Hello! I want to share with you some of the things we’ve been doing around here this fall. We try as much as we can to live lightly, so these ideas are ways to celebrate while caring for the planet and saving money.
I know most of you are probably already onto listening to Christmas music by now, but I thought I’d leave this here anyway since there is officially another month of fall. I thought it also might be nice to look back on in autumns to come.
Decorations
I think the best decorations are those found in nature. This year we collected fall leaves and preserved them in beeswax. It’s as simple as heating up the beeswax and dipping the leaves. Other natural decorations we’ve used are pumpkins, gourds, squash, acorns, and seasonal flowers like mums, dahlias, or sunflowers. We also used branches from trees in our back yard to make a witch’s broom.
Another way to decorate consciously is to use what you have around the house already. This year we used butcher’s twine that we’ve had in a cupboard for years to make a spider web on our porch. While we’ve pared down our holiday specific decorations quite a bit, we have a few decorations from the past that we continue to use, like a glass pumpkin and a few stuffed velvety pumpkins. Thrift stores and Facebook Marketplace are great places to look for holiday decorations as well!
I think candles bring such a cozy feel in fall and winter. I got to get out the brass candle holders that I had found at a garage sale this summer. I spread them out on the mantle with beeswax tapers and a few other odds and ends. Those candles bring me so much joy and add a festive air to our home.
Wool crafts are a beautiful fall decoration as well. Many years ago, my mom and my dear Aunt Kalany made me two felted acorn garlands made with real acorn caps, wet felted balls, and twine. I absolutely love bringing them out every year. I made little felted pumpkins for my sister-in-law’s baby shower last year. I got to keep one and I brought it out this year but I need to make more!
Activities with Children
Any of the above decorations can be done with children. My kids loved helping with the spider web, leaf dipping, and making the broom.
One of my favorite activities that we have done this fall has been going on walks and bringing along a big thermos of hot cocoa. With a two, four, and six-year-old, it can be hard to get everyone out the door to play outside, especially in cold weather. Knowing we have a little treat tucked away that we can stop and enjoy on our walk helps to get us all going. I recently bought a set of stainless steel cups to use for both our hot cocoa walks and camping in the summer. Or anything really! I love that they are durable and that they are not plastic.
My kids love when I get out the rake and make a giant leaf pile. What kid doesn’t really?! It doesn’t take much prep, we just have to bundle up and go out to the back yard, and I get a bit of a workout while doing it.
Pumpkin carving is one of the most classic fall family activities. To go alongside our big jack-o-lanterns, we made little fairy houses out of mini pumpkins.
Halloween
I’ve never been all that into Halloween myself, but it is an important one for kiddos, so we do celebrate it.
For costumes, we try to use what we have or put something together ourselves with thrifted or borrowed pieces. My parents often give my kids costumes for their birthdays, so we have lots of dress up accessories. This year we went with what we had already and everyone was happy!
Since we couldn’t go trick-or-treating this year, my kids went from front door to back door of my parents’ house again and again. My mom and dad and brother and husband took turns answering the door, each time with a different hat or accessory on. One time my dad answered the door with a bowl of brussels sprouts. The kids still haven’t stopped talking about that one. They thought it was hilarious.
My mom made a beanbag toss with a cardboard box and pumpkin beanbags she’d made many years ago when I was a child. She also printed out a Halloween Bingo game.
While it was definitely different from years past, no one seemed to miss the more conventional Halloween activities at all.
Getting eco-friendly or organic candy can be expensive, but since it was just a small group that we had to buy for, I decided to go ahead and buy a few more natural options. We bought a few boxes of Alter Eco chocolates, which are organic, fair trade, and have compostable wrappers! While perhaps a little less eco-friendly, we also bought Yum Earth Organic Pops and Justin’s peanut butter cups. While those both have packaging that goes to the landfill, they are both Earth-conscious companies that have ethical practices.
Well I hope you’ve come across something you might like to try. Have a lovely end to your autumn. Stay cozy!
