Fall is my favorite time of the year. I love the smells, wearing hoodies, picking pumpkins, decorating and all the baking! Our family goes on many day trips – to places like the pumpkin patch, the apple orchard, corn maze and the fair. I feel the season is too short- I never seem to get everything in! Out of all the things we do, our annual Pumpkin Patch/Corn Maze day is our family’s favorite. Here are some tips and ideas for making your trip to a local pumpkin patch a successes.
The first thing our family does is coordinate days. We try to make this a family affair with the kids’ aunts and uncle – and their cousins! It is a great opportunity to take some pictures (that will look great in Christmas cards!) so coordinating a time is a plus. Make sure you check with your local pumpkin patch to be sure of how long they are open, and what their rates are.
I always dress the kids in jeans – because pumpkin patches can be dirty- and sometimes there can be vines and such that can get at their ankles. We usually go in the afternoon – after letting everyone get a good lunch and rest. I have learned that we do better when we are fed and well rested.
You will probably want to pack a small cooler with water and a snack. I usually try to find some fun, festive looking cookies to bake before we go – so we can have a snack when we get done. The pumpkin patch we go to has food and drink – but it is often expensive. My kids know that we have the snack in the car- so we usually only have to buy a drink when we are inside.
As I said, the pumpkin patch we go to has lots of fun things for the kids to do. Corn hole, multiple corn mazes, a hay ride, Sunflower garden – it really is a whole afternoon full of things to do. We let the kids do all of these things FIRST. The reason is – we try to make the pumpkin patch the last thing we do. The first reason is we get BIG pumpkins- and we don’t want to lug them around! The other reason is, we try to make it educational. We go into the pumpkin patch with a hunt for pumpkins – we all try to find the biggest pumpkin, the smallest pumpkin, the tallest pumpkin, a bumpy pumpkin, – all different kinds. The kids mark them off on their scavenger lists. After they have completed those – then we set off as a family looking for the right pumpkins for our home for decorating. We also let each child pick a small pumpkin. Since our patch also has the sunflower garden- we usually pick a few of those too.
Then, we head home. We cut open the pumpkins and pull out all the seeds. We then bake them in the oven. Here is a recipe we use for pumpkin seeds! They are a yummy treat – and we love eating them. Next, we decorate pumpkins. The adults like to carve them – and the kids like to use paint, stickers and glitter to decorate the small ones.
We love our pumpkin patch day – it is probably one of our kids favorite days all year. It is something fun that we can do as a family.
Chime in – what is one of your favorite things to do in the fall?
You can find more fall family fun inspiration from the Fall Family Favorites Series here.
Mandy is passionate about two things: The Word of God and the Souls of Men (and Ladies!). She is a married to her best friend, and gets the privilege to love on their three blessings (who lost their biological momma leaving her husband widowed).She loves that the Lord has let her life be an example of delighting in Him and watching Him mold her life to make her desires match His. She spent 9 years in an early childhood classroom, and 4 years in an “in house” seminary program at her home church.She loves to bring God glory through her roles as Christ-follower, Wife and Mother (in that order!) She enjoys women’s ministry, cooking, crafting, and traveling the world. Her greatest desires are to have her marriage bring God ultimate glory, see her children walk in truth, to lead others to the feet of Jesus, and to lead women into deeper and intimate relationship with their Savior through study of the Word of God.
Mandy blogs personally at Women of Worship .
