It’s fall which means one thing – it’s the perfect time to host a party! And there are plenty of reasons to host – football games, beautiful weather, and lots of yummy food!
So whether you’re looking for fall party ideas for kids, fall party ideas for adults, or something in between – this collection of fall party themes has something for everyone!
The fall season is really the perfect time of year for a party. The weather is typically ideal for having people indoors or out, there’s plenty of football on TV to keep people entertained, and who doesn’t love any food made with pumpkin.
With so many reasons to throw a party, now all you need to do is throw one. And I have some great ideas to share!
To help you out, I put together some of my favorite fall party themes and with each included a couple of games, food ideas, and even decorations other than just hay bales and mini pumpkins!
Just make sure to send me an invite if you do host any of these!
Fall Party Ideas for Families
Okay disclaimer, these fall party ideas aren’t just for kids but these are the most kid-friendly out of the bunch! There are also a number of ideas under other fall party ideas that would totally work with the right theme.
Apple season is a great excuse to throw a party! Make caramel apple nachos, do a caramel apple walk, and giveaway apple themed prizes! You could even have the party at a local apple orchard (or go there first then back to your house). You can use these apple party printables to spruce things up!
Print out a bunch of these blank fall bucket lists and have friends over to create fall bucket lists together! Even better if you schedule out some fun things like doing a fall scavenger hunt or going to a pumpkin patch together!
Send your friends and family pumpkin shaped invites, setup a pumpkin photo booth, and have everyone bring their own pumpkin to decorate/carve together. Make sure to put down plastic or newspaper because this one can get really messy.And don’t forget the food – anything pumpkin or in a pumpkin goes! We love these pumpkin balls and this pumpkin pie dip served in an actual pumpkin!
Invite your friends over for a night full of fun fall party games! There are over 15 party games in this list that don’t take anything more than a couple of simple things around your house!Never played minute to win it games? I’ve got you covered with full details on how to play minute to win it games.
Just like the fall party ideas for kids above – these fall party ideas would work for kids as well, but they’re geared more toward adults and having fun with your adult friends on a night off!
Iron Chef Party: Secret Ingredient Pumpkin
There are two ways you can do this. One is have everyone make their best pumpkin dish at home and bring it to share. Judge based on taste, creativity, and presentation (people can get super creative with this!). Choose three unbiased judges to pick the best dish.I made these pumpkin cheesecake bars last time, and they were a huge hit! This pumpkin crunch cake is also always a crowd pleaser!
Make up a batch of this fall snack mix and a pitcher of this spiced apple cider then grab your favorite board games, and have a night full of laughter and fun!
Go big or go home! Embrace everything fall you can think of with fall leaf decorations, fall treats like these acorn Oreo balls, and fall coloring throughout!
I’ve seen this theme for weddings before, but I think it could be a really fun couples date night party idea as well! Simply invite a number of your couples friends over for a fun night filled with couples games (these party games would work great), or any of these fall group date ideas!And if you need some ideas of things to add to that fall dessert table, try these apple truffles, these pumpkin blondies, or these pumpkin cake mix cookies!
Kids are back in school, and it’s time for the women to party! Just kidding but not really – these fall party themes are specifically for women who wants a girls night (or day) out.
Any of the other fall party themes in this list could work for women only too but these are designed to be girls nights!
Pumpkin Crafting Night
If you don’t want to deal with real pumpkins, how about making a pumpkin craft? Try making pumpkins out of old sweaters or socks from a thrift store or Dollar Tree rope! There are tons of pumpkin crafts out there!
One of the biggest trends right now is making book baskets and swapping them! Give it a fall slant by having everyone choose books inspired by something in the fall. We did this last week and it was a blast! We had everything from vampire books to fall romances! Pair the books with fun fall eats like this pomegranate feta salad and these caramel apple mocktails for an even better fall book club idea!
If you don’t want to do books, you could always just have everyone bring a fun fall themed gift basket to swap! It’s kind of like the fall favorite things night above but with a gift basket theme! Think candles, blankets, fall goodies, and more!
Get together just to watch the fall episode of the Gilmore Girls reboot. Make some pumpkin juice and some pumpkin oatmeal cookies and watch Stars Hollow transform into a magical fall wonderland. There’s a reason this trends on social media every year – it’s the perfect non-reason to have a party!
One of my favorite things to do is have all of the girls over to share their favorite things with each other for a favorite things party!Add a twist and have friends bring their favorite fall item like scarves, caramel apples, fall crafts, etc. Or you could even tell people anything goes as long as it’s within one of these fall color palettes! One of my favorite things to do is have all of the girls over to share their favorite things with each other for a favorite things party. Add a twist and have friends bring their favorite fall item like scarves, caramel apples, fall crafts, etc.
This could be whatever you want it to be, just invite friends over for lunch and enjoy time together. No other activities or planning necessary! Just decorate with some pumpkins or apples and serve light finger foods and you’re golden!
Throw a party dedicated to all things pumpkin spice! Put out pumpkin spice candles, pumpkins of all shapes, serve pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin juice to drink. Make pumpkin crisp with pumpkin ice cream for dessert.
One of my favorite things about the fall is the food. Pumpkin, apple, squashes – I love all the fall flavors! These fall party ideas are designed specifically around some sort of fall food!
