Tips on Hosting a Fabulous Fall Festival
Hiya friends! This September we hosted Sunshine & Scarecrows, a fun little shindig we have decided will be an annual fall festival, and it truly turned out so well.
I am all about traditions when it comes to my son’s childhood, and I think this is a relatively simple one to start and I am just giddy thinking about him and his friends growing up knowing that fall = fall festival time!
Like I’m already brainstorming ideas for next year and I think you should be too, so I’m here to share the things that I think made our afternoon so perfect!
SNACKS SNACKS SNACKS! This fall festival was planned for toddlers, so mess-free snacks were an essential. We have friends with allergies so (with the exception of a tray of fresh cheese) we made the whole snack table dairy-free and vegetarian.
Pumpkin clementines topped with cucumber sticks - so festive!
Snow Cones - I found a clearance machine at Target for $20 and these dye-free syrups on Amazon
Pumpkin muffins - I was running low on time, so I mixed up a batch using Trader Joe’s mix and the kids and adults were all raving about them. I also found gluten-free pumpkin oreo cookies (Target brand) and they were delicious!
Homemade trail mix - a combination of Annie’s bunnies, cheerios and pretzels and so convenient for the kids to carry around
Apple Cider and Olipop Apple Crisp were sooo festive and yummy
ACTIVITIES! Dare I say these were the star of the show?!
Sack Race - I ordered a pumpkin trophy and had it customized to say “Sunshine & Scarecrows” literally three days before the party for the winner of the kids sack race to take home until next year
Apple Bobbing - this was for the dads and it was hysterical. It was VERY competitive and my husband came in second place…for that, I am very proud!
Pumpkin Decorating - to keep it mess-free, we had the kids use puff stickers and they had so much fun decorating mini pumpkins
Bouquet Bar - this was originally designed for the moms with fresh flowers from Trader Joe’s and vases from Dollar Tree, but the toddler girls were obsessed and picked out their own flowers and had Peyton put the bouquets together, it was precious!
Bounce House - we borrowed a big bounce house from our friends and decorated it with Halloween balloons
GOODIE BAGS! All treats, no tricks over here. I wanted to be sure the kids could take something home with them, but I was also intentional about making sure the infants also had a little something (not that they have any idea haha). I used my Cricut to customize the bags!
Halloween bear keychains, I took the keychain off though because I felt like it was a choking hazard!
Rubber ducks, I think these were just for the babies too
We now own way more scarecrows than I ever expected to in my lifetime, but I am so excited to watch this tradition grow!
