31 Fun Ideas for October (Almost all of them are free!)

October is finally here, and for most of the country, that means we’re finally starting to feel fall weather. Some of us even have to wear sweaters! We’re all about being intentional, and we know that sometimes ideas and activities for creating memories for and with our families take a little bit of thought and effort.

We’ve put together an amazing list of memory-making ideas for you this month so you don’t have to! All you have to do is choose one (or ten!) from the list and concentrate on making those memories. Have fun! Remember every MOMent counts!

Have other ideas that you’d like to add to the list? Leave us a comment below with your favorite outdoor fall family activity!

1. Celebrate National Dessert Month, National Apple Month, and National Pizza month on Sweetest Day (October 16) by making a Taffy Apple Pizza .

2. Take a nature walk with your family and collect colorful leaves, acorns and twigs. Fill a wooden bowl or basket with your fall treasures, small gourds, or mini pumpkins, and sprinkle in a little fall-scented potpourri.

3. Invite a widow or older single neighbor or friend to join you on a trip to the pumpkin patch or orchard. Take lots of pictures of your little pumpkins enjoying the produce!

4. Take a snapshot for your family Christmas card and develop early to beat the holiday rush and get early bird specials.

5. Design a photo calendar for you or grandparents for Christmas gifts. Websites such as Vistaprint and many others have fun backgrounds and are easy to upload and design.

6. Serve Hot Spiced Cider with your popcorn on your family movie night or after raking leaves.

7. Honor your mother-in-law with a letter thanking her for the gift of her son and give it to her on October 24, National Mother-In-Law Day. Put aside any differences you may have and focus on her positive attributes: an attentive grandmother, that great pumpkin pie she makes, her loyalty to her family.

8. Raise awareness for the fatherless by planning an Orphan Sunday event for November 4th at your church, with your small group, or your family. Visit the Pure Religion Project website for ideas and resources on how you can speak up for the fatherless.

9. Celebrate the Statue of Liberty’s birthday on October 28 with fun Lady Liberty cupcakes.

10. Take a leisurely scenic drive. Visit America’s Byways for a map of different routes, festivals, and travel tips near you.

11. Plan a weekend away in a remote cabin with your husband to unwind and enjoy nature. Make sure your cabin has a fireplace, and don’t forget the hot chocolate!

12. Give your kids a stack of fall leaves and encourage them to design a picture around the leaves. Does that leaf look like a bird wing? Or the feet of a deep sea monster?

13. Tailgate in your driveway or living room. Make the great tailgating food, but avoid fighting the crowd with young kids.

14. Pull out your slow cooker and try some new recipes like Slow Cooker Taco Soup or Slow Cooker Tapioca Pudding.

15. Wrap a glass vase with twine, using spray adhesive or a hot glue gun to secure. Fill the vase with tall wild grasses or twigs with colorful leaves still attached.

16. Tie twine or cotton string to the end of several fall leaves and hang at varying lengths across a window by taping the other end of the string to the top of the window trim or tying to the curtain rod.

17. Introduce your family to the seasonal joy of pumpkin ice cream! Visit your local ice cream vendor, buy Edy’s at the grocery store for a limited time, or make your own!

18. After the nature walk to collect leaves, make crayon rubbings by placing the leaves under the paper and scribbling back and forth with crayons until the imprint of the leaf is revealed. The kids will think it’s magic!!

19. Put leaves and crayon shavings in between a folded piece of wax paper and iron on low heat; it makes a “stained glass” effect.

20. Rake the leaves together as a family and enjoy jumping in them together. Take pictures and video.

21. Find a favorite spot where the colors of fall are beautiful, create a tradition, and go there each year to take photos of your kids and family. Before we moved, we had a special “stump” that we went to each year.

22. Make Dinner in a Pumpkin.

23. Bake pumpkin seeds with lots of butter, salt, and a little garlic salt at 200 degrees. Keep an eye on them for how long it will take to brown slightly.

24. Bake apples.

25. Make individual pumpkin pie in a cup with your kiddos.

26. Make cards of encouragement with your kids and deliver them to someone with breast cancer.

27. Get a mammogram.

28. Visit a Fall festival. It’s not complete without a hay ride and candy apples!

29. Offer an old sheet (and I mean one you would otherwise throw away) to your kids to make a teepee with sticks they find.

30. If you like parties, plan a fall gathering at your place, complete with hay bales, bonfire, potluck dinner, three-leg racing and egg toss for kids, and music.

31. Sew/buy some costumes. Even if your family doesn’t celebrate Halloween, kids love any type of costume. Indians, pilgrims, Southern belles, super heroes, animated movie characters, princesses–anything you can come up with! (Here are some fun role-playing ideas to use the costumes for!)

We’re praying that you and your family have the best month together!

Want to get started on your plans for next month? Check out 30 Family Things to Do In November right here!