I live for the month of October. There is truly nothing that gets me as excited as walking outside and being hit with the scent of the seasons turning (Fall and Winter smell like crisp air with a sprinkle of something burning and you can’t fight me on this). I love witnessing the trees becoming every shade of the sun, and unnecessarily crunching my way through piles of fallen leaves.
At this point, you’re probably thinking: “oh God, she’s that girl”. The girl that walks around decked out in scarves and boots and is always followed by the lingering smell of pumpkin-spice lattes. I wouldn’t blame you for making that assumption, but it’s just not about the sweaters and pumpkin spice lattes for me.
I mean, I love sweaters, but who doesn’t love going to class in what could essentially be classified as PJs? And pumpkin is seriously delicious. Not in pumpkin-spice-latte form, but pumpkin bread is one of my absolute favorite foods and I eat it all year long.
Moral of the story: I love fall. And as a Jersey girl living in Atlanta, I feel robbed of my favorite season of the year (@95 degree October weather). Luckily for you and me, I’ve decided to compile a list of activities that will make October in Atlanta feel more like the spooky szn we all love & deserve.
1. Go crazy with the fall-scented candles.
Admittedly, this is not dorm-friendly for you on-campus girls, and I apologize for that. But candles are absolutely, irrevocably essential for setting the autumn mood. If you live off campus, go absolutely crazy with the fall scents. I’m talking a Spiced Apple Berries Yankee Candle for every room of your apartment. For those of you who live in dorms, I’m not telling you to bend the rules, but I always had a candle hiding under my desk for Halloween movie nights in my bed.
2. Grab some friends and bake pumpkin muffins.
As I stated previously, I go hard for pumpkin-flavored baked goods. My mom always stocked our home with pumpkin oatmeal muffins during autumn months, and to this day they’re my favorite go-to snack when I’m running to class this time of year. They’re super easy to make, and baking is such a fun fall activity to do with your friends on a night in (wine included of course).
Yummy pumpkin oatmeal recipe: https://www.kimscravings.com/pumpkin-oatmeal-muffins/
3. Have a Halloween-themed movie night.
I don’t know about you, but one of my favorite things to do during October as a kid was to binge all of Disney’s Halloween specials over and over again. Just last night my friends and I found out that you can watch your favorite Disney Originals (including Twitches and Halloweentown!!!) on disneynow.com…for free. We sat down, hot chocolate in hand, and reminisced over our childhoods by watching Twitches & Twitches Too.
5. Go to Stone Mountain’s Pumpkin Festival
This one’s for the extreme halloween-lover with the mentality of a 6 year old (aka me). If this sounds like you, you have to check out Stone Mountain’s Pumpkin festival that’s open Friday-Sunday until November 3rd from 10:00am-9:00pm. There’s family friendly (college-girl friendly) pie-eating contests, festival games, pumpkin picking, and even a glow-by-night experience where you can take an enchanted stroll after dark filled with pumpkin displays, glowing lights, and more. If you decide to go, you might just see me, because I’ll probably be making the trip to Stone Mountain more times than I’m willing to admit.