I'm one of those corny mamas who loves themed events. I can remember when I first started having children, (long before Pinterest) and throwing elaborate themed birthday parties with all sorts of DIY props and games related to the birthday theme. Fast forward 19 years and now we have the gift of Pinterest. No longer is it overly time-consuming or complicated to plan and create fun themed events.
As I shared yesterday, we've been going to the pumpkin patch at Old Baker Farm for 14 years. The first year we attended we did not bring any food, the concessions were very limited and expensive, and since the farm is located in the middle of nowhere, there was zero restaurants in the vicinity. What was essentially a wonderful day quickly turned into a not-so-fun situation filled with cranky little kids in dire need of a decent meal. Did I mention the farm is about an hour away? Talk about a long drive home!!!
In true motherly fashion, I refused to make that same mistake again and from that point on all our trips to the pumpkin patch has included a picnic. And since it is such a fun-filled memory making destination, it only seemed fitting that the food we bring was themed accordingly.
I never make anything overly complicated for our pumpkin patch picnic. I find that it's the simple things that the children really appreciate ~ so that is what I focus on. These days it's even easier preparing our pumpkin patch picnic since I have older children who don't mind lending a helping hand.
Nothing too difficult with this treat, just drawing pumpkin faces on orange (or peach) fruit cups. Make sure the cups are at room temperature. If they are cold the Sharpies dry out.
Pumpkin faces on mini Gatorade bottles.
I found these cute pumpkin poop bag toppers for free on Pinterest.
Pumpkin Patch picnic in full swing.
We also had homemade chicken salad sandwiches to finish off our Pumpkin patch picnic. Last year I found after the season clearance pumpkin plates and napkins.
Picnicking is the way to go if you ask me. We save money and have great food. I also splurge on food and drinks which I don't normally buy. This helps to balance out the fact that we aren't eating from the concessions or dining out. Now, we aren't complete fair food Scrooges. We typically treat the children to a treat or two when we attend these fun functions. This year we bought the kiddos kettle corn and lemonades. Plus big brother who could not attended, sent money to buy his siblings snow cones. (Perks of having a large family ~ older siblings are suckers for spoiling the younger ones, lol).
Each year I tweak our pumpkin patch picnic, but this year I think it was the best. Nothing complicated or time consuming to make. Just a few simple themed additions to make our pumpkin patch picnic extra special for my favorite people. They may or may not ever remember my corny efforts to make our adventures memorable. But it doesn't really matter because I love doing it and the effort is well worth it to me just to see their sweet smiling faces enjoying their picnic lunches.
With Love & Hope,
Jennifer
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