🎃 October Is Here! 31 Tiny Ways to Make This Month Feel Magical With Your Kids

There is something about October that makes us feel like we should be doing ALL THE THINGS.

Pumpkin patches! Fall festivals! Apple picking! Matching pajamas! Elaborate crafts! Perfect porch decorations! Family photos where everyone is somehow looking at the camera at the exact same time!

And before we know it, we're spending more time trying to create the magical childhood than actually enjoying it.

So this October, I'm proposing something different.

Let's make the little things the big things. 🍂

Because your kids probably won't remember whether your front porch looked Pinterest-perfect.

They might remember the night you turned off all the lights and ate dinner by candlelight.

They might remember driving around with the windows cracked while everyone screamed the lyrics to a Halloween song.

They might remember that ridiculous pumpkin with the giant crooked stem that you absolutely had to bring home.

Those tiny moments?

That's where the good stuff lives. 💗

So here are 31 ridiculously doable ways to sprinkle a little extra magic into October. Pick five. Pick ten. Try all 31. There are no rules here.

🍂 1. Take a Flashlight Walk

Wait until it's dark, grab flashlights and walk around the neighborhood. Everything feels approximately 73% more exciting after dark.

🎶 2. Play Halloween Music During Dinner

Create a Halloween playlist and let the kids DJ. Monster Mash before mashed potatoes? Obviously.

🎃 3. Find the Weirdest Pumpkin

Forget perfect. Look for the bumpiest, crookedest, strangest pumpkin you can find and declare it the family champion.

🍎 4. Have an After-School Cider Date

Warm apple cider + cinnamon + 15 minutes together at the kitchen table.

That's it.

Sometimes that's enough.

🍁 5. Go on a Leaf Hunt

Everyone searches for the biggest, smallest, brightest, strangest and most perfectly crunchy leaf.

Bonus points for a leaf bigger than someone's head.

🍿 6. Let the Kids Pick the Halloween Movie

No negotiations from the grown-ups. They choose the movie.

You provide popcorn.

🕯️ 7. Eat Dinner by Candlelight

Turn off the overhead lights and use battery candles or regular candles with appropriate supervision.

Mac and cheese suddenly becomes fine dining.

👻 8. Tell Spooky Stories in the Car

They don't actually have to be scary.

In fact, the sillier the better.

"It was a dark and stormy night...when suddenly...THE WIFI STOPPED WORKING."

Terrifying.

🎨 9. Decorate ONE Thing

Not the entire house.

Decorate the front door. One window. The mailbox. The refrigerator.

October magic does not require a storage unit full of decorations.

🍩 10. Have a Donut Morning

Pick up pumpkin, apple cider or regular donuts before school one morning.

Don't announce it ahead of time.

Surprise donuts are scientifically more delicious.*

*Science conducted by me.

🎃 11. Name Your Pumpkins

Before carving them, every pumpkin gets a name and ridiculous backstory.

Sir Pumpkington III deserves respect.

🍂 12. Make a Leaf Pile

Then jump in it.

Yes, you too.

☕ 13. Make a DIY Hot Chocolate Bar

Hot chocolate + whatever you already have: marshmallows, sprinkles, whipped cream, cinnamon or chocolate chips.

Fancy cups optional.

🚗 14. Take the Long Way Home

Find a road with beautiful fall colors, turn up the music and take an extra ten minutes getting home.

No destination required.

🧡 15. Start an October Jar

Every family member writes down something funny, happy or memorable that happened during October.

Read them all on Halloween night.

📚 16. Read a Halloween Book Before Bed

Yes, even bigger kids.

Older kids can pick something spooky, funny or mysterious.

Reading together doesn't have an expiration date.

🎃 17. Have a Pumpkin Carving Contest With Ridiculous Categories

Forget "best pumpkin."

Try:

Most Confused Pumpkin

Pumpkin Most Likely to Be Arrested

Best Hair

Looks Most Like Dad

Everyone wins something.

🥞 18. Make Pumpkin-Shaped Pancakes

They do NOT need to actually resemble pumpkins.

If it's vaguely round and you tell everyone it's a pumpkin, congratulations.

You nailed it.

🍁 19. Collect Leaves for Someone Who Doesn't Get Out Much

Gather a few beautiful fall leaves and bring them to a grandparent, neighbor or someone who could use a little October sunshine.

Tiny kindnesses count too. 💗

📸 20. Take One Completely Unposed Fall Photo

No matching outfits.

No "EVERYONE LOOK AT ME!"

Just capture them being themselves.

Those often become the photos we treasure most.

🎶 21. Have a Kitchen Dance Party

Three songs.

That's all.

Move the chairs, crank up the music and embarrass your children appropriately.

It's part of the parenting contract.

🌙 22. Look at the Moon Together

Step outside before bed.

Look up.

Stay for five minutes.

Sometimes childhood magic is literally free.

👻 23. Boo a Neighbor

Leave a tiny Halloween surprise at someone's door with a cheerful note.

It doesn't need to be elaborate. Stickers, candy or even a handwritten picture works.

🍎 24. Make Something That Smells Like Fall

Bake apples.

Make cinnamon toast.

Warm cider.

Bake cookies.

Or simmer cinnamon sticks on the stove.

Your house will instantly understand the assignment.

🎃 25. Let Everyone Choose ONE October Must-Do

Each family member picks one thing they'd really like to do before the month ends.

Now you've got your family's actual bucket list instead of trying to complete everyone else's.

🔦 26. Play Flashlight Hide-and-Seek

Turn off the lights.

One flashlight.

Chaos.

You're welcome.

🍂 27. Take a Crunchy-Leaf Walk

The mission is simple:

Step on every crunchy leaf possible.

This activity is especially satisfying for adults who have been pretending they're too mature to do this.

🧁 28. Decorate Store-Bought Cookies

Buy the cookies.

Buy the frosting.

Hand everything to the kids.

There is absolutely no prize for making everything from scratch.

🎃 29. Have a Halloween Pajama Night

Everyone gets into pajamas early, piles onto the couch and watches something together.

Phones down if you can.

Snacks strongly encouraged.

💌 30. Leave a Little October Note

Slip a note into a lunchbox, backpack or bathroom mirror:

"I love doing life with you."

"You make our family more fun."

"I hope something great happens today."

Big kids need these too.

Actually, sometimes they need them most.

🧡 31. Let Something Go

This might be the most important one.

Skip an event.

Buy the costume instead of making it.

Say no to the thing everyone else seems to be doing.

Order pizza.

Leave the pumpkins uncarved.

October doesn't have to be packed to be magical.

🐝 Here's Your October Reminder

Your children do not need you to manufacture a picture-perfect childhood.

They need you.

The laughing-in-the-car you.

The "sure, let's have hot chocolate" you.

The sitting-on-the-porch-under-a-blanket you.

The parent who occasionally says, "Forget the schedule. Let's go do something fun."

Some of the memories your kids carry into adulthood will come from big adventures.

But a whole lot of them will come from ordinary Tuesdays when someone decided to make things just a tiny bit special.

So this October, don't worry about doing all 31.

Choose the ones that make your family smile.

Skip the ones that don't.

Add your own.

And go Find Your Family Buzz. 🐝💗

What tiny October tradition does YOUR family look forward to every year? Share it with The Buzzy B! You might just give another family their new favorite tradition.

🍂 Looking for even more family fun? Check The Buzzy B's event calendar and Fall Fun Guide for pumpkin patches, festivals, Halloween events, trunk-or-treats and plenty more happening around our Colorado communities.