16 Meaningful Ways to Connect with Family this Fall

Fall is here, and this cozy and colorful season brings some unique opportunities to connect with family. We settle into new routines with cooler weather, shorter days, and longer nights that draw us inside earlier to gather together. The leaves begin to fall, we swap sundresses and shorts for sweaters and boots, and kiddos and teachers head back to school. We look towards our upcoming holiday celebrations and make plans to pause with those near and dearest to our hearts.

The best part about fall is that there are so many meaningful and affordable ways you can connect with family. While there are so many activities you can embrace, this post focuses on activities that offer shared experiences and invite conversations to deepen your relationships while prioritizing your health and well being. So, without further ado, here are 16 meaningful ways to connect with family this fall.

1. Go Apple Picking

This is a great way to get outdoors and enjoy nature together. Even better, you walk away with a healthy, sweet treat to enjoy. September is a popular month for apple picking, but the season runs from July to November. Honeycrisp apples are my personal favorite- they’re juicy and sweet and perfect for making apple cider and apple butter. Find an orchards near you to plan your apple picking adventure. Bonus points if you can find an organic orchard to reduce your exposure to toxins through pesticides (learn more about living a low toxin life). Unfortunately, apples are high on the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) Dirty Dozen list of the produce with high pesticide concentrations. If you’re in Washington state, however, you may just be in luck, because the large majority of organic apples are grown there.

2. Make Apple Cider

After apple picking, put those apples to use by making delicious apple cider. It’s relatively simple if you have a slow cooker, and it tastes delicious without any added sugar (seriously, even my friends and family who eat the standard American diet have enjoyed many cups over the years without needed to add a drop of sweetener). .

3. Visit the Pumpkin Patch

Picking out pumpkins from the pumpkin patch is a time-honored fall tradition, and one that you can enjoy with family members of any age. These days, there are so many different variations of pumpkins that you can find something of interest for nearly everyone.

4. Create a Festive Fall Entrance for Your Home

Once you get the pumpkins home, you’ve got some options for how you use them. You can decorate the outside your home for a festive fall scene, carve them like my artsy husband, or decorate them with paint or vinyl decals (which I did one year thanks to the use of my Cricut). You can add in mums, hay, cornstalks, lanterns, and festive fall wreaths to further the ambiance.

5. Play in the Leaves

If you have a yard with trees, you’ll most likely need to spend some time outside raking the leaves and disposing of them, which certainly isn’t the most enjoyable chore. It can be more fun when you add some play to the activity, so, give yourself permission to go play in the leaves. Whether you jump into a big pile or make a leaf maze throughout your yard, playing in the leaves can be fun at any age. Play is essential for healthy development in children because it allows them to problem solve, explore the world, and build relationships with others. Research shows that play is just as important for adults for the same reasons, plus it reduces stress. And stress is one of the factors to address when seeking to live a low toxin life.

6. Take a Scenic Drive

Pile in the car to see all the beauty mother nature has to offer for the season on a scenic fall drive. My favorite place to visit for a scenic drive is Shenandoah National Park if you live in the mid-Atlantic area. If not, here is a list from Travel and Leisure of 14 stunning fall drives around the United States. Even if you just drive around your neighborhood or town with a focus on the foliage, you should be audience to a captivating show of vibrancy.

7. Enjoy Healthy Fall Sweets

There certainly is a lot of processed sugar to go around this time of year, but there are many healthy ways to satisfy a hankering for something sweet without reaching for Halloween candy. In addition to making apple cider, you can use some of the apples from apple picking to make apple butter. If you have a crock pot, this task is also rather simple and wonderfully delectable. Here’s my favorite real food apple butter recipe with no added sugar.

My other favorite fall sweet with no added sugar is banana pumpkin cookies. With just an organic banana, some organic canned pumpkin from BPA-free cans and a little bit of gluten-free flour, you can enjoy these delicious cookies in under 60 minutes.

8. Decorate the Inside of Your Home

When I think of fall decor, I think of cozy textures, the warm hue of burning candles, and lots of pumpkins. Fall decor can complement almost any style of home decor, and you’ve got lots of options regardless if you choose to stick with calming neutrals or embrace the vibrant colors of the season.

9. Enjoy Seasonal Foods

The magic of modern grocery stores means we can eat pretty much any produce at any time of the year, but there’s something special about eating what’s been harvested currently, especially when it comes to fall/winter squashes. We’ve got butternut squash, acorn squash, and spaghetti squash to name a few. Here’s a more comprehensive list of fall squashes. I wasn’t able to find a list that includes my favorite fall squash, however, which is honeynut squash. Honeynuts are like miniature butternuts, and my favorite way to enjoy them is stuffed. I scale this recipe for stuffed butternut squash from Paleo Running Momma to fit the honeynuts. Whatever kind of fall foods catch your attention, let inspiration find you and try some new flavors.

PS- If you need even more uses for apples, try this roasted butternut and apple hash recipe, also from Paleo Running Momma. It’s one of my favorite sides to serve at fall brunch.

10. Take a Walk in Nature

Taking a walk with someone you love during fall is a simple way to enjoy the natural beauty of the season. Walking together allows for conversation, and the indirectness of being side by side together can allow for deeper conversation about uncomfortable or heavy topics. The mystical formula of moving the body, being together without having to make frequent eye contact, and being in nature can pave the way for meaningful heart to hearts that bring you closer together, regardless of age.

