How to Throw A Fall Harvest Party

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[et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”]By now most pumpkins are ripe for harvesting or a couple of weeks or so away from starring in this year’s fall harvest party and Halloween celebration. Surely, you have plans to visit the nearest pumpkin farm to get your share of these Halloween staples. The much awaited holiday is just not complete without pumpkins.

These soon-to-be Jack-o’-Lanterns are not the only produce farmers harvest around this time, though. Those herbs and vegetables planted in the summer should be ready for harvesting right now. Some fruits should also be ripe for the picking come autumn. You know what that means, right? Say it with me — fall harvest party.

Invites

A party without guests is not a party. Make sure family and friends will come over by sending out fall harvest party invitations. Zazzle has a bunch of these fall-themed invites. They have invitations for birthdays, weddings, bridal showers, baby showers, Thanksgiving, and Friendsgiving.

If you’re just looking for a reason to throw a fall party at your place, you can always celebrate the coming of autumn. Spread the word by giving out Autumn is in the Air Invitations to your friends.

HuffPost suggests going the paperless route when it comes to inviting people over to your autumn party. This is a pretty neat option as you don’t have to spend that much plus you help save trees. Also, almost everyone has emails and is on social media now.

Décor

A fall festival would be quite a bore if you don’t have anything colorful and lively to look at. Brighten up everyone’s day by decorating your homestead with lots of pumpkins and flowers.

Start off with a welcome sign. You can go with the rustic theme and make a welcome sign out of wood and some paint. Here are a few wood pallet sign ideas you can use as inspiration.

Buntings or banners are party staples. You can go the classic route and make buntings out of paper or you can be awesome and make fall wood banner instead. Wood banner kits are available at arts and craft stores but there wouldn’t be much of a challenge if you use these pre-cut pieces of wood. Take out your trusty jig saw and start making your own wooden buntings.

Say what now? You don’t have a jig saw? Fear not, my friend. The Bosch JS365 Top-Handle Jig Saw is on sale at Rockler right now. Get your new toy for only $99 and save $$30 off its regular price.

(Related: Essential Power Tools For Your Homestead)

There are lots of other ways to decorate your party. It would be better if your fall festivity will be held outdoors since it goes so well with the theme. Plus, you can get imaginative with the decorations and activities.

Fall Harvest Party Activities

For sure there’ll be lots of kids at your fall harvest party. Keep them entertained by planning some exciting activities for them to do.

Pumpkin Carving

Since Halloween is just around the corner, it would be a great idea to have your guests, young and old, carve pumpkins. They’ll surely have lots of fun expressing their creativity. The best part, however, is having a number of jack-o’-lanterns to decorate your homestead. Well, unless you let your guests take home their masterpieces.

Prepare a Pumpkin Punchers Pumpkin Carving Kit for the children. This kit comes with stencils that are safe to use by the little ones. Even adults, particularly the clumsy ones, can use this kit to carve their Halloween pumpkins.

Pumpkin Ring Toss

Young and old will love fall party games such as the pumpkin ring toss. It’s basically the same as any ring toss game. You just have to toss the rope rings at pumpkins.

When playing this fun fall activity, choose the pumpkins with the longest and straightest stems. Use wooden rings or the rope rings that come with the Elite Sportz Equipment Ring Toss Game.

Pumpkin Hunt

You know how kids are with treasure hunting, right? If they go goo-goo over Easter eggs then they’ll be thrilled to look for mini pumpkins. Gather the tiny pumpkins and hide them before the guests arrive. Surprise the kids by handing them buckets and announcing a pumpkin hunt later on.

Food

Ahh yes… food, glorious food. The best part of a fall harvest party is the food aside from family and friends, of course. There are hundreds of recipes you can make that will go well with the occasion. In fact, Taste of Home came up with 50 of such recipes you can choose to do for your fall festivity.

Appetizer

Start your fall party by serving your guests something to nibble on like this delicious cranberry brie bites recipe from Delish. This recipe calls for crescent dough, flour, brie, cranberry sauce, pecans, and rosemary. Delish suggests using canned dough though you can make your own from scratch if you wish. Check this buttery crescent roll recipe from The Kitchn to get an idea how to make the dough.

Use Baker’s Advantage 24-Cup Non-stick Mini Muffin Pan to make lots of cranberry brie bites in one go. The cups on this dishwasher-safe muffin pan are the perfect size to make such appetizers. Plus, it’s infused with silicone and free of PFOA, which means it will cook evenly.

(Related: Homestead Kitchen Essentials You Want for Christmas)

Soup

Take advantage of all the fresh vegetables by making a hearty vegetable soup. You can basically use whatever ingredient you have available. When you have the time, experiment on what combination of vegetables, herbs and seasonings will make for a great soup.

For your coming fall harvest party, however, you better stick with something you’re familiar with. Or you can try this hearty vegetable soup recipe from Taste of Home.

This one uses quite a lot of ingredients, particularly, olive oil, carrots, onions, celery ribs, green pepper, garlic, cabbage, frozen cut green beans, frozen peas, frozen corn, garbanzo beans or chickpeas, bay leaf, chicken bouillon granules, dried parsley flakes, salt, dried marjoram, dried thyme, dried basil, pepper, water, a can of diced tomatoes, and V8 juice.

