How to Visit a Pumpkin Patch

There is nothing to reign in fall like a visit to the pumpkin patch. As a child, trips to the pumpkin patch meant time with my family and long walks together as we examined pumpkins and then inevitably found the best and biggest pumpkin in the farthest corner of the patch.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Garbage sacks
• Camera
• Wagon
• Tarp
• Newspaper
• Grubby clothes

1. Visit the pumpkin patch early on a weeknight. Weekends will do as
   well. They will just be crowded with hundreds of people with the
   same great idea as you. Visiting early in the month of October will help
   to alleviate crowds as well.
2. Plan on staying for a few hours. Let this be an adventure. Do not
   rush your child to find a pumpkin. Let him examine each one carefully
   until he has decided on the best pumpkin in the patch.
3. Bring a wagon. Your arms will very much thank you for this. Carrying
   the dead weight of a ten pound pumpkin half a mile through uneven and
   muddy ground is not fun.
4. Wear grubby clothes. You will get dirty. Your child will be even more
   dirty--likely covered in dust or mud from head to toe. This is okay. It's
   part of the experience!
5. Take plenty of pictures. It is still okay to take pictures even when
   your child has on holy jeans and a faded flannel shirt. It is all part
   of the memory.
6. Bring newspapers, a tarp or grocery sacks to put your pumpkin on in
   the car. Cleaning the car up after your children is going to be enough.
   You don't need to clean up after the pumpkin too!
7. Go to a coffee shop and get cookies and cocoa or cider afterward. It
   is all part of the fall feeling and is a wonderful tradition. Yes, it is
   okay to take your kids into the coffee shop in their old, dirty clothes. People will know you've been out
   having a great time.

Tips & Warnings

• Have you kids remove their shoes before getting into the car from the patch.
• Become a child, and help search for the grandest pumpkin.
• Go to Starbucks. They have great cocoa and cider, and their kids drinks are very affordable.