Category Archives: Autumn

Our Favourite Fun for Halloween

Not long now until that spooky time of year – so we’ve collected a few of our favourite Halloween printables together below.   Some are popular every year, others are new additions.  Whatever you’re doing on the 31st of October, we hope you have a frighteningly good time!

No Trick or Treat Posters

Trick or treating is great fun but it’s fine not to want to take part. You don’t need to give your reasons to opt out but one of the best ways to let trick or treaters know it’s not for you is to put a light-hearted notice up in your window. Here are a few which might help you out.

If you’re looking for some simple paper decorations to hang around the house, you might also like our Halloween ghosts:

 

 

 

 

 

Oooo! And before you go, you might like to create some decorative jars full of spooky potion ingredients.  If so, why not make use of our Witch’s Pantry Potion Labels.  It’s a great way to get your house looking just like a witch’s hovel!

Harvest Festival Printables

Autumn is upon us (in the UK anyway) and so is the time of harvest.  In fact, did you know that the Old English word “haerfest” actually means “autumn”?  Yes, indeed, and for those of you looking for some harvest festival printables for your children to help celebrate, we’ve assembled ours below.

When is Harvest Festival 2023 (UK)?

Harvest Festival is celebrated on the nearest Sunday to the Harvest Moon (that’s the full moon nearest to the September equinox).  This year in the United Kingdom, the Harvest Moon will shine down upon us on Friday 29 September.  So that means the 2023 Harvest Festival Feast will fall on Sunday 1 October.

This year’s autumn equinox is actually a couple of days before that on Saturday 23 September 2023, and harvest-themed church services can take place throughout September and October.

picture of annual solsticesAs harvest celebrations in general take place over several days, it doesn’t really matter when you have yours.  Traditionally though, it was never held after Michaelmas Day on the 29th September, because that’s when the church decided that the Harvest Festival period should officially end.  The idea was that all the crops had to be brought in before St Michael’s Mass and that parishes would then gather in their churches to give thanks.  These days, dates are not as strict.

Picture of a corn dolly twist
Corn Dolly Twist

Also, it’s worth remembering that traditions surrounding bringing in the harvest predate Christianity by a loooong chalk, in the UK going back to at least Saxon times.  Some of the very old traditions are feasting, dancing and playing games.  Making corn dollies was also popular, which were carefully kept in people’s homes as a tribute to the Spirit of the Corn or Goddess of the Grain, in the hope that he or she would make sure there was a good harvest the following year.  Not all corn dollies were made in the shape of a doll mind you, some were woven to look like bells, crosses, knots, spirals and animals such as hares and horses.  Different parts of the country often had their own corn dolly traditions.

All in all, Harvest Festival time was a chance to come together and have fun, to be thankful for whatever the land had supplied, and to lift people’s spirits and put them in a positive frame of mind, ready to get through the winter.

After all that of course, we’re in the run up to Halloween

If you’re having your own Harvest Festival celebration at your home, church or school, you might like our free printable poster:

Best of Bonfire Night

Although dwindling in popularity compared to Halloween, the 5th of November is still celebrated in many parts of the UK.  We’ve created a handful of printables with this in mind and whether it’s “Bonfire Night”, “Guy Fawkes Night” or “Fireworks Night” in your house, we hope you find them useful.

Remember, Remember Scrolls

If you’re looking for a printable version of that famous Guy Fawkes Night chant, ours are below.  They’re a great way to add to the 5th of November decorations.

We hope you have a roaring good time on Bonfire Night, but remember to be careful… fireworks can be as hot as dragon’s breath, and you wouldn’t go too near a dragon, would you?  x

Decorate for Halloween!

Yay, it’s that spooooooky time of year again and time to decorate accordingly!  Here are our fave decorations from around our site.   Hope you and your family have a scarily good time.

Autumn Leaves

Paper leaf decorations
Paper Leaves Hanging from a Bannister

If you don’t happen to live deep inside a magic forest, you can still get that enchanted autumn look with these printable paper leaves.  They look gorgeous in any room and are useful for any festival in fall, including Halloween.

 

Witch’s Potion Pantry Labels

Up next are these fabulously witchy pantry labels, for all your potion ingredients.  Print and stick on jars and bottles all around your home to turn your house into a veritable witch’s hovel!

 

Halloween Bunting


Good old-fashioned bunting is always a great fallback for Halloween.  By all means print ours – it’s al free – or just use it for inspiration to make your own.

 

Witchy Wall Spells

Decorative witchy wall spells to print and hang on your wall.

These fun poems with a witch’s spell theme make a lovely addition to your Halloween decor.  Just print them out and pin them around the house.  Or you could write some of your own!

 

Remembrance Day Printables

It’s so important to remember those who laid down their lives in the hope of of keeping the rest of us safe, that we might inherit a better world.  Of course, we remember them for more than just one day a year, but Remembrance Day is a chance to do so together, and with that in mind, below are the printables we’ve got which we think might be useful for this day.

