Fall is the perfect time to make warm memories with your closest neighbors, whether it’s harvesting the season’s bounty or getting together with friends over hot apple cider.
“Fall is a very symbolic time,” says Maya Kalman, founder and CEO of Swank Productions, a New York-based, high-end event design and coordination agency. “Almost every culture or religion has some sort of celebration in the fall; fall has always been a great time for bringing people together.”
From hayrides to haunted houses, here are a few ideas — and possible recurring traditions — for enjoying fall with your neighbors.
Hay-oh!
Whether it’s found at the market or in a stable, hay is plentiful this time of year. Fill a flatbed trailer with piles of straw and take a sunset ride around the neighborhood with your friends — complete with apple cider, of course!
Avoid the long lines at the pumpkin patch corn maze by using hay bales to make your own. It’s easy to turn a cul-de-sac into an autumn maze, and you can even add spooky music to give it a haunted twist.
Apple-picking party
“A lot of people just think pumpkins and corn for fall, but there are a lot of really yummy foods out there for both food and décor,” Kalman says. She suggests taking the neighborhood out to an orchard to pick apples, then bringing the harvest home to make cider, candied apples, and pies.
Kalman says you can also make fun crafts with apples. “Carve out the center and use it as a votive holder, or carve them like you would a pumpkin, with holes or initials,” she says. This is also a great activity for kids.
Another great way to use the fall harvest is to dry fruits and herbs and have guests create their own tea bags. Caramel apple tea, anyone? Yes please!
Spur a Scandinavian soirée
“One of the things I grew up doing — that I never really realized was unique until I became an event planner — was throwing a Glögg party with my mom,” Kalman recalls. “It’s a Scandinavian name, but it’s basically a mulled wine party. All the neighbors would come over and bring really big pots, and we would make all different flavors of mulled wine.”
Neighbors gathered around their pots to simmer batches of high quality wine and brandy until it had boiled down enough to drink warm. “My mom started it with her friends, and then it just grew every year until it became sort of like an Oktoberfest in our neighborhood,” Kalman says.
Great ingredients to spice up a batch of mulled wine?
Cloves
Currants
Raisins
Cinnamon
Orange or lemon rinds
Haunt your ‘hood
Making a homemade haunted house? Enlist the help of teens in your neighborhood for a small stipend (and a chance to startle their little brothers and sisters) and have them dress as zombies, monsters, and devilish DJs. Be sure to lay out a few safety rules before turning the little ghouls loose in your home.
Fall activities for the whole neighborhood
Fall is the perfect time to make warm memories with your closest neighbors, whether it’s harvesting the season’s bounty or getting together with friends over hot apple cider.
“Fall is a very symbolic time,” says Maya Kalman, founder and CEO of Swank Productions, a New York-based, high-end event design and coordination agency. “Almost every culture or religion has some sort of celebration in the fall; fall has always been a great time for bringing people together.”
From hayrides to haunted houses, here are a few ideas — and possible recurring traditions — for enjoying fall with your neighbors.
Hay-oh!
Whether it’s found at the market or in a stable, hay is plentiful this time of year. Fill a flatbed trailer with piles of straw and take a sunset ride around the neighborhood with your friends — complete with apple cider, of course!
Avoid the long lines at the pumpkin patch corn maze by using hay bales to make your own. It’s easy to turn a cul-de-sac into an autumn maze, and you can even add spooky music to give it a haunted twist.
Apple-picking party
“A lot of people just think pumpkins and corn for fall, but there are a lot of really yummy foods out there for both food and décor,” Kalman says. She suggests taking the neighborhood out to an orchard to pick apples, then bringing the harvest home to make cider, candied apples, and pies.
Kalman says you can also make fun crafts with apples. “Carve out the center and use it as a votive holder, or carve them like you would a pumpkin, with holes or initials,” she says. This is also a great activity for kids.
Another great way to use the fall harvest is to dry fruits and herbs and have guests create their own tea bags. Caramel apple tea, anyone? Yes please!
Spur a Scandinavian soirée
“One of the things I grew up doing — that I never really realized was unique until I became an event planner — was throwing a Glögg party with my mom,” Kalman recalls. “It’s a Scandinavian name, but it’s basically a mulled wine party. All the neighbors would come over and bring really big pots, and we would make all different flavors of mulled wine.”
Neighbors gathered around their pots to simmer batches of high quality wine and brandy until it had boiled down enough to drink warm. “My mom started it with her friends, and then it just grew every year until it became sort of like an Oktoberfest in our neighborhood,” Kalman says.
Great ingredients to spice up a batch of mulled wine?
Haunt your ‘hood
Making a homemade haunted house? Enlist the help of teens in your neighborhood for a small stipend (and a chance to startle their little brothers and sisters) and have them dress as zombies, monsters, and devilish DJs. Be sure to lay out a few safety rules before turning the little ghouls loose in your home.