Main Course

Just because you just harvested lots of fruits, vegetables, and other produce doesn’t mean you can’t serve and eat meat. If you don’t produce your own meat, check out Snake River Farms. They are currently celebrating National Pork Month by offering a free item for every purchase of three. Not bad at all.

Now it makes total sense to serve an apple-glazed stuffed pork chop at your fall harvest celebration. You get four orders for the price of three. This’ll make sure you get to feed everyone in the party.

To make your apple-glazed stuffed pork chop, you will need, of course, along with seasoned stuffing cubes, peeled and diced Granny Smith apple, diced celery rib, raisins, apple juice, butter, salt, ground pepper, and brown sugar. Don’t forget your Kurobuta Boneless Pork Chop. Check out the complete recipe here.

Below is another way to make a pork chop and apple combo. — grilled Snake River Farms Kurobuta pork chops with borboun apples.

Side Dish

Buttered or steamed vegetables seem just right for a fall harvest party. Get some of your freshly picked carrots, broccoli, and what have you and make a nice side dish. While your delectable slabs of meat are cooking on the grill, you can cook your veggies quickly in a solar stove if you have one.

You know what? You should have one. Get yourself a GoSun Sport Portable Solar Oven as reward for all the hard work you’ve done on the farm. Use it to bake, steam, and roast without electricity or fuel. All you need is the sun and you’re good to go.

Dessert

For dessert, you can never go wrong with a pumpkin shepherd’s pie. Foodtastic Mom has a great version of this classic autumn food. This “upgraded” shepherd’s pie recipe calls for fat-free ground turkey and Brussels sprouts instead of the usual beef and mashed potato. Other ingredients include Swiss cheese, milk or cream, butter, all-purpose flour, cranberry sauce, chicken or turkey broth, and salt. You’ll also need russet potatoes, fresh thyme, nutmeg, yellow onion, bacon, and pumpkin puree.

For your cooking equipment, you’ll mainly need an oven and a cast iron skillet. The Tomlinson Supercast Set of 6 Cast Iron Skillet is a must in every kitchen. Using cast iron is the safest way to cook food. Plus, they last long compared to other kinds of cookware.

Drinks

A fall harvest party or any other party, for that matter, is not complete without some ice cold beverage to give you a little buzz. Make sure you have enough supply so you don’t have to go on a beer run or a whatever-alcohol-you’re-drinking run when you already have alcohol in your system.

Be responsible and don’t drink and drive. This goes for all your guests, too. Tell everyone to designate a driver or to have someone pick them up or walk them home after the party. You can also book a cab or a Grab if they’re available. Another option is to let your guests sleep over if they’re too drunk.

Wine

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk wine. It’s great if you have your own little winery but if you don’t, you can always get your fix from the California Wine Club. If you don’t have any inkling what wine to serve at your autumn party, you can go with something like the Donati Family Vineyard 2015 Paicines Central Coast Cabernet Sauvignon.

Matt Kettmann of Wine Enthusiast Magazine and fellow wine critic Jeb Dunnuck gave this cabernet sauvignon a “Very Good” rating. Kettman described it as having a “strong herbal display [that] shows on the nose of this bottling.”

Beer

Most of you will probably prefer beer over wine. Still, you should get some bottles in case someone in the party wants to relax with some fine wine.

You should seriously consider brewing your own beer. This way, you have an endless supply of brewski provided you have made lots beforehand.

The BrewDemon Craft Beer Kit comes complete with everything you need to start making your own beer. Each set includes a conical fermenter, a bottle filling valve, and beer bottles. It even includes recipes to three kinds of beer, namely, pilsner, stout, and pale ale.

The best thing about the BrewDemon is that it separates the naturally produced sediments from the end-product. Other kits that use non-conical fermenters produce beer that still contain the sediments.

(Related: Beer Lover’s Guide to Home Brewing in the Apocalypse)

We mentioned ice cold beer, right? To make sure you’re drinking the coldest beverages in town, you need the right cooler. You can use the typical cooler where you need to buy a block of ice to keep the contents cold. The best kinds are those that keep the cold inside so make sure to do some research first and not purchase the first cooler you see.

(Related: Best Camping Fridges to Keep You Cool and Refreshed)

If you’re having your fall harvest party outdoors, you might as well use the GoSun Chill Solar Cooler. It’s basically a cooler that’s doesn’t need ice and is powered by the sun. Cool, right?

Of course, you’re not limited to beer and wine. You can prepare some fall cocktails, too. Country Living made a great list of fall cocktails recipes you can do at home. We do want to show you how to make one particular cocktail that will surely be a hit at your fall harvest party.

People like to throw fall shindigs at their homesteads to celebrate a bountiful harvest. It’s a thanksgiving party of sorts, which is not a bad thing at all. It’s always great to share what you have and to spend some fun quality time with the people you care about the most.

Make your autumn get-together one for the ages by learning as many fall harvest party ideas as you can such as these ones from Homesteading and Better Homes & Gardens as well as here on Gentleman Pirate Club. Try to incorporate all the best ideas you can to make sure everyone will enjoy the food, drinks and activities. Of course, don’t forget to have some fun yourself.

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