Autumn Harvest Party
Ages:
All
Invitations:
Print up an invite on fall stationary or use fall clipart. Add fall confetti inside the envelopes.
Hand deliver mini pumpkins with a note card attached to the stem stating the party information. Tie on with raffia.
Glue a silk or paper leaf on cardstock. Write or type the party details on the back.
If you can find a large leaf, write the party details on it with Sharpie. Make sure the leaf is clean before you write on it. Deliver before the leaf dries out.
Decorations:
Place scarecrows, hay bails and cornstalks around the outside of the party area. You can purchase hay bails and cornstalks at a local farm that sells pumpkins during the month of October. Use some harvest colored balloons and streamers to decorate the inside of the party area. Add a child’s red wagon filled with pumpkins and gourds sitting in a corner.
Place store bought leaf garland (or make your own from construction paper) around mantels and shelves. Place paper leaves and mini pumpkins on tables with harvest colored candles.
Fill some weaved baskets with decorator apples, leaves and gourds. Place larger pumpkins inside and around the house. You could even carve them with leaf patterns and a turkey. Go to www.pumpkinlady.com for some great free pumpkin carving printables. Here’s a tip – local ranches that sell pumpkins usually have hay bails, pumpkins and gourds on sale the day after Halloween.
Activities:
Have a leaf wreath sign in board. Have guests trace their hand on fall colored construction paper. Have them write a message in their hand, cut it out and tape onto poster board cut in the shape of a leaf.
Make cornucopias out of paper plates. This is a good activity for younger children. You will need four white paper plates per child. Have one plate cut in a half moon shape to resemble the back of the cornucopia. Have children paint the plates brown and glue them together overlapping them to form the shape of a cornucopia. Color and glue paper fruits and vegetable patterns on the front of the first plate. Punch a hole at the top of the cornucopia and tie a string of black yarn to hang.
Use terra cotta pots and wrap raffia or fall ribbon around the top of it. Add some floral Styrofoam inside and glue on floral grass. Place a mini scarecrow or fall foliage pick in the center. You can also have paints out to decorate the terra cotta pots. All this can be found at your local craft store.
Have an apple bobbing contest. This is quite fun when guests get involved and don’t mind getting wet. Make sure you have towels handy. You can purchase large orange or black plastic buckets at Target. Place the bucket on a bail of hay to give it some height. Fill the bucket with water and float the apples in it. You can also use a large plastic cauldron.
This is a fun game for teens. Place a piece of bubble gum in two pie tins. Cover the pie tin and gum with whipped cream. Have two guests race to see who can find their piece of gum first. They must only use their mouths. Once they find their gum, they must chew it and blow a bubble. The first player to blow a bubble first, wins! Provide new pie tins for each player or wash the ones already used.
Have a fall scavenger hunt. Have players form two teams. Give each team a list of items to find. They can find them around the party area or go to neighborhood houses. Some items to find may include: sunflower seeds, a gourd, Indian corn, a mini pumpkin, yellow leaf, acorn, pie tin, November Magazine, red leaf, candy corn, red apple, pie tin and a brown paper bag. Give the players a time limit. The team that has the most items wins the game.
Here’s a fun game for children of all ages. Have players separate into teams. Have the team members build a scarecrow using one of their teammates. Make sure each team has the same amount of clothing to put on. The first team to complete the outfit on their teammate wins the game.
Have a pumpkin rolling contest. Have a starting point and a finishing line. Have players get into teams. Each player must roll a pumpkin with their feet from the starting point to the finishing line and back to their team. The team that finishes first wins. Players must roll the pumpkin with their feet only. Kicking a pumpkin doesn’t quite work.
For younger children, play a game of ring the pumpkin. Line up three pumpkins. Have each pumpkin a little further from each other. Mark one pumpkin with the number 10, the other pumpkin with the number 20 and the last one with the number 30. Give each guest three hula hoops or three wooden embroidery hoops. Have each player try to get the ring around the pumpkin or if using an embroidery hoop try to get the hoop around the pumpkin stem.
Have an apple relay. You will need two teams and 1 large apple per team. Each team player tries to pass the apple to each teammate without using their hands. They can use their arms, knees, chins and elbows or any other body part. If the apple drops then it goes back one person and
the game continues. The first team to finish wins!