The act of being in nature is soothing and restorative in and of itself. It sends signals of safety to our nervous system that help to reduce stress and increase focus. It can reduce blood pressure and heart rate, as well as the likelihood of type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Spending time in nature also makes us feel happier, so lace up your sneakers and get outside.

11. Go Stargazing

Another way to enjoy the outdoors together during fall is to go stargazing. While what you’ll see depends on where you live and when you go, as long as the weather is clear, you can enjoy seeing stars and planets together. If you have your own telescope, all you need is a clear night and some thermoses of hot apple cider.

If you don’t have a telescope, no worries! Living near a suburban or urban area, you may find that there are local stargazing events (Try Googling “stargazing near me”). If that doesn’t bring up any feasible options, you can still go stargazing with the help of Dean Regas‘ book, 100 Things to See in the Night Sky. This book guides you in identifying planets, constellations, and other wonders of the night sky with only your eyes and fingers. Here’s a free preview of the book to check it out and it’s totally free if you have Kindle Unlimited.

12. Adopt a Gratitude Practice

Okay, okay, I know it sounds cliche, but let me share the research behind gratitude before you dismiss this one! We often talk about thankfulness around Thanksgiving, and that’s great, but one day of practicing gratitude is not very likely to have a significant impact on your life. It would be like doing one workout a year and expecting to be super muscular and fit. Incorporating a daily gratitude practice into your life, on the other hand, can make a difference.

Research shows that people who practice gratitude regularly tend to be happier. It makes me think of one of my favorite quotes:

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”

Wayne Dyer

Consistently practicing gratitude with others can improve our relationships, too. We tend to feel more connected to people who acknowledge their gratitude for us and the ways we show up in the world. One study noted that the effects of gratitude can be felt within a month and are even further noticeable within three months.

Gratitude goes beyond changing our hearts and minds. It also changes our bodies. Practicing gratitude can increase oxytocin, which is one of the feel good hormones. Oxytocin is connected to social bonding that is often discussed in terms of romantic relationships and parenting children. So, regardless of your family makeup, carve out just a few moments every to acknowledge a few things you’re grateful in life. It’s free and you’ve got nothing to lose!

13. Watch Fall Movies

I’m normally not a huge supporter of screen time, but movies can be meaningful when content and themes are talked about together. Movies can also serve as a relaxing way to engage in cuddling. Much like with practicing gratitude, oxytocin is released when we cuddle with people we love.

Here are three of my favorite family friendly fall-themed movies (try saying that three times fast!):

• Hocus Pocus: This can get a little spooky at times, admittedly, but the feel-good storyline about reconnecting family members makes it tolerable in my book.
• The Addams Family (2019): I love the attention to detail in this version of the movie, and the messaging that all families are different and that’s okay is heartwarming in a roundabout way.
• Coco: This movie focuses on Mexican culture and the Day of the Dead (November 1st). This movie highlights the cohesion within a family when each individual is accepted for their unique talents and interests.

The epitome of a fall night for me involves having the windows open to let in the cool air with a clean apple or pumpkin candle lit. On those nights, you can find me snuggled up with my family on the sofa watching a seasonal movie and sipping hot apple cider.

14. Unplug for a Weekend in Nature

If you have the resources to get away for a weekend and head into the mountains for some extraordinary leaf-peeping, that’s a great way to recharge and celebrate fall. If not, even a weekend of no or reduced screen time for the family where you focus on getting outdoors together can be a simple and cost effective way to connect and recharge.

Unplugging from technology has been shown to improve sleep and communication, release lingering emotions, and improve quality of life. It can also help to increase productivity by increasing focus. The less time we spend mindlessly scrolling on social media, the more time we have to engage with the people and world around us.

When it comes to our relationships, it’s the quality of the time we spend with other people that helps us to deepen our connection. Being able to put away devices helps us to be more present with each other and allows for open communication, expression of emotions, and curiosity, all of which can help us know and love the people in our lives at a deeper level.

15. Swap Wardrobes and Donate Clothing

When the temperatures start to dip, that means it’s time to pull out the cozy clothing: the sweaters, boots, scarves, mittens, and warm socks. While tucking away your warmer weather clothes for the year, it’s a great time to sort through items and donate the clothing you haven’t worn in awhile. This frees up more space in your closet and drawers and offers someone the opportunity to give used clothing a second life.

Goodwill is a well-known place to make donations, but I have some moral reservations about donating to Goodwill since I learned more about some of its business practices, like paying its executives high 6-figure salaries while workers with disabilities make far below minimum wage. There are plenty of other places to consider donating to instead.

16. Plan Holiday Menus

Planning menus for holiday meals with family and friends can be enjoyable and stressful. It can be especially stressful if you’ve got picky eaters, or if you’re trying to shift to more real food options after years of eating traditional meals. One thing that can help to reduce stress is to plan in advance, not only in terms of what the meal you’re going to enjoy together, but who is in charge of what to make the celebration happen.

Another helpful part of planning menus can be to keep favorite core dishes each year while rotating in a few new dishes to try. That cuts down on brain power to come up with something totally new every year, and it gives everyone something to anticipate. In my family, we all look forward to a dessert we call “ice skate cake,” named for the year I made the icing too thin and it looked like a layer of ice across the top of the cake when it hardened.

For some inspiration, I’ll be sharing my Thanksgiving menu and Christmas Day menu with links to each of the recipes I’ve used for years. I also plan out a preparation and cooking timeline for Thanksgiving and a timeline for Christmas so there’s no rushing to juggle multiple dishes at once.

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