The British Legion need your donations more than ever due to Covid-19.  You can donate to their Poppy Appeal here: britishlegion.org.uk/get-involved/ways-to-give/donate

While Remembrance Sunday is always the second Sunday in November, Remembrance Day in the UK is on the eleventh day of the eleventh month.  On that day at 11:00 GMT a two-minute silence is usually observed to commemorate those who died in conflict.  Remembrance Day is also called “Armistice Day”.

Halloween Ghosts

Looking for some ghosts to print out for Halloween?  Here’s our collection.  We hope you have fun decorating!

One great way to use all these different ghost characters is to thread them all along a string.  They look great!  Oh, and don’t forget that you can also use out blank ghost template to draw your own.

New Colouring Pages

Hello!  As you’ll know if you’re a regular visitor to this site, we add new printable colouring pages whenever we can.  Here are our latest offerings, many of which have been created with the upcoming season of autumn in mind.  We hope you find them useful and that if your children are heading back to school this September, they have a great term.

Bits and Bobs for Thanksgiving

ThanksgivingAlthough we are based in the UK, we know we have many American visitors, so we occasionally add resources for Thanksgiving.  Here are they are, in no particular order.

  • Thanksgiving Notes – Little notes to print and/or write on, saying what you give thanks for.

Our Favourites:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ten Halloween Treats

As our site is getting quite big these days, we thought we’d kick off October by posting a list of our most popular Halloween printables.  (They’re all free.)  Hope you have fun browsing through them, and that you find something useful for you and your family to enjoy.

 

1. Decorate With a Witchy Wall Spell

Witchy Wall Spells
Witchy Wall Spells

These friendly rhymes with a witchy theme are great fun to decorate your home with on Halloween. They all say lovely things and are a novel way to entertain any Halloween visitors you might have, especially children. Just print, cut out and hang them wherever you feel like it – on doors, fridges, walls etc – and make your guests smile. They also make great little give-aways for Halloween party bags.

 

2. Craft Some Halloween Party Bags

Free Printable Halloween Party Gift Bags
Halloween Party Bags

Whether you’re having a Halloween party or just filling up little bags of sweets for trick and treaters, these spooky bags are lots of fun.  There are all sorts of themes, black cat, candy corn, witch on a broomstick, pumpkin patch and lots more.

 

 

3. Make Use of Our Monster Chore Chart

Children's chore chart with a monster theme
Monster Chore Chart

Don’t forget to check off those Halloween chores! Perhaps this monster chore chart will encourage the children to give you a hand. We have a number of other colourful chore charts too, including a Witchy Chore Chart, which is popular with girls.

 

4. Colour in a Witch

A witch brewing potions for Halloween!
Witch Colouring

This has long been one of our most popular Halloween colouring pages. We hope your children enjoy it.

 

 

 

 

5. Hang Up Some Halloween Bunting

Printable bunting to decorate at Halloween
Halloween Bunting

Halloween bunting is a nice, easy way to decorate for Halloween, just print it out, fold, then glue or staple over string. It’s a good one for the kids to do with you – we find that ours like this scardy cat bunting best!

 

 

6. Put Up Some Paper Leaves

Paper leaf decorations
Paper Leaves Hanging from a Bannister

Our paper leaves are ever so popular, at Halloween, Thanksgiving, Harvest festival or any other autumnal occasion. To get the best out of making ours, you can check out this “how to” video. It was made a bit quickly as we were short on time that day, but it gives you the general idea.

Paper leaves are a fabulous way to bring the outside inside on Halloween.

 

7. Make Use of Some Spidery Scrapbook Paper

Free printable craft paper for Halloween
Scrapbook Paper: Spiders

We love this stuff – it makes our skin crawl every time! You can use it for anything you like. We use it for wrapping up small presents and (perhaps oddly!) to cover tissue boxes when we’re trying to Halloweenify the house. After all, it’s the little details which make for a great party.

TIP: To get the biggest (highest resolution) image of this craft paper, make sure you click on the picture itself, rather than using the PDF button.

Don’t forget, we have lots of other scrapbook paper too.

 

8. Print a “Monster Moving Out” Letter 

Printable letters to convince your child that monsters are moving out
Letters from Monsters Moving Out

These letters were created as a lighthearted antidote for any children who think there are monsters living in their house, but even if your kids are too old to worry about such things, we’ve found that many still enjoy them.  They’re written by the same author as our Santa letters and are an amusing read for all the family.

 

 

9. Take Care of Teeth with a Halloween Tooth Fairy Certificate

Printable certificate from the Tooth Fairy to say well done for brushing over Halloween
Halloween Tooth Fairy Certificate: Well for brushing your teeth over Halloween

This one’s a great way to encourage tooth brushing over Halloween. It’s a nice little reward for any child who has made an effort to look after his/her teeth.

TIP: Use the green Editable PDF button underneath the certificate to download a PDF you can type your child’s name straight onto.

 

 

10. Read a Halloween Note from Santa Claus

Happy Halloween Letter from Father Christmas!
Happy Halloween Letter
from Father Christmas!

Okay, so you weren’t expecting a Father Christmas resource in this list, but think again.  Halloween is a great time to remind the children he’s watching between now and Christmas – and with any luck you’ll get a special effort from them on the good behaviour front.