13 Days of Halloween DAY 10--Family Fun

10/22/2018 07:37

Fall is the best.

Our favorite time of year to get out and do family activities is fall. None of us like the summer heat, so when fall rolls around, we're all in better moods and ready to get out and enjoy the great outdoors.

Every year it seems there are more and more Halloween and fall-themed activities to do in my area. Wish we could hit them all, but our September and October weekends lately have been taken up by marching band contests. Another great fall activity, but sadly lacking in giant bins of corn in which to lose oneself.

Probably the most quintessential Halloween activity is going to haunted houses. I wasn't much into it as a kid (I was kind of a scaredy cat), but as an adult, I rather enjoy them. Everyone needs a good scare now and again to feel alive. My area has a great selection of them, from ones out in scary woods to one in the actual old catacombs underneath the court house. That was the spookiest by far, for the venue only.

On the other end of the spectrum, my little girl (who's not so little now) and I used to love to have Halloween-themed tea parties. And our favorite snack to make was Chocolate Cookie Spiders (recipe below).

Chocolate Cookie Spiders

1 box chocolate cake mix

1 stick butter, melted

2 eggs

1 tub chocolate frosting

Chocolate-flavored Twizzlers

M&Ms

Stir cake mix, butter, and eggs together to form a dough. Bake cookies for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Cut the twizzlers so you have enough to make enough legs for the number of cookies you have. We usually make 6-legged spiders due to not having enough Twizzlers after sampling a few. Slather cookie bottoms with frosting, add legs, and top with another cookie to make a sandwich. Affix M&M eyes with frosting. (If you need the eyes to be sturdier in place, you can affix them with melted chocolate instead.)

And fall just wouldn't be fall without a trip to the pumpkin patch (a sincere one, of course). We have some fantastic farms in our area, and we definitely have our favorites--the ones that have a pumpkin smashing party on the last day of the season!

In fact, we had so much fun smashing pumpkins, we made it a yearly activity at home as well. When I'm finished with my outdoor decorations, we take them out in the woods and smash them to bits. Even the big kids get in on the fun.