Autumn Advantages

It's FINALLY fall! Even though the weather may not realize that it's supposed to be chilly out, I'm going to start embracing fall now that it is October. To me autumn means crisp morning walks (or sitting on a porch swing if you hate exercise as much as I do), comfy sweaters, and cozy cardigans. It means an excess of pumpkin spice EVERYTHING, apple picking, hayrides, corn mazes, pumpkin patches, and crunchy leaf piles. Anticipate the start of cozy nights wrapped in a fluffy blanket sipping hot apple cider from an adorable fall mug. Autumn also means the reinstatement of loads of adorable fall decorations, DIYs, and desserts.  Even without those advantages, fall would be the best season as it has TWO holidays: Halloween and Thanksgiving.

  One of the most important steps to really usher in fall is to light autumnal candles. My current favorite fall candle is Spiced Citrus which is redolent with the scents of apple cider and a faint touch of cloves.

The obvious next step to prepping for an influx of fall everything is to decorate the house. That can be done with wreaths made of orange and red leaves, forest animal figurines, and garlands. One might also choose to add a few scarecrows to their yard arranged with several strategically placed hay bales and pumpkins. However, the best thing about decorating for fall is that there is  a wide assortment of seasonal items to demonstrate everyone's  individual style while maintaining an overarching theme of autumn. 

Since it gets dark outside early during the fall, families may find that they want something indoors to do with their kids. Occasionally spending a lazy evening working on some type of art project can be a good way to celebrate fall.  I chose to make a fall garland with my little brother. To make your own garland you can follow these easy steps:

1. Cut out variously sized shapes of your favorite fall themed item. I chose leaves, pumpkins, acorns, and squirrels(you can use free printable templates). 

2. Next, decorate them using markers, paints, glitter, stickers, or whatever decorative bits you have at home. I chose to paint mine with watercolors, but if I did it again I would probably change to acrylic paint as the pigmentation could have been better.

3. Thirdly, cut out the shapes and get them laminated for a longer period of use. 

4. After that, attach the shapes in whichever order you want on sturdy twine, thread, or ribbon. 

5. Finally, you can either hang the strings by themselves or attach them to a stick as I did.
This craft was perfect for us as it was something he loved doing, and I actually enjoyed making it too. 

         

        More craft ideas on my Fall Pinterest Board 

Of course, we must not forget that fall is better than any other season because of the many delicious recipes which mainly revolve around pumpkin stuff. I actually do not like pumpkin flavored anything, so during the fall I prefer to make apple flavored desserts such as these delicious Apple Crisp Stuffed Baked Apples from Life in the Lofthouse .

What are some of your favorite fall things to do with friends and family?