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Fall Family Staycation Ideas

When you have some time off from work to use but can’t get away due to travel restrictions this fall, create a staycation at home the whole family can enjoy. From quiet spa time to fun family activities and tasty treats, a fall staycation is a great way to unwind and celebrate the season!

Make a Relaxing Home Spa

Create a relaxing oasis in the comforts of your own home with scented candles, home-made  sugar scrubs, spiced drinks, lotions and masks. Find some time when you can immerse yourself in Autumnal bliss by sending the kids outside to play or off hiking with dad while you enjoy your alone time. 

Slip into a comfy robe and enjoy some herbal tea, a pumpkin spice latte or some warm apple cider as you start to unwind. Set out some fall-scented candles (apple, pumpkin, gingerbread or cinnamon) all around your relaxation space. Pop in some soft, soothing music or an audio book while you prepare a warm bath.

Next to the tub, lay out all your spa beauty treatments where you can easily reach them. Some to include: a moisturizing face mask, sugar or salt scrub, and hair treatments.

Fill the bath water with your favorite scented oils, bath salts or a chamomile milk bath you can make yourself.

After you emerge from your relaxing scented soak, hydrate your skin with a fall-scented lotion like gingerbread or cinnamon. Complete your fall-themed spa treatment with a manicure and pedicure in seasonal shades or orange, red, yellow or brown.

For your next home spa, try this Chamomile Milk Bath recipe.

Fall Family Activities
Apple & Pumpkin Picking

For many families this is an annual event, but if you haven’t done this yet, a staycation is the perfect opportunity! Our Large Utility Totes are perfect for gathering apples, gourds, calico corn and smaller pumpkins. If your kids are very little, they can still enjoy collecting apples and mini-pumpkins using a Tiny Utility Tote or Littles Carry-AllTM Caddy.

Once you’ve brought your fall harvest home, enjoy some family time creating delicious baked dishes like apple cobbler, apple-cinnamon muffins or cinnamon apple pancakes.

Here’s a wonderful Cinnamon Apple Pancake recipe.

 

Decorating pumpkins doesn’t have to include knives and gooey messes. You and your family can enjoy a super-creative night of pumpkin decorating using some fun crafting techniques that don’t require knives or scooping out pumpkin guts.

Owl Pumpkin Craft Instructions
  • Pumpkins with stems
  • White, brown, black and yellow felt (plus any other colors you want)
  • Yellow pipe cleaners
  • Permanent craft glue
  • Scissors
  • Tape
  1. Cut out various sized circles of white, black and brown felt pieces to create the eyes.
  2. Cut out a triangle shape from the yellow felt for the beak.
  3. Glue all the pieces to the pumpkin.
  4. Use yellow pipe cleaners to create the feet. Glue and tape to the bottom front of the pumpkin.
Backyard Fun & Games

A little family-friendly competition is a fun way to spend an afternoon outdoors, especially when you’re confined to the yard or a local park. All you need are a few of our utility totes and some other things from around the house.

Bean Bag Toss

This is a fun team or individual challenge you can play almost anywhere.

What you’ll need:

  1. Line the totes up in the yard single file with about 10 feet of space between them.
  2. Each of the totes will have a different point value (10, 25, 50, 100). The closest tote will be worth 10 points and the furthest worth 100.
  3. Divide into 2 teams or play as individuals. Each team or person gets 4 bean bags to throw into the totes. The player or team earns points for every bean bag made into the tote.
  4. Tally the points each round. The first team to 1,000 points wins!
Frisbee Golf

This is an easy-to-play family game you can set up any way you like.

  1. Set up several Large Utility Totes, Deluxe Utility Totes, and/or Stand Tall Bins around the yard.
  2. Give each player a frisbee and designate one of the totes as “Hole #1”.
  3. Players take turns throwing their frisbees toward the tote, trying to get them inside. For example, Player 1 throws, then Player 2 throws, and so on… just like golf!
  4. Count the number of throws it takes each player to get their frisbee in the designated tote and keep score.
  5. Play as many “holes” or rounds as you want. The player with the lowest total score wins!
Backyard Movie Nights

A cool, crisp fall night is the perfect time to do a family movie night outside. After all, there are no mosquitos to contend with, and warm treats like cocoa, hot apple cider, popcorn and s’mores only add to the fun! So, set up a comfortable space, start a fire and enjoy an evening of Halloween-themed movie faves.

What you’ll need:

  • A projector (if you don’t own one, you can rent one for the weekend from a local provider)
  • A video streaming device you can connect to the projector
  • A smooth wall surface, a white sheet or wrapping paper with a white back side
  • Blankets
  • Snacks

Obviously, you can have a movie night indoors without all the set-up, but outdoor movies under the stars with a fire and blankets is a fun experience for kids. Make sure that whatever surface you decide to project your movie onto, it is as smooth as possible. Some garage or house walls work well for this, but a smooth bed sheet or the back side of wrapping paper works well too!

Have some festive Halloween lights or jack-o-lanterns? Set those up around your movie-viewing space to create a spookier atmosphere.

Build a Blanket Fort

Too cold or rainy outside for movie night? Create a fun space to watch movies indoors by building a fort with blankets, cushions and pillows. There are no hard and fast rules to building your fort, but you may want to secure the blankets in place with clothespins.

  1. Collect all the blankets, pillows and cushions you can spare for your fort in a Large Utility Tote or Deluxe Utility Tote.
  2. Drape the blankets over chairs, couches, ottomans, the totes…whatever to create a cave-like space.
  3. Put the cushions and pillows inside on the floor and around the perimeter of the fort.
  4. Add a string of lights inside the fort for a festive flair. Have orange Halloween lights? Even better!
  5. Serve up some snacks in a Tiny Utility Tote (see recipe below) and turn out the lights (except for the string in the fort).
  6. Let the movie night begin!

If you’re looking for a movie night snack, try this Fall Snack Mix Recipe.

Wait! There's so much more!

Looking for even more great ideas for your staycation? Be sure to check out all of our blogs under the Trending Now tab for tons of great crafting projects, home organization tips and gift ideas! You can start with the two blog links below.