Hey girl!
Whether it’s your first year at college, or your last, the fall always feels like a new beginning. It can bring a lot of stressors due to classes starting up, seeing lots of new faces, and the uncertainty of the year to come. One transition I always have to get used to once I move back in is the atmosphere of campus on the weekends. I don’t participate in the party scene at my school, so I have needed to get creative about how I spend my weekends. Luckily, fall is a beautiful season in the area I go to school (North Eastern U.S.A) and the nature of the season itself offers a lot of ways to get creative when it seems like everyone else is out partying. To help get your creative juices flowing, I put together a list of things I like to do during this season. Hope it helps with the transition to life back at school!
1. Have a bonfire! Don’t have access to a fire pit? Make S’mores in the microwave and get cozy with blankets outside on the college green or a public park anyways.
2. Carve pumpkins and drink some hot apple cider.
3. Watch a scary movie if you enjoy them. If you don’t like these flicks, watch an old fashioned black and white film instead! They will provide the same eerie vibe without giving anyone nightmares.
4. Take a “night hike.” Basically, take a walk in a field, graveyard, or trail near campus at night for some fun memories. This idea stems from the summer camp I work at. At camp, the person in front leads with a flashlight and everyone else follows, blindly holding hands. It is a great trust building activity to do with your friend group at college if you are up for it! Just make sure you are in a safe area!
5. Go apple picking and then make some tasty treats with your apples. One idea is to make caramel apples and hand them out around campus or to people who live in your college town. If you hand out caramel apples to people party hopping, trust me, you will definitely get a positive reaction (and maybe a few drunken hugs).
6. Make a wish box with your closest friends. I see it in movies all the time and it’s sad how rarely people actually do them! My suggestion is to have a group of close friends write letters to one another, and then a letter to themselves. You can either go bury your box somewhere on campus or let someone keep it in a special spot in their dorm room or another building. It isn’t to be opened until maybe 5 or 10 years later. My friend and I made one my freshman year of high school and opened it up when we were in college. Make whatever timeline works for you and your friends. Have a ceremony around it as well! See the movie The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants for inspiration. It can be serious and sentimental or totally ridiculous. You can even pray over the memory box and involve God in the process. Fall is a great time to do a memory box because it holds the promise of a new beginning.
7. Go to a corn maze or visit a farm.
8. Have a sweet Halloween party not centered on drinking. Maybe have it take place on a night that isn’t Halloween itself so more people are open to coming. Make cool invitations, invite your close friends, and tell them to all bring a few friends as well so it truly feels like a mixer. Get donuts and other classic fall snacks, and it’ll be a hit! Just make sure to set a contribution price for guests so you aren’t paying for everything and everyone.
9. Play an outdoor/nighttime version of hide and go seek, sardines, or ghost in the graveyard.
10. Prank-call your friends from high school alongside your new college friends.
11. Take advantage of nice weather and play some sports! Glow in the dark Frisbee is a fun option if you want to do something on a crisp fall night.
12. Ding dong ditch! Just kidding. Well, kind of. Make a bag full of candy/bake something with your friends and then ding dong ditch. If you want, you can make a chain. Leave a fun note explaining that they can continue the tradition throughout the floor by making another goody bag and passing it on to another person’s room on the same hallway. The idea is that this way everyone on the floor will get a Halloween treat.
Any other favorite fall activities I’m missing? Comment below! Keep an eye out for the winter-themed activities list coming soon!
Hugs,
Alena
