• Have a campfire and make s’mores!
• Watch a Halloween movie (It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown; Hocus Pocus; Casper; Coco; etc).

Sometimes it’s easier said than done to actually check things off your bucket list, but if you schedule things early and make sure to slow down a little, you can definitely get more done. And it’s ok if you don’t check off every single item on your bucket list; the point of a bucket list is to give you direction, and to get all the brainstorming out of the way, because that’s often the biggest hurdle to cross when planning family activities! With a bucket list, I promise you’ll get much more done than you would have otherwise!

I’d love to hear what’s on your family’s fall bucket list this year! Share your ideas with us below!