Ready for Autumn? The air is crisp in the mornings and at night, the summer’s bounty is about to be harvested, and it is a time to enjoy the season with your children and family. Here’s to a celebration of the traditional season of fall. If your child is having a party in September or October, this is an excellent theme.

This is a great party to do either at your home or at an outside venue, such as a local farm. So, take a look around and see if there are any local farms in your area that allow for parties. If you hold your party at such a location, the hayride and picking of apples and pumpkins will be great activities.

Invitations:
Cut out leaf shapes or autumn harvest shapes and place them on card stock and include all of the information on the inside of your card.

Decorations:
Orange, brown, and yellow are great colors for this theme. Purchase party and table ware in these colors. Alternatively, you can use leaf patterns.
Use mini pumpkins for your table centerpiece.
Tall cornhusks and bales of hay would add another decorative touch to the party.

Crafts: 

Paint/Decorate mini-pumpkins and have the kids can take these home. 

Make Scarecrow Candy Necklaces. Using straw, have the kids string round candies with holes in the center to make their necklaces.
Sponge paint placemats with leaf shapes.

Games/Activities: 

Bob for apples. 

Have a Pumpkin Roll Contest. Divide the kids into two teams and provide a pumpkin to each team. Have the kids roll it to one end and back and pass it along to the next person. 

Throw a Hula Hoop around a large pumpkin.
If you have bales of hay, have the kids jump over the bales of hay as an obstacle relay race.
String up donuts and tie the kids’ arms behind their backs. Have them eat the donuts off of the line without using their hands.
Hold a scavenger hunt outdoors. If at night, hand out glow sticks for the kids to search for the loot.
Fill a large cardboard box with leaves and place toys in the leaves. Have the kids put their hands inside the box and pick out a toy.
Play Hot Pumpkin, like Hot Potato. 


Menu:
BBQ is always good for this type of a party; spice it up with spare ribs. 

Chili is also an excellent option. Have all of the fixn’s so that people can enjoy topping it off. 

Serve corn bread muffins.
Make Rice Krispie Treats and add orange food coloring to them. Stick them on a Popsicle stick for a treat.
Serve Apple Cider. As an added treat, place caramels on fancy sticks and have the kids stir it into their apple cider for Hot Caramelized Apple Cider.
Make caramel apples.
Make sugar cookies cut out into autumn shapes. Have the kids decorate the cookies with frosting and candies.
Make a batch of cupcakes and ice them with orange frosting and little black, orange, and white sprinkles. The kids can always do the decorating.

Goody Bags:
Purchase little plastic pumpkins, which are so popular as trick or treat bags this time of year. Fill it with all things “fall” - caramel apple cider packets with a cinnamon stick, little themed notebooks, pencils, erasers, pumpkin candy, and candy corn packets.

Looking for a few new classic games to play at your kids’ parties beyond Musical Chairs and Pin the Tail on the Donkey?

Why not try …

Pass the Parcel 
items needed: gift wrap, small present, music
This game is hugely popular in the UK and Australia! Wrap your prize in as many layers of gift wrap as you have kids attending. Have the children pass the parcel around to one another while music plays. When the music stops, the child holding the parcel must unwrap one layer. The game continues until the last child unwraps the final layer and wins!

Candy Hunt 
items needed: candy, paper bags
Hide the candy around the party area and give each guest a paper bag. Give them five minutes to find as much candy as they can. The children can take these sweet bags home as the party favor.

Sock ‘Em 
items needed: socks, music, a prize
Make a huge pile of socks, perhaps ten times as many as the number of kids attending the party. Play music and have the guests try to put on as many socks as possible while it is on. When you turn the music off, whoever has the most socks on wins the prize!

Button, Button 
items needed: a button
Ask a birthday guest to leave the room, and hide a button in the party area. When the child returns, have him or her try to find the button. The other guests must direct the child by saying if he or she is hot or cold as compared to the location of the button. Once the button is found, another guest is chosen until all have had a turn.

Balloon Buds 
items needed: balloons, a prize
Pair up the kids into teams. Have the teams stand back to back with one another with a balloon wedged between them their backs. The kids must walk sideways with the balloon in place to a designated finish line. The team the crosses the finish line first wins! If a team drops the balloon they must begin again!

A good end of summer party idea is a camp out!

This theme works especially well with children between the ages of 8 and 12 and, of course, when it’s warm outside. Late August is a perfect way to end summer with a fun overnight slumber party.

Here are some fun campy activities to pass the time:

Enjoy a proper cookout, and end the evening with s’mores.

Have a water balloon fight.

Tell scary ghost stories before going to bed. Have the storyteller hold a flashlight.

Play flashlight tag.

Pitch tents together.

Use a telescope and gaze at the stars. Teach a fun astronomy lesson while you do this.

Make tie-dyed T-shirts – a great take home camp out party favor.

Blow bubbles and shine your flashlights on them. This produces cool effects everyone is sure to love.

Make luminary bags with your guests to light the path to their tents.

Take a long hike/walk through your neighborhood, or, even better, in a nearby wooded area or park.

Have a sing along around the campfire. Does anyone play guitar?

Provide bug jars and catch fireflies.

Favors for this party can include: flashlights, tie-dyed T-shirts, or little knapsacks filled with camping stuff (bug spray, glow-in-the-dark stickers, water guns, glow bracelets, little plastic animals that you would find in the woods, etc.). The ideas are endless.

As you can see, overnight camping parties are great fun. Kids love them, and you will too, given the variety of activities that can easily fill the night.

One cautionary note, and this is true of any sleepover: Make sure to get contact information from parents when they drop their kids off. Some kids are ready to spend the night away from home and others are not. In case someone wants to go home or gets sick, make sure to have the parents’ contact details on hand to make that important call.

Happy camping trails to you!