With the end of October and Halloween comes the end of a lot of the “fall activities” here in Utah. In this month’s roundup, I wanted to include some ways to still enjoy fall while we can in addition to the winter and holiday festivities that are starting!
Jump to a specific section of this post using the hyperlinks below!
Upcoming Holidays
While I’m no expert in cultures or holidays around the world, I want to share some resources that have been helpful for me in learning about other holidays happening in the month of November, and how they can be celebrated respectfully without appropriation.
Diwali (or Deepavali, depending on the region of India) is a Hindi holiday celebrating the “victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance.” The celebration usually lasts 5 days with various activities and foods being made each day. Preethi from Local Passport Family has put together an amazing guide on celebrating Diwali respectfully! While this is geared towards families, I found this to be a great resource! You can find the full guide HERE!
November is Native American Heritage Month, a month dedicated to recognizing the significant contributions the Natives made to the establishment and growth of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. You can read more about Native American Heritage Month and find local activities HERE.
Preethi at Local Passport Family is a great resource on being more inclusive in your everyday life as well as celebrating holidays respectfully without appropriating the culture the holiday is from. She’s created a couple of great resources for Thanksgiving! She has a guide around discussing the real Thanksgiving with kids (rather than the fun Pilgrim and Indian version that’s typically taught at school) as well as a giant list of inclusive Thanksgiving picture books to read this month!
Local Events
Much to my chagrin, Christmas events are starting this month. As much as I love Christmas and the surrounding season, I love celebrating Thanksgiving with my friends and family and reflecting on what I’m grateful for over the past year.
One of the big events I want to make sure we make it to this year is the Chriskindlmarkt at This is the Place Heritage Park. Modeled after the German Christmas Markets, there are vendor booths offering a unique holiday shopping and cultural experience! This year the market runs from December 1st-4th 11am-8pm and is free! Check out more information on their website HERE.
You can find a full list of Christmas markets and holiday activities on the Visit Salt Lake website calendar HERE.
Periodically the Natural History Museum of Utah will have limited exhibits and until January 2nd, 2022 they will have Egypt: Time of the Pharaohs on display. The exhibit features more than 350 original artifacts detailing the everyday lives of everyone from everyday people to their dynastic rulers. You can read more about the exhibit and reserve your ticket HERE!
Unfortunately, I didn’t get much hiking done in the peak of fall, but it looks like we’ll have a couple more weeks of fall weather (*fingers crossed*) before second winter comes. I plan on taking advantage of this weather by hitting up a couple of lower elevation hikes in an effort to still get some of that fall color! Here’s a post from Utah’s Adventure Family with a list of 10 fall hikes in Utah!
Recipes
I had such a great time finding and making seasonal recipes that I decided to include something sweet, savory, and a fun cocktail as part of each roundup!
For this month’s savory dish I of course had to share the green bean casserole cups I make each Thanksgiving. Originally, I was looking for something easy to take to a work potluck when I stumbled upon these. Ever since I’ve been making them for family gatherings and they’re a hit! Find the full recipe HERE!
In my opinion, the best fall desserts involve apples or pumpkin. This year while on the hunt for some good fall desserts I found this list of 50 Best Fall Desserts by Ahead of Thyme. The couple that stood out to me are the apple crisp and pumpkin cinnamon rolls! (Plus a few more, but I don’t want to overload you with recipes!) I can’t wait to throw my apron on and put my oven to good use this season!
Lastly, fall-themed cocktails! I’m a sucker for seasonally themed things and so I was a little too excited to see all of these fall-themed cocktails! The couple pan on giving a try this year are the Pomegranate Gin and Hot Buttered Rum cocktails!
If you try any of these recipes I’d love it if you’re tag me in your Instagram stories @jhphotography_ut!
Crafts & Activities
Looking for some fun for the whole family on Thanksgiving? Here’s a list with over 40 different ideas! Most of these are ideal for a bigger group, but a few would be great with a smaller group as well!
Another shoutout to Preethi here, she created an entire 5 day Diwali guide filled with activities, books, recipes, and so much more to respectfully celebrate Diwali with your family! You can find more details about the guide and purchase it HERE! The cost of the guide is only $10, but if you use code LPF30 you can get $3 off.
Growing up my mom always decorated for the different holidays and that’s a tradition I’ve carried into my own home! One of the reasons I love Heartfelt Wall Hangings so much is because of the monthly classes they offer. Each class includes the cost of one of the monthly projects that correlates with the upcoming holiday/season as well as a store credit providing almost endless options no matter how you prefer to decorate your home! Check out this month’s project and class schedule HERE!
I hope you enjoyed this month’s roundup! Want to check out what I included last month? CLICK HERE! If you want to make sure you don't miss my future roundups you can sign up for my VIP list HERE! (Plus, you'll get exclusive access to model calls, priority access to sessions, and discounts just for my VIPs!)
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