I know it is super cliche but I love FALL! When my whole family lived close to each other, we would have our own “Fall Fest” weekend in October. We would spend the entire day going to the apple orchard, pumpkin patch, then come home and have a bonfire with our friends. Even though I live further away, I still want to create these memories every year. I wanted to put together a list of bucket-list items to do around the New York and New Jersey area that you can enjoy with your friends and family. My friends that live close by can expect invites to all the events below from yours truly.
Jack-O-Lantern Experience at SkyLands Stadium
This event occurs from October 1st to November 7th located in Augusta, NJ is a MUST on your fall bucket list for this year. It a 45 minute Halloween Walk with over 6,000 hand-carved Jack-O-Lanterns! They also have areas where you can roast s’mores on the fire pit and sip on hot beverages. In addition, there is a fall fest, carnival and beer garden so it’s fun for the whole family. We are going on October 3rd so I will be sure to post lots of pictures. The tickets have to be bought in advance for time slots that are $19-24 per person for general admission and $34 for VIP access. The VIP access allows you to go to any time slot even if it is sold out and includes apple cider, beer, or wine. You can purchase your tickets here.
NY Botanical Garden or Central Park Nature Walk
The NY Botanical Gardens is a 250 acre garden that is the largest in any city in the United States that has over 50 specialty gardens comprising over one million plants. Currently they have a Scarecrow and Pumpkins event for fall. They do have a Fall Forest Weekend that occur during the weekends of November 6-7th and 13-14th from 10 am-5 pm to explore the Thain Family Forest which looks like the most beautiful time to go to see the colorful leaves. The tickets appear to be around $35 per person for adults with parking being an extra fee if you are driving. If you want a free event and plenty of people watching, head over to Central Park to view the fall foliage. If you have never visited New York, Central Park should be on everyone’s bucket list regardless of season. Make sure to wear comfortable shoes because the park is bigger than you think!
Make Homemade Apple Cider
You don’t always have to be out-and-about to experience the best of fall. My favorite beverage is actually apple cider which I drink year round. There is nothing better than making it homemade as the fragrance goes throughout the whole house. I usually find most of my recipes on Pinterest for both stove top, Instant Pot, and crockpot apple cider. After we go to the apple orchard this year I will definitely be making apple cider to get me through the next couple of weeks! Some great looking recipes are: Recipe 1 and Recipe 2.
Decorate Pumpkins
Don’t skip out on decorating a pumpkin for your balcony or front porch. Everyone has gotten so creative lately with their pumpkin designs that you can create a tablescape and wreaths. I will definitely be painting pumpkins this year and possibly adding a dash of glitter. Read here the steps to perfectly paint your pumpkins as you do need a sealer for before and after. If you really don’t feel like making a mess, Amazon has plenty of stickers you can decorate with. Lastly, another fun idea in the pictures above would be to glue faux florals to pumpkins for a pop of color.
Pumpkin Patch or Apple Orchard
Although there aren’t pumpkin patch and apple orchards directly within New York City, if you venture about an hour outside there is a never ending list. After doing a lot of research I have separate lists for both New Jersey and New York. When going to each place, please make sure to check the website if online reservations are needed before you go! I noted a lot of the pumpkin patches do have events on the weekend that sell out rather quickly. I always choose the places that have hayrides, a market to purchase apple or pumpkin donuts and apple cider, and lively activities on the weekends.
- New York: Jenkins Lueken Orchards, Barton Orchards, Schmitt’s Family Farm,
- New Jersey: Cheesequake Farms, Happy Day Farm, Demarest Farms, Secor Farms
Serra at Eataly
Serra is located in Eataly Flatiron that is an Italian greenhouse restaurant on the 14th floor! They decorate seasonally with the most picture-worthy decor. As of October 1st, Serra is decorated with a Fall theme in mind. The menu was created featuring the best product from the Union Square Greenmarket. We have reservations for October 10th so we will let you know how it is!
Watch the Village Halloween Parade
The 48th Annual New York Village Halloween Parade will be on October 31st starting at 7 PM. The Parade runs straight up 6th avenue from Spring to 16th street. The parade is free for the public but if you would like to avoid the crowd you can purchase tickets to be in a special VIP area to watch the parade which starts at $100-200 per person. There are also ways you can become a participant in the parade so make sure to read all the details on the website.
Fall Foliage Cruise
The Fall Foliage Cruises are a total fall bucket list item. The boats head north up the Hudson River for 2.5-3.5 hours on a luxury yacht or a schooner. On the website you will see that they have the brunch and afternoon fall foliage lunch cruises, amongst many other options. I would recommend booking soon for the month of October as it appears there is limited availability. All the reviews I read on the website seemed like it was a wonderful experience and great for sight seeing.
See a Broadway or Comedy Show
I am so glad to see that the Broadway and comedy shows are back up and running! As far as New York shows, I have been to Lion King, Harry Potter, Chicago, Wicked, and The Rockettes. I honestly loved every Broadway show given the amazing costumes, live signing, and set design. For comedy shoes I highly recommend The Comedy Cellar at the MacDougal Street location. The MacDougal Street location for the Comedy Cellar sells out the quickest so make sure to book early! It is really tightly packed inside so if you don’t want to be super close to someone I wouldn’t recommend but you will never laugh so hard in your life.
Host a Fall-Themed Holiday Potluck
I know people are finally starting to get together again after the past two years. You can make it fun by adding a theme to the food to knock this activity off your fall bucket list! Whether if you are tailgating or a dinner party, you can make it FALL themed. Make sure to assign each person to a specific course to bring so you don’t end up with just desserts! It doesn’t have to be complex, just think about easy recipes you already make like chili, butternut squash soup, roasted sweet potatoes, or a cute cupcake. To stimulate your mind, always use Pinterest or do a quick search to find homestyle comfort food recipes. Try these websites: 1 // 2 // 3 for interesting fall-inspired recipes. You can always try out my mom’s homemade casserole recipes or my Vitamix soup recipes.