Have a leaf pile hunt. Scatter leaves or hay outside. Throw candy in them and have the children find as many as they can. They can take home what they find.
You can also have a paper pumpkin hunt. Hang paper pumpkins around the party area. Divide the children into two teams. Have both teams search for the pumpkins. The team that has the most wins.
For older kids, make nature luminary candle holders. You can find the directions at www.kaboose.com.
Younger children might like to make leaf stamps and placemats. Glue a large leaf on a folded sheet of construction paper. Apply paint on the leaf and press down the leaf pattern on a large sheet of construction paper. The children can also add leaf rubbings or paper leaves to their placemat. Cover the placemat with clear contact paper once the paint is dry. You can also do this project using a photograph of the child.
Have a corn husking race. Give players one or two ears of corn with the husks still on. Have each player race to see who can husk their corn first. You can time this if you wish. The first one done wins! After the corns have been husked you can cook them up for a tasty and healthy snack.
Here’s a fun game called turkey in the straw. Fill a wading pool with straw and hide a small picture of a turkey in it. Have your guests try to find the turkey. The first one to find it wins!
Have a cotton ball relay. Have each guest choose a partner. Have each partner hold a bowl full of cotton while the other player must try to empty that bowl and fill another one with a spoon. You cannot use your fingers. The first team to fill the empty bowl wins the game.
Younger children might enjoy this game. Set up some empty 2-liter bottles. Have each player try to knock down the bottles by rolling a pumpkin into them. Give a prize for each bottle knocked down.
If you happen to have access to a bunch of hay bails, you can play musical hay bails instead of musical chairs.
Play a game of pin the hat on the scarecrow. You can make or purchase a scarecrow and have the children try to place a hat on his head.
You can also play a game of harvest bingo. You can design bingo cards at www.dltk-cards.com.
Set up a face painting booth. Ask an adult or teen who is creative at drawing to do this. Have a sheet of pictures that can be painted on the guests face.
Have a jelly bean count. Fill a jar with jelly beans and have each guest try to guess how many jelly beans are in the jar.
You can create scarecrow picture ops. Get a sheet of poster board and draw or print a picture of a scarecrow. Cut the face out for guests to put their face in. The pictures can then be used as thank you cards later on.
Here’s a fun game called straw savers. Have each player pick a partner. Have each player put one end of a straw in their mouth. One life saver is placed on one straw. Each player must try to get the life saver on their partner’s straw without using their hands. The first team to do this wins!
You can have young children decorate fall cookie shapes. Provide frosting and edible decorations for them to use. This is something they can take home as part of their goody bag.
This is a fun recipe. You can make for the kids and attach a recipe card for them to make it at home. Pumpkin Play Dough: 5 ½ cups flour, 2 cups salt, 8 tsp. cream of tartar, ¾ cup vegetable oil, 1 (1 1/12 oz.) container of pumpkin pie spice, orange food coloring (2 parts yellow, 1 part red), 4 cups of water. Mix all the wet ingredients first then all of the dry. Mix all of the ingredients together. Cook and stir over medium heat until all lumps are gone. Knead dough on a flowered surface until smooth. Caution: The dough will be hot! Store in an airtight container.
Food:
Go to the recipe section of this website to find some autumn harvest recipes.
Prizes/Goody Bags:
Prizes for children can consist of fall pencils, bubbles, beaded necklaces, pumpkin rings and caramel apple lollipops. You can also add in some fall printables at www.familyeducation.com. Go to www.orientaltrading.com for some great fall prizes.
You can use brown paper lunch bags as goody bags. Decorate the front of them with cut out leaves with the child’s name on it.
I have made cornucopias out of construction paper. I used fall colors and added some candy and a popcorn ball with a tag attached saying thank you for coming to our party.
Fall colored cups can be used as goody cups. Add some candy or other fall items for children to take home.
Thank You Cards:
Add a mulled cider package and a small apple juice in a harvest mug. You can purchase a box of mulled cider from Whole Foods and you can find fall mugs at a party supply store. Attach a thank you card with some raffia.
Have guests take home some pumpkin cookies with the recipe attached and a thank you card.
No comments:
Post a Comment