There are so many places I want to visit during this holiday season with my family! Starting with Halloween festivities and moving right along into winter festivities. I made a Fall + Winter Bucket List Printable. You can download it here. I also have my seasonal bucket list below. I live in LA so a lot of things are location based but not all. Let’s see the list!
OCTOBER:
Underwood Family Farms is a great place to get into the Halloween spirit. We like to visit year round but they really get into Halloween here. They have tons of pumpkins to choose from, a corn maze and there year round regular stuff like their petting zoo and you pick farm crops, tractor rides. It’s a great place for a toddler to run wild. I try to go during the week during this time because it seems to be their busiest time of year. I notice during the week it’s a little less crazy.
Carved at Descanso gardens. I have never been but would like to go. I just went at the end of September and they were already decorating for their Carved event. I saw giant critters made out of tree branches. A cute little house that looks like they were going to decorate it a little more. (It was bare when I saw it but still cute and Hue loved it!) Lots of hay trails and tons of jack-o-lanterns on wooden lanterns. I would love to go at night when everything is lit up. I went last week (the week before it officially opens) and a lot more was set-up. They had tons of carved pumpkins which will look so cool at night. The house was decorated with all the pumpkins. I really hope we get to go! I am a member and they had member-only advanced ticketing. My husband works a lot of weekends so its hard to pre-plan something like this. We are going to try to wing it last minute but it fills up pretty fast so it’s a gamble on our part to not get advanced ticketing.
Bob Baker Marionette Halloween Spooktacular. We came here the October before the pandemic and loved it. It feels like a magical step back in time while you are there. It’s lovely. If you come early enough you can sit on the floor and watch the show from there.
Haunt O’ Ween in Woodland Hills. I have never been but it looks like it has A LOT of halloween spirit. I am not sure if Hue is too young for a place like this but I feel like its the perfect thing to put on a list like this. This is the list I look at when it’s Saturday at like 4pm and we still haven’t figured out what we are doing for the evening! Most of these places take some advanced thought because of tickets running out.
Pumpkin Patches. There are two close to us. Tina’s pumpkin Patch and Tapia Bros Farm. I haven’t been to either but they feel very fun for Halloween/kids. They are the fix when you don’t feel like driving all the way to Underwood Family Farms. We have also seen a ton of pumpkin patches decked out with petting zoo’s and big jumpy houses. Hue lights up every time we drive by one so I am pretty sure we will eventually make a trip to at least one of these!
I want to make these rice crispy treats monsters with Hue maybe as a Halloween treat for either a Halloween party or as a play date craft.
When I was a little girl my mom made chocolates. She made a bunch of different kinds. All of our favorites were these peanut butter white chocolates shaped like peanuts. It’s completely nostalgic.They looked like this but had a more homemade look + feel. Anyways, we have plans to make these soon. We couldn’t find her peanut shaped mold so I ordered some more here. As soon as they arrive I will have Hue and grandma make these together. Update: we made them! As delicious as I remember!
Last year since trick-or-treating was banned in LA County so we had a little Halloween party. We had the kids dress up in costumes, they trick-or-treated the bedroom doors. I had little halloween themed toys from Target in bags for their candy bags + a little candy. We decorated pumpkin shaped cookies. We made a craft. It was a blast. So much so, we are doing it again! I still do it in small groups since it’s mostly indoors and we are still in a pandemic.
Halloween Costumes! I got Hue’s early this year. He is going to be a muscle Spider Man. We are very excited. We also are on back order for a Ryder (of Paw Patrol) Jacket for a second costume. Plus, I have been wanting to make him a felt super hero cape/wristbands. I actually have a post coming up soon showing how to make it. I better get on it since I only just went through all our felt to see what we had! I also have a Halloween costume for toddlers post planned.
Trick or Treating! I have no idea if people are actually trick or treating this year but if its a go… I plan to take Hue to Toluca Lake. We used to live close by and walk around during Halloween. It is a fun place and a go-to destination during Halloween. People really decorate and get in the Halloween Spirit. There are a couple of well-known homes like this one that really go above and beyond decorating wise. I know just walking around will be cool for Hue. If trick or treating is banned again then we will hang out at home, order pizza and watch a fun Halloween Movie with Hue.
We go to so many places that have pumpkins for sale but the place that has the best selection is Trader Joe’s. We will be going there shortly to pick some up! I think they have a great selection for really great prices. It’s hard not to buy a whole cart full! But to save my husband’s sanity I will try to control myself to just a few!
Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins! I’m not the biggest fan of pumpkin bread but I always like to make one pumpkin bakery item during this season. I made pumpkin cookies last year. I think this year I’m going to try these!
I mentioned this earlier in Halloween Cosutmes but I plan on making Hue a super hero costume. It will be for play year round but I figured making it in time for Halloween would be nice too! I plan to make him a cape with a comic book feel and I plan to start with this.
We had a few Halloween books from years past but they are pretty beat up. I went to the Huntington Library recently and visited their gift shop. They had so many great kid Halloween books! I got three new ones that have been heavy in the book rotation when we read at night before bed. I like adding a few each year. There are so many great ones! We got this, this and this at the gift shop. I could only find the first one still in the shop. They had such a great selection. I only was going to get one but walked out with three! Pick A Pumpkin is my absolute favorite – it really captures the pumpkin carving fun and spirit!
Yes we plan to carve pumpkins! They go bad really quickly so we will probably carve them the day of or just the day before! I get battery operated candles to put inside. I saw Michael’s had a good selection the last time I was there. I plan on trying out some bigger one’s. I have always used little battery operated votives in the past. I want a little more light to illuminate from the pumpkin this year. If carving still feels a little young for Hue than I will have him paint the pumpkin and I will carve a simple shape for him.
Halloween Crafts! I need to start pinning away all the Halloween crafts. We made these pumpkin banners but I would like to find a few more crafts to make. I started to pin Halloween crafts here.
Halloween Movies. Hue is not quite 3 so we need them to be super family friendly. I was going to try this list. We have already seen a couple on this list!
Make banana bread! I love this recipe. I nix the pecans and add chocolate chips. If i have an extra banana i cut it lengthwise and lay it on top before baking. It’s a real show stopper but not necessary.
November/December
Enchanted at Descanso Gardens. I have wanted to go to this for a couple of years but Hue was too young when I first wanted to go and then the pandemic happened so maybe this year we will go. I kind of got a glimpse of it when we took Hue during his first week of life to Descanso Gardens in December. It was surprisingly chillier than we were expecting and we left within 5 minutes of arriving. Life of new parents right. I saw a few blue lanterns that I could tell would look magical lit up at night. I think this year might be the year. I can see Hue just being in awe here.
Light Scape 2021 at the Arboretum is AMAZING. I happened to go a couple of months before the pandemic started. Hue had just turned one and he loved it here. Can’t wait to take him back. It was a beautiful light show throughout the whole park.
Bob Baker Marionette Theater. It doesn’t say anything about their Christmas/holiday show yet but pretty sure they will have one so I would check back in after Halloween to see dates/events. I took Hue around his first birthday and it was great.
Cookie/baking day. My friend told me that her family does a baking day during the holidays and I want to do one with Hue and my parents. I already told my parents we are doing this. They are having a hard time understanding holiday cookies because to them baking around the holidays is like all the items you would make for a high tea like scones and Bakewell tarts. I have had to explain to them twice already that it’s just cookies and we can put some in cookie boxes together and send to family. These cookies are definitely on the list to make. Everything else is still tbd.
High Tea which we always try to celebrate on Christmas Eve. It’s a tradition that goes back to when I was a little girl. My parents found themselves making two big meals back to back. One on Christmas Eve and again on Christmas day. One year they decided to do a high tea for Christmas Eve instead and it totally stuck. We loved it. The magic doesn’t wear off as you get older either. We make a ton of crustless sandwiches, scones, Bakewell tarts, and of course tea. I plan to do a detailed post on High Tea soon with all our family recipes.
Put up our Christmas tree. We finally got a fake one last year. It’s skinny on purpose because our home is under 1000 sq ft. Its beautiful and I love the light of the tree at night.
DIY snow globe. I have been wanting to make a version of this forever! I think this is the year!
Christmas Party. Same idea as the Halloween Party but no costumes. A craft and sweet treat and toddlers. That is the main idea.
Disney Land! I really want to take Hue for his 3rd birthday. Kids are free under 3. Hue would LOVE it. We would do that instead of a birthday party. I am on board, my husband isn’t yet… It’s still tricky with parties and that we are still in a pandemic plus our home is tiny so I feel like this is a perfect solution!
Christmas crafts. We have made some super cute Christmas crafts in the past. I will be making a Christmas craft pinterest board soon. I will link it here when I do!
Ginger Bread House. Yes, yes and yes. I usually buy the first one I see…
Christmas light neighborhoods where you drive by and stare at all the beautiful lights. Yeah we did this last year and I think we should make it a tradition.
I think that is a pretty good list! Let me know if you print out the bucket list!
