12 Frugal & Fun Fall Activities

This week, it is officially Fall—my absolute all time favorite season. After spending the summer enduring the oppressive Houston heat and humidity, I always welcome the first crisp, cool days of Fall. I love everything fall has to offer—cooler temperatures, wearing sweaters, boots, and scarves, the fall colors, and of course all the fun activities!

If you are on a debt free journey, trying to save money, or get ahead financially, you know that free or frugal entertainment options are a must!

Here, I’ve gathered up some of my favorite frugal Fall activities that won’t break the bank.

1. Go on a Walk or Bike Ride and Enjoy the Fall Foliage. Seeing the fall colors is one of my absolute favorite things. Where I live, evergreens abound, but every once in a while, I get an opportunity to peep the fall colors, and it’s always so beautiful and breathtaking. Get outdoors and take in those beautiful fall colors. Pack a homemade thermos of hot cocoa to take with you!

2. Complete a Fall Scavenger Hunt. We love doing scavenger hunts for every season—especially Christmas, but Fall and Halloween scavenger hunts are so fun, too! We always keep it very simple by simply brainstorming a list of items in our phones that we can check off as we find them. You can find lots of cute printables for scavenger hunts on Pinterest, too. Here are the Fall and Halloween hunts we’ll do as a family this year.

3. Visit a Pumpkin Patch and Pick Out a Pumpkin. Basically the only reason I had a kid was so I could take pictures of him in a pumpkin patch each year. I mean, if you don’t take your kid to a pumpkin patch, are you even a parent? The patches where we live are always free to enter, and it’s fun to run up and down the rows of pumpkins, trying to find the biggest or weirdest looking ones. Of course, you’ll spend a few dollars picking out a pumpkin or two, but still a totally fun and frugal activity.

4. Carve a Pumpkin. This classic Fall activity is such a fun way to bring the family together, and it’s the quality time, making memories together than make this activity one of the best!

5. Go Trick or Treating. Totally free to go from door to door with the kiddos to collect candy from your neighbors. The costume might cost you a bit, but even those can be done frugally. My 8 year old informed me this year that he’s too old to trick-or-treat because that’s “baby stuff.” We’ll see if he comes around by the big day.

6. Go Apple Picking. I went apple picking for the first time in my life last year, while visiting friends in Illinois. There are no apple orchards in Houston where we live! We took a hayride through the orchard, picked apples straight from the tree, and could eat as many as we wanted. You have never tasted apples until you picked them in the chill fall air and eaten them straight from the tree. Seriously, a fall bucket list item if you’ve never done this. This one may be the least frugal of the bunch, but still so totally worth it.

7. Attend a High School Football Game. So classically Fall, and where I live in Texas, high school football is the end-all be-all in Friday night entertainment. It’s so fun (and affordable) to cheer on the local team, and be entertained by the bands, drill teams, and cheerleaders while you’re at it.

8. Jump in a Pile of Leaves. A classic childhood treat. I used to love jumping in leaf piles as a kid after we had raked the yard. A totally free activity that kids of all ages will love! This just goes to show that you really don’t need to spend tons to entertain the kids and make lasting memories with them.

9. Make Caramel Apples. Whether you bring apples home from the orchard or the grocery store, it’s so fun to pile the kids in the kitchen and whip up this delicious Fall treat.

10. Attend a Community Fall Festival. These festivals abound where we live. Most all of them are sponsored by the local schools or churches, so they are always incredibly affordable. In fact, most of them are completely free, with the exception of food. Eat dinner at home to make it even more frugal. The fall festivals near us always offer affordable (usually free) entertainment in the form of games, live music, bounce houses, haunted houses, trunk or treat and more!

11. Backyard Camping. Here in Texas, it’s almost always waayyyy to hot to camp in the summer. Fall camping is the best! In fact, if you caught my Instagram stories a while back, you caught a glimpse of our tent, all set up in the back yard, ready for some camping.

12. Enjoy some S’mores. Whether you’re camping in the back yard or not, making s’mores is a classic fall activity sure to bring a smile to all. Use a firepit in the back yard or the fireplace if you’re indoors. Either way, you’re bound to cook up some fall fun!

It’s Your Turn!!

What kinds of activities do you love to do in the fall? What did I miss? Are you planning to do any of these things this fall? Let me know in the comments down below!!!