5 Frugal Fall Activities Our Family Enjoys Every Year

It’s THAT time of year again! I absolutely love fall and everything that goes along with it. If you’re a longtime reader, you have likely heard me boast about the season many times before. What can I say? I simply can’t help myself. This fall, my family is attempting to accomplish all the frugal fall activities we try to do every year when the air turns crisp and the brilliant colors explode before our very eyes. 

5 Frugal Fall Activities Our Family Loves

1. Hiking

Whether we go on a real hike through the woods or just a walk around our neighborhood, we love spending time together outside in the beautiful weather.

The woods offer seclusion and natural beauty all around. There’s really nothing quite like it. Oftentimes, though, we can’t make it to the woods to take a real hike. When this is the case, we settle for walking around our neighborhood, which has its own perks.

We don’t have to drive anywhere to walk around our neighborhood. We just lace up our sneakers and walk out the front door. When we walk around our neighborhood we’re also able to enjoy piles of leaves, fall decorations, and friendly chit chat.

Either way, hiking in the woods or walking the neighborhood affords us the privilege of getting some exercise while enjoying the season and not spending any money.

2. Movie Nights

Movie nights in our household are pretty much, um, free. Since Mr. MMM is a movie buff (he even works in the industry), he has hundreds of movies in the house that range from dramas to comedies to horror.

That means when the weather turns cool, we can choose to stay in, snuggle up, and enjoy any genre that strikes our fancy. But who am I kidding? We all know the kiddo rules the roost. Fall movie nights are typically paired with homemade pizza and PJs. Last week’s movie was The Blob. Seasonal and fun.

3. We Find A Praying Mantis

We love mantis’ around here. Each fall, my husband and daughter attempt to find a mantis ready to lay her eggs. After witnessing the event, they make sure the mom mantis is in a wonderful outdoor spot to enjoy the last few days or weeks of her life. Then, they ensure her eggs are kept safe all winter until they’re ready to hatch in the spring.

As a trained biologist, I love that my daughter is excited each fall to engage in this activity.

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4. Fall Festivals

Fall festivals are one of my all-time favorite ways to celebrate the season. No need to embark on a rigorous exercise like hiking. Fall festivals are more of a leisurely activity that people of all ages can enjoy.

The best part about these festivals, they’re free. Well, free unless you want to buy something. There are plenty of opportunities for you to part with your hard-earned cash but in my opinion, a little discipline and planning go a long way.

I had the pleasure of recently enjoying a fall festival with family and friends and only spent a small sum of money. I spent money on an apple cider donut – so worth every penny. I also spent money on lunch for my daughter and me and I purchased a cute little seasonal knick-knack. No, I didn’t need it. One never needs a knick-knack of any kind. Sometimes, though, you just have to allow yourself to spend some money without guilt.

5. Visit A Haunted Halloween Attraction

Like our inflatable spider? Here’s the link (affiliate link) if you want one of your own. Full disclosure: I bought our spider at our local home improvement store. It was less expensive than the link above and I was able to get 10% off for buying the store model. So you might want to check with your local home improvement store to compare prices. 

Nothing screams fall like a haunted Halloween attraction. Now, I know what you must be thinking. How the heck is that a frugal fall activity? Well, visiting a haunted Halloween attraction lands solidly in our frugal fall activity category because we don’t do any of the attractions. Yes, you read that right.

We don’t spend money on any of the attractions for several reasons. Our local attraction has been open for over 20 years which means we’ve done them all before and not enough changes from year to year to justify it. Two, it’s expensive. And, three, our daughter isn’t all that excited to do the attractions.

Attractions aside, we still enjoy the atmosphere, energy, bands, etc. Basically, we just like going to hang out like kids. We grab some pizza, funnel cake, and hot chocolate and walk around scoping out the ghouls, goblins, and teenagers. Let me tell you…tons of fun on a Friday night. Tons.

And there you have it, 5 frugal fall activities our family enjoys every year.

Do you have some frugal fall traditions?