Autumn isn’t complete until the last leaf has fallen—and you’ve checked off every item on our list of seasonal musts.
- Pick apples at Henrietta Creek Orchard in Roanoke. Instagram to your heart’s content.
- Take a hike (while the weather actually allows it) at Cedar Ridge Preserve.
- Learn how to spruce up your stoop at Dr Delphinium’s preserved flower-topped pumpkin class, offered on Sept. 25. And yes, wine is included.
- Host an at-home scary movie marathon.
- Plunk down $13 for a pumpkin, carving kit, and a pint—all proceeds go to a local charity—and show off your ale-enhanced skills at the Old Monk’s annual pumpkin carving fundraiser, which runs Oct. 25–31.
- RSVP to the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden’s Fall Festival Dinner on Sept. 22, a garden-to-table meal prepared by Preston Hollow Catering.
- Spend a weekend sampling all the limited-time pumpkin-flavored goodies around town: pancakes at Café Brazil, cupcakes at Sprinkles, popsicles at Steel City Pops, and macarons at JOY, to name a few.
- Sample the seasonal beers from our local breweries.
- Look to the skies at the 40th Annual Plano Balloon Festival, held at Oak Point Park from Sept. 20–22.
- Take flight at Romancing the Monarch: A Butterfly Festival, a free family event happening Oct. 5 at Granbury’s Demonstration Gardens, timed to the winged beauties’ annual migration.
- Perfect a chili recipe.
- Leaf peep at Fort Worth Botanic Garden’s Japanese Garden, where the Japanese maples put on a fall foliage show the likes of which are rarely seen in DFW.
- Pumpkin spiced lattes are so last year: Get your caffeine fix with Mudsmith’s salted caramel and rose hemp milk latte.
- Tailgate at TCU or SMU (ahem, the ‘Stangs call it “boulevarding”) before one of their home football games.
“Boulevarding” at SMU. By Scot and Kristi Redman - Skip the fly-by-night pop-up shops and head to Dallas Vintage Shop for a Halloween costume that will upstage those ungrateful trick-or-treaters.
- Pick the perfect pumpkin—plus, enjoy a hay ride, maze, petting barn, and more—at Preston Trail Farms’ Big Orange Pumpkin Farm, open Sept. 15–Nov. 21.
- Lose your inhibitions at the legendary Oak Lawn Halloween Block Party. The decidedly adults-only affair takes place this year on Oct. 26.
- Enter your prized pies ($10 an entry) or—better yet—sample the selection (just $5 per person) at the 11th annual White Rock Market Pie Contest, held Nov. 23
- Actually finish putting together a jigsaw puzzle.
- Burn Society’s “Folklore” candle—available from Labor Day through Christmas—and fill your home with autumnal notes of pomegranate, peppercorn, and sage.
- Learn to make a comforting beef bourguignon at Sur la Table’s “Cozy Autumn Meal” cooking class, Oct. 11 at the Knox Street location.
