Tomorrow we are leaving town for one of our favorite fall family traditions: camping!
It’s always a great (but exhausting) time to disconnect and reconnect at the same time. We’ve created some really fun fall family traditions mostly by accident, and they’ve just stuck with us. I’ll share a few with you today.
Decorate the house!
For real! I know football hasn’t even started, but the pumpkins are about to be harvested, so get your fake ones growing to queue your family up for fun fall family traditions you’ve got planned.
Or, if you’re like me, you can pck up a few cute little pie pumpkins and gourds at the grocery store and sprinkle them around the house for some fast and easy fall decorating.
Book your calendar ahead of time
Fall can get busy really quickly. If you are my neighbor down here in the South, you already know we don’t just hibernate in winter, but summer, too, because it’s just so stinkin’ hot. So, in the fall, we all come out to play and there is so much to do!
Pick your favorite pumpkin patch farm and put it on your calendar. Plan your trip to the zoo now that you won’t die out there in the heat. Pick that football game you want to see and plan that tailgate menu. Don’t forget the county fair and the rodeo. Then there’s the BBQ festival, Halloween and camping. See what I mean? Planning ahead helps us to make every moment of fall count.
Smell the comfort of harvest time
Don’t forget to fill your home with the comforting smells of the season. Lighting candles or diffusing oils really helps our family to savor the fall season and is one of our favorite fall family traditions. Smelling the smell of fall throughout the week reminds us that we’ve got a ton of amazing traditions coming up just around the corner. And those scents are so calming before the crazy of the holidays starts ramping up.
Some of my current favorite fall candle scents are Autumn Wreath and Harvest.
Plan the menu
We’ve got a few snacks that only come out for camping or special occasions. First, when we’re loading up for our camping trip, we’ve always got hot dogs and s’mores on the list. We eat hot dogs a few times of the year and this is a great excuse to eat them, even though I’ve heard all kinds of scary stories. (Don’t google it if you want to keep eating your hot dogs.) Those are easy meals for the first night when we’re still getting settled.
Don’t forget the snacks
Here is our absolute must-have snack sometime between September and November. It’s so easy, and it doesn’t sound like it would be awesome together, but it’s the perfect blend of sharp and sweet and just all around fall goodness.
Here it is:
Wheat thins + apple juice + pepper cheese
The cheese is the best part to experiment with. Our favorite is a chipotle cheddar, but pepper jack works great. And if you can’t handle the kick, a really sharp cheddar still rounds out the flavors of the pairing. And switching out the apple juice for real apples is a real treat, too. It’s just so yummy. We have had this snack every year for 10 years.
Don’t forget the drinks either!
When we lived in Florida, fall was the hardest season for us to be away from home. We missed the flavors and comforts of the season change, so we had to improvise. One of my favorite ways to feel all fall and cozy sitting next to the beach was to drink vanilla chai tea. It’s like a little cup of love.
Now that I’m all grown up, I have realized I can sweeten and add cream to my tea. What?! That whole concept rocked my world and now I thoroughly start enjoying my vanilla chai when September rolls around.
I haven’t gotten the family in on this fall tradition, but I’m okay with that. That just makes more for me. 😉
Set the fall mood with music
I don’t know about you, but there’s just something about the folksy earthy vibe from listening to bluegrass. We always listen some kind of bluegrass music on the way up to the mountains or on our way to the pumpkin patch. It’s an easy way to reconnect with simpler days when pumpkin pies didn’t come from a can, but from a field. One of our favorite bands is the Steep Canyon Rangers featuring Steve Martin. Bet you didn’t know he won a Grammy for playing banjo.
Savor your fall family traditions
We absolutely love fall and all the fun & comfort that comes with it. We enjoy fall every single day of the season. We talk about it often and have incorporated our favorite fall family traditions into our everyday life. Don’t forget to take some photos to savor all these moments you’re creating. Traditions are amazing, and worth the savoring.
And I hope you grab my secret snack and give it a try. It really is more delicious than it sounds. If you try it and you love it, let me know. 🙂