Mention a fall party and immediately people think of Halloween. Fall parties do not have to be about Halloween. Just because we are in the world does not mean we have to do what the world does.
Of course, you can have a costume party, but ask your guests to dress up as fun, loveable characters and people. Explain that you do not want devils, ghosts, vampires, skeletons, witches, or anything to do with death. Tell them you want to glorify life, not death.
The month of October is:
Adopt-a-shelter Animal Month
Computer Learning Month
Family History Month (see party idea below)
National Apple Month
National Clock Month
National Pizza Month (see party idea below)
National Popcorn Popping Month
National Roller Skating Month
Polish American History Month
National Stamp Collecting Month
Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Clergy Appreciation Month
Cookie Month
Domestic Violence Awareness Month
International Drum Month
National Diabetes Month
Lupus Awareness Month
National Vegetarian Month (see party idea below)
Seafood Month
Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Clergy Appreciation Month
Week Long Observances
1st Week – Child Injury Prevention
Week
Fire Prevention Week
Customer Service Week
2nd Week – National
Housekeepers Week
Teen Read Week
3rd Week – National Farm Animals Awareness Week
National Flower Week
Pastoral Care Week
4th Week – National Dog Week
Special Days
October 1 – Homemade Cookie Day
World Vegetarian Day
October 2 – Peanuts comic strip first published in 1950
October 3 – Captain Kangaroo Day - The first show aired on this day in 1955
World Card Making Day
October 4 – National Golf Day
October
5 – Child Health Day
World Teacher Day
Ray Kroc's birthday - Founder of McDonald's, Born in 1902.
Do Something Nice Day
October 6 – Thomas Edison shows 1st Motion Picture in 1889
October 7 – American Bandstand premiered in 1957
World Smile Day :)
October 9 – First Two-way Telephone Conversation in 1876
Moldy Cheese Day
Fire Prevention Day
World Egg Day
October 10 – National Angel Food Cake Day
October 11 – Eleanor Roosevelt born in 1884
First Steam-Powered Ferryboats begin operation in 1811
October 12 – Columbus Day
Farmer's Day
Thanksgiving Day in Canada
October 13 – Margaret Thatcher born in 1925
October 14 – National Dessert Day
October 15 – National Poetry Day
October 16 – Bosses' Day
Dictionary Day
World Food Day
October 17 – Sweetest Day
October 18 – Alaska Day: The anniversary of the transfer of the
territory and the raising of the U.S. flag at Sitka in 1867.
Little Orphan Annie's birthday in 1922
Puerto Rico becomes a U.S. colony in 1898.
October 19 – Star Spangled Banner first sung on 1814.
Thomas Edison successfully demonstrated electric light, 1879.
Evaluate Your Life Day
October 20 – Mickey Mantle born in 1931
October 21 – National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day
October 22 – National Nut Day
October 24 – National Bologna Day
United Nations Day
Make A Difference Day
October 25 – Mother-In-Law Day
National Denim Day
Pablo Picasso born in 1881
World Pasta Day
October 26 – Hillary Rodham Clinton born in 1947
International Red Cross organized in 1863
October 27 – Theodore Roosevelt born in 1858
Navy Day
National Tell a Story Day in U.K. and Scotland
October 28 – Statue of Liberty Birthday
October 30 – John Adams born in 1735
National Candy Corn Day
October 31 – Halloween
Juliette Gordon Low born in 1860. She started the Girl Scouts in the U.S. in 1912.
You can use any of these as a theme for having a party.
Taken from:
familycrafts.about.com/library/spdays/bloctdayslong.htm
http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/october.htm
Decorations
Pizza boxes, pizza bags, the cardboard the pizza goes on. Put shakers of Parmesan cheese out, tomatoes, fresh basil. Use red and white checkered tablecloths. Put old wine bottles on the tables with a candle in each bottle.
Activities
Make individual pizzas. Have supplies for all different kinds. Allow guests to be creative.
Have a pizza eating contest. See who can eat the most pizza in two minutes.
Have a pizza making contest or a dough rolling contest with teams.
See recipe for pizza dough.
Some ingredients to put on your pizza: tomato sauce, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, oregano, basil, garlic, pepperoni, chicken, ground beef, anchovies, shrimp, BBQ sauce, pineapple, onion, peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, spinach, sausage, sun-dried tomatoes…..
Favors
Coupons to your favorite pizza place, pizza magnets,
pre-made pizza crusts made by you or purchased at the store.
(Goes along with National Vegetarian Month)
Since people in America seem to be obsessed with death at this time of year, do something different and celebrate life.
Decorations
Decorate with pictures of living things or have real ones present. Ask guests to bring pictures of people who are alive. Maybe you could have cages with pet hamsters, lizards or turtles. Place goldfish bowls on tabletops. Plants are another item that could be used to decorate with. Of course, you can decorate with fresh fruits and vegetables, pictures of them or plastic ones.
Activities
Play lively music.
Have a dance contest.
Play leap frog.
Go outside and have a running race.
Have a contest to see which team can shoot the most balls through the basket.
Whatever it is, keep the atmosphere lively and upbeat.
Food
Serve foods that are alive. Fresh fruits and vegetables, sprouted breads, yogurt, organic products….It could be a healthy eating party.
Favors
Fresh fruits or vegetables, coupons to your favorite organic market, a CD with lively music you have recorded for your guests, a goldfish.
