The air is crisp, the colors are changing and October activities are beginning to “brew”. With the warm summer months ending, you have the opportunity to get outdoors before the chilly weather sets in and head out on the town for fun-filled, scary or just plain delightful entertainment.  So, what exactly can you do in the month of October that will get you in the mood for fall and halloween?  Here’s a few bits if fun that we love to partake in during October.

Fall Fun:

• Apple-Picking – Many orchards are already waiting for you to come along!  So check out their times and head out.  Picking apples will be great for simply eating or for baking.  Yum, yum!
• Take a Hayride or a Horse-drawn wagon ride – You will find these at most farms or orchards.  But they’re a really great fall activity.
• Bake! You don’t need me to tell you that a pumpkin bread, apple pie and spice cakes will warm up your home and your senses.
• Go to a corn maze – Now this can be scary or fun depending on where you go.  We’ve all seen one movie or another where someone is running through a corn field being chased by the “bad guy”.  So, what if you were put smack dab in the middle of one?  I’m getting goosebumps.  But I’ve also attended farms where they have a theme throughout their corn maze and it’s both enjoyable and innocent.
• Go Camping.  This is the perfect time to head out to the woods and perch your tent because the weather is comfortably cool but there is no chance of snow just yet.  If you bring kids along, have them head out for a leaf contest: the person who gathers the best looking leaf collection wins their first pick of the autumn goodie bags you put together.  Make each one different and put candy, cookies, and little toys inside.
• There’s also tons of festivals you can attend that celebrate the fall…… some of them are even a bit scary.  Come back to HolidayMash.com to see what Festivals are going on this month!

And Speaking of Scary:

• Horror Movie Screenings – You can do this at home or gather a few friends or your significant other and plan on seeing a new “Scary” Movie every weekend.  Maybe two!
• Attend the Halloween Events at an Amusement Park- There are several amusement parks that offer terrifying or family friendly events.  Disneyland decorates their park for the holiday and also has a trick-or-treat event for the kids.  But if you want something a little more frightful, try heading to Universal Studio’s Halloween Horror Nights in Hollywood or Orlando as well as Knott’s Berry Farm Halloween Haunt and Six Flag’s Fright Fest.  Each of these horrifying events feature haunted houses, mazes, scary rides and spooky shows.  Not for the faint of heart!
• Have a Halloween Party – this is pretty self explanitory, but a cool addition to this party that works for adults as well as kids is to put up a big screen (a white sheet works just as well) in your back yard and project a movie or two.  Now, if you do this for kids, place them on blankets in the grass eating popcorn, candy and spooky cupcakes while watching It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and Halloween Garfield Cartoons (kids don’t have a long attention span).  But for adults, pick a scary movie everyone will enjoy or have a series playing throughout the night like Friday the 13th, Halloween or Nightmare on Elm Street.  But be sure to inform your neighbors so that they can attend or be aware there will be bloodcurdling screams all through the night.
• Go somewhere that is suppose to be “haunted” – If you do some research in your area I am sure you will find a haunted house, prison or building.  Many times during Halloween, the people who own the property will allow people to walk through or they may even have a special event going on.  I am from Pasadena and in our area there is a supposedly “haunted” bank.  Every year they allow people to walk through the basement where there has reportedly been paranormal activity. It’s so scary.