Grab your boo and make your way through this ultimate NYC fall to-do list

By: Katie Kallahan

Let’s start with the classics!

1. Pumpkin picking

If you haven’t gone pumpkin picking, now is a perfect time. The weather is also a perfect time for aesthetic Instagram pictures. Where else can you get good pictures for fall? Pumpkin picking field, of course! You and your boo could get matching flannels from Target and go pick a pumpkin to carve. 

• Demarest Farms, NJ 
• Wilkens Fruit & Fir Farm, Yorktown Heights 
• Secor Farms, NJ
• Decker Farm, Staten Island
• Alstede Farms, NJ

2. Apple picking

Another classic autumn activity is apple picking. You could grab your date and even have some friends tag along for a fun day in the apple fields. Then, when you get home, you and your boo could have your very own bake-off and make all the apple goodies you could think of. 

• Hanks Pumpkintown: Water Mill, NY
• Harbes Orchard: Riverhead, NY
• Love Apple Farm: Ghent, NY
• Milk Pail Farm: Water Mill, NY
• Wightman Farms: Morristown, NJ

3. Oktoberfest

Not a fan of drinking apple cider in the pumpkin patch? That’s fine, beer may be the better option for you. 

•  Long Island Craft Beer Fest is happening on October 16th 
• Oktoberfest celebration at Watermark Bar, now until the end of October
• Jersey City Craft Brew Fest, on October 23rd

4. Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze 

You’ll definitely need to bring a sweater for this one, or just borrow your date’s jacket. Walk through an entire field of thousands of hand-carved pumpkins that have been transformed into amazing works of art that also light up. It’s so amazing, and there’s even a gift shop after the walk-through. 

5. Haunted House Dates…duh

What’s more Halloween and spooky than a haunted house. Especially with a date, you get scared and have to grab their arm. Just hope that your date doesn’t have a punch reflex and assaults any zombies. 

• Blood Manor
• The Haunted Kreischer Mansion
• Bane Haunted House

6. Spooky Basket Challenge

Want to keep your spooky date night local? Hit up the nearest Target and find the Halloween section with your date. Each one of you can grab a Halloween candy basket and split up. You’ll have 30 minutes to fill up the basket with things for each other without exceeding $30. You could then head home with your goodies, exchange baskets, and watch a Halloween movie. Beetlejuice is highly recommended for this. 

7. Watch Halloween Movies!!!

Okay, this one is a given. Cuddle up with your boo on the couch with some hot chocolate, popcorn, and a variety of whatever snacks you love, since you will need sustenance for the movie marathon you’re about to have. Here is the ultimate spooky season movie list: 

• Hocus Pocus
• Halloweentown (all 4)
• Nightmare before christmas
• The Haunted Mansion
• Frankenweenie
• Paranorman
• The Conjuring 
• Insidious 
• Practical Magic 
• Harry Potter (all 8)
• Scream
• Scooby Doo 2 Monsters Unleashed 
• The Shining 
• Malignant
• IT 
• Dark Shadows 
• Poltergeist 
• Corpse Bride 
• Edward Scissorhands
• The Addams Family 
• The Grudge 
• The Ring 
• Coraline 
• Beetlejuice
• Hotel Transylvania 
• Candyman 
• Jennifer’s Body 
• The Cabin in the Woods 
• Warm Bodies 
• Van Helsing 
• Halloween 
• Midsommar
• Psycho 
• Saw 
• The Amityville Horror
• A Nightmare on Elm Street 
• Friday the 13th 
• The Exorcist