Decorations
Decorate
with firewood, wood chips, saws, axes, kerosene lamps, flannel,
corduroy, and jean material, tree branches and bark, Paul Bunyan and
his ox, Babe. Ask guests to dress like an old time lumberjack. They can
wear overalls or jeans, flannel shirts, suspenders, heavy boots, and
knit skull caps.
Activities
Log cutting contest
Divide
into two or more teams. Have an axe and firewood to cut for each team.
Contestants will stand in as many lines as you have teams. Put a pile
of wood on the other side of the yard. Each team takes turns running up
to the wood and chopping a piece of it in half then passing the axe to
the next person in line. The first team to finish wins. If you do not
have logs, use long pretzel rods and cut them with a knife. That will
make it pretty funny.
Log walking contest
Lay out pieces of wood on the ground. Team members take turns walking across, staying on the wood. First team to finish wins.
Log pile contest
Every
contestant has to wear heavy boots, so you may want to have two large
sets of boots on hand for team members who did not wear boots. Line up
teams. Place a log in front of each team. The members take turns
running with the log to a designated point, drop the log, and run back
to the team. Each person takes turns until the entire team runs. The
first team to finish wins. You can use long pretzel rods for this if you like.
Food
Serve
chili, soup, stew, pot roast, sunflower seeds, apple and pear desserts,
and pancakes with real maple syrup. Recipes can be found in the recipe
section.
Favors
A
bottle of maple syrup, beeswax or autumn scented candle, a box of
pancake mix or homemade packaged in plastic bags with autumn colored
ribbon and directions on it.
Decorations
Decorate
with leaves, mums, apples, pears, burlap, dried corn, corn stalks,
gourds, pumpkins, bales of hay, and corduroy material. Include the
colors of the season with the mums, tablecloths, napkins, and plates.
Activities
Bobbing for apples
Fill
a tub with water and apples. You can make it easy for people by keeping
the stem on the apples or hard by taking the stem off. Time people to
see who can get an apple out of the water the fastest with their mouth
and with their hands behind their back. You can also break up into
teams and the team who finishes first wins. If you are doing this
indoors, have plenty of plastic under the tubs to minimize the mess.
Keep towels handy for contestants to dry their face.
Apple peeling contest
Divide
guests into as many teams as you like. Give each team a potato/apple
peeler and an apple for each contestant. As one person finishes peeling
their apple, the next person peels theirs until the entire team is
finished. Team that finishes first wins.
Popcorn relay race
Divide
into teams. Have a bowl of popcorn and a spoon for each team. Members
take turns scooping up popcorn onto spoon and running to the bowl on
the other side with spoon. Object of the game is to get the most
kernels in the bowl on the other side. Team with the most kernels in
the bowl wins.
Food
Serve
popcorn balls, caramel apples, apple coleslaw, cornbread, pumpkin
seeds, chili, chicken and dumplings, chicken pot pie, taffy apple
salad, soup, spaghetti squash. Recipes can be found in the recipe
section.
Favors
Caramel apples, popcorn balls, homemade applesauce or apple butter, un-popped popcorn neatly packaged.
FAMILY
HISTORY MONTH
Trace your family tree. There are many resources online to
help you get started.
Create a family cookbook. Collect recipes from relatives.
Ask them to share a story about the recipe (if there is one), how it got
started, if there is a tradition behind it….Put them together and make a little
book to give to family members or even put it online. If you make a book, add
pictures of the ones who handed in the recipe, and if possible, the creator of
the recipe.
Record family stories. Interview as many people as possible
audiotape, videotape or journal the accounts. Put these together and share
them.
Take a drive by old places you, your parents, and your grandparents,
etc. have lived. Places that meant something to the family. Even go to the
cemetery and look at family plots.
Get together as many family pictures as possible and make a
scrapbook. With all of the resources today, you can give copies to everyone.
CDs can also be made.
Make family heritage gifts by using old pictures and frames,
quilts, tea sets, etcetera. Take time to make gifts for people that can become
a tradition for your family to make and give.
Design a family crest.
Take family pictures now. Be sure to document them so that
in time to come others will know the story behind the photo.
Family Party
If you are having a party, ask people to bring old family
photos.
Play a game to guess what year the pictures were taken.
Guests can dress in an outfit that befits someone in their
family.
Ask guests to bring a family dish, along with a recipe.
Sweetest Day
Ladies do not expect your man to carry the brunt of this day. Make a point of being the sweetest you can be. Do whatever he wants to do. Fix what he likes to eat or go to a restaurant he likes to go to. Have the best attitude possible. Be his honey in every way. Get creative. Think sweet, especially after the children go to bed and the lights are down low. Let it be a day he’ll always remember.
*In case you want to plan ahead, November is:
National Model Railroad Month
Native American Heritage Month
Peanut Butter Lovers Month
Week 3 - Game and Puzzle Week
November 1 – All Saint’s Day
November 3 – Housewife’s Day
November 3 – Sandwich Day
November 8 – Cook Something Bold Day
November 10 – United States Marine Corps Day
November 11 – Veteran’s Day
November 13 – World Kindness Day
November 17 – Homemade Bread Day
November 17 – Take A Hike Day
November 22 – Go For A Ride Day
November 27 – Thanksgiving Day
November 29 – Square Dance Day
*Taken from www.holidayinsights.com.