Chili Cook-Off
Have friends bring their best chili to share and have judges pick a winner to give out a fun prize like this chili cookoff cutting board! Since the chili will be the main thing people are eating, just supply the fixings to go with – chips, cornbread (I love this honey cornbread), and possibly hot dogs and buns if you want to do cheese coneys. Need great chili recipes? This white chicken chili and this Cincinnati chili have won many chili cook-off awards in the past!
Have a party themed around one of the favorite fall meals – soups and stews. Whether it’s this easy beef stew, this beef and barley soup, this homemade zuppa toscana or another favorite – serve them in crockpots to keep them warm!Or switch it up and host a soup swap instead where everyone brings their favorite soup and swaps with people so everyone goes home with soups for the week!
The final food idea is all about one of my favorite sweet treats – s’mores! Invite people over to hang out around the fire and enjoy all sorts of s’mores themed foods! Or setup a DIY s’mores bar or a s’mores board and let people make their own!Or if you don’t want to make s’mores, you could always just serve treats like these s’mores cookies, this s’mores dip, or these s’mores magic bars (they’re amazing!)
Have everyone bring something to share made from a fall market like fresh apple pie, pumpkin muffins, or even roasted root veggies! It’s a great way to enjoy fall flavors as fresh as possible!
And last but not least – the other category. These fall party themes are ones that didn’t really fit in any of the spots above. Tons of fun fall party ideas here, some that even include a little creativity or imagination on your part!
Halloween Party
This one is pretty self-explanatory but Halloween is a great excuse to throw a party. Try throwing your party not on Halloween so people don’t have to try and figure out the one thing they want to do that night.Need games? I’ve got plenty! These are some of our favorite Halloween games we’ve used over the years!
This could be a combination of any of these ideas, just a party centered around fall. Decorate with leaves, pumpkins, and fall colors. Serve pumpkin pull apart bread, soups, caramel apples, and any other fall seasonal items.
Fill in the blank with your favorite thing and throw a party based on it. An example would be fall in love with pizza party and throw a pizza party. Or maybe something more obscure like fall in love with sushi and throw a sushi making party.
Keep this one simple because the idea is that you’re going to be doing everything! Use leaves to decorate and you plan the entire thing – a fun night just for people to come over and hang out! Enjoy being out in the changing leaves or making gratitude jars with pieces of paper shaped like leaves! Or do leaf crafts – there are tons of fall crafts out that that use leaves in fun ways!
Enjoy the fall weather with a party where you do a little outdoor entertaining! Have everyone put on their coziest sweaters and enjoy the great outdoors. Or just your backyard but same thing.Serve up all sorts of comfort food like this caramel apple dump cake and baked mac and cheese. Just keep it cozy!
Send your family away for the night and spend a night by yourself reading, relaxing, going to bed early, or whatever else you find restful. Highly recommended after throwing any of the parties above and my absolute favorite kind of party!
Check out this website and throw a party themed around one of the national days. Some of my favorite fall themes that would work great for a party are:
September 6th – read a book day sounds like a perfect opportunity for a fall book club!
September 9th – Teddy Bear Day sounds like an excuse to host a teddy bear picnic to me. Well really these teddy bear straws seem like a good excuse too!
September 19th – Talk like a Pirate Day means going to Krispy Kreme for free donuts first and then having friends over for a pirate themed party. I’ve got all the pirate party ideas you need here!
September 21st – World gratitude day would be a perfect day for a service project like I mentioned before. Another good day would be September 29th, which is world heart day!
September 26th – Johnny Appleseed day sure seems like a good day to try out any of these apple party ideas! Another great option is apple day on October 21st!
October 6th – Mad Hatter Day has so many ideas to go with it, I don’t even know where to start. But please give your guests these mad hatter hats as party favors!
October 25th – World Artists Day is a good excuse to try any of these art party ideas!
October 31st – Caramel apple day – see above!
November 3rd – Sandwich Day could be a fun food themed party – play this sandwich game, enjoy all sorts of sweet and savory sandwiches, and see who goes together best!
November 6th – Nachos day calls for a fall fiesta! Make regular nachos or setup a caramel apple nacho bar. Just enjoy nachos at their finest! Or setup one of these nacho bar ideas – it’d be so fun!
November 26th – Cake Day falls near Thanksgiving so it may not work but doesn’t a cake themed party just sound amazing? From this Snickers Poke Cake to the best chocolate sheet cake, I’d come to a cake party any day!
Such great ideas, but we don’t have kids in the family anymore, and our friends are all seniors now. Any ideas for those not able to do as many physical activities?
I love the concept and also the idea of using woods as pastry holder.
Can you please help me guy’s where I can find different kitchenware for our upcoming outdoor gathering.
I absolutely LOVE Fall and usually the only time of year I will have a large group of friends over for a party. Yet, I’ve ran out of ideas/themes for my yearly parties, as we’ve already done and re-done the typical Adult Game Night. Which I find funny because the night usually ends with some kind of game being played…
Nonetheless, I wanted to find another theme/title… Then I stumbled across your blog and I just LOVE your ‘Fall Into Friends’ idea, as it sounds uber cute, can be an event for new and old friends alike and leaves the door open for whatevs (Haha did you catch my “leaves” pun? 🙂 I know, I’m so corny 🙂 Did you catch that one too? Lol smh)
The pumpkin carving party is a great idea. I’ll have to set this up for next Halloween. It’ll be fun carving pumpkins & seeing who can create the best one. I’m going to come up with a scary prize for the winner. Thanks for sharing these party fab ideas.
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