In no particular order, collected from every inspirational source possible as well as the activities I love to do in Autumn myself, this is my Could Do list for Autumn.

Fall, Autumn, whatever. This time of year, when the leaves turn, the temperature drops, the sun loses its strength and we start to turn inwards, is a cracking time for gratitude and appreciation. It’s a good time to think about reorganising life, to spend time outside, to enjoy activities with friends and family and generally to appreciate the wonderful, bounteous gifts of the world around us. Since whenever I have written an Autumn Hygge list, a wish-list, bucket list or any other name for a list of stuff that I’d like to do but don’t need to do. Nobody could do them all every year, but everybody could do something this year.

Let me have your ideas below as well. The list isn’t final: I’m quite happy to add to it, take away from it and re-jiggle it every year from now until whenever. That’s what lists are for: use, adapt, evolve and use again.

In The Outdoors….

• Brush up the leaves in the garden into one big heap. Play in them. Brush them up again. Repeat as necessary.
• Collect nature’s bounty as you walk. Create a small spot that can act as a repository (a wooden or glass bowl, a mantelpiece or the edge of a shelf) and display them until December forces a change into Christmas.
• Start feeding the birds again.
• Find a firework display to attend.
• Spend an evening around the firepit. Do all the summer campfire things, but in gloves.

Great for Families….

• Explore the local park and go on a scavenger hunt for signs of autumn.
• Choose a local tree and watch it for signs of the changing season.

In The House…

• Place pumpkins on your windowsills. Use strings of fairylights artfully arranged around and between to add night time interest, especially if you, like me, choose the smallest and brightest orange squash to display.
• Carve pumpkins. You can stick with the traditional scary styles, or branch out into words, names, faces, houses, patterns. Let your imagination run riot.
• Clean all the windows thoroughly. Autumn and Winter in my house mean the sun is low enough to shine in at the back all day long. Clean windows mean I don’t sit there feeling antsy because I can see every streak and mark and fingerprint.
• Autumnify your cleaning basket. Find seasonal scents in cleanser, carpet freshener (amber glow), air freshener and fabric conditioner (Heavenly Nectar). Citrus, spices, vanilla, sandalwood and even the pure, clear non-scent of beeswax can add an extra layer of sensual enjoyment to the season.
• Decorate in a basic way for Halloween or All Souls, depending on belief. Lanterns, pumpkin faces, apple garlands.
• Put out a harvest wreath with leaves, fruits, corn, cones, nuts and acorns. Hang it on the front door with a beautiful ribbon.
• Find all your gloves, hats and scarves and keep them in a basket by the front door ready for the cold that will be.
• Buy a pot of bronze Chrysanthemums and keep it on the dining room table.
• Use apples in a wooden bowl as decor… and eat one a day to keep the doctor away!

In The Kitchen…

• Make pork and apple casserole. Serve with crusty bread.
• Bake an apple cake and enjoy it one Sunday afternoon.
• Change up your traditional drink into something spicier. Choose chai instead of Yorkshire, flavoured coffee ahead of plain. Add cinnamon to your hot chocolate and nutmeg to your Horlicks.
• Savour your mornings. Change up your breakfast for an easy but warm one: porridge, or scrambled eggs.
• Make mulled cider, or at the very least warmed apple juice.

Good For Your Soul…

• Learn an Autumn poem off by heart: Ode to Autumn by Keats is lovely, but this webpage has nine other choices… which is good.
• Start adding autumn shades to your wardrobe. A bright orange, a golden yellow, rusted red, dark moss green, every shade of brown. If they’re not your preferred colours, add them as an accent in a scarf or patterned top. I love wearing my bronze scarf with a bright green coat.
• Visit the coffee shop of your choice and find your Autumn Warmer drink. It might be pumpkin spice latte, it might not. My local coffee chain, Costa, do Maple Hazel coffee and hot chocolate which is nice. Make the times you do have an Autumn favourite special by making an event of it. Plan it, give yourself time to enjoy it, limit the times you have it per year.
• Strengthen your face care routine and add a spicy scented handcream to the mix. Change your handwash for a suitably autumnal one: orange, apple, sandalwood or almond.
• Start a new autumn-themed craft. Paint pinecones, make conker people, begin a new blanket, scarf or shawl. Crochet pumpkins, apples or leaves.
• Spend an afternoon reading in an armchair by a window while it rains.
• Start and keep a list of favourite Fall reads. Separate out by genre: Cosy, gothic, horror, historical, romance.
• Start and keep a list of favourite Autumn/Fall movies and TV shows to watch/rewatch.
• Make an effort to watch some Fall movies to hygge to. Just stick the film on, and cosy down to it.
• Play Folklore on a continuous loop. It just is so autumnal.

Enough to be going on with, I think! What would you put on the definitive Autumn could-do bucket list? Let me know, and I’ll keep adding to this as the season slips slowly by.

Past Posts that May Be Of Interest:

Autumnal De-Stressors: My Kick The Bucket Full Of Leaves List

How to Hygge the British Way is my gift to the world. I don’t get paid for writing it, I’m not in it for the kudos, financial rewards, to become an influencer, work with brands or otherwise make any money from the blog. That’s why there are no ads, and any products I mention and recommend have either been gifted to me or bought by me with my everyday wages or donations from supporters. Every book I review has been bought and read by me, unless stated otherwise.

I do get a couple of pennies each time someone buys from the Amazon links on my page, as an Amazon Affiliate, but otherwise if you’d like to support me, I like to give something back in return. That’s why I write books. It always feels good if you get a book back in return for some money. You can find a full list of my books at my Author’s Page on Amazon, but especially recommended for this time of year are:

Cosy Happy Hygge: Setting up a rhythm to life and rituals to enjoy it to make for a more balanced life that handles waves and storms better. Lent is a season of rituals and resets. The book has small and easy ways to make your life flow with grace and happiness, which lead to more hygge.

Happier: Probably my most personal book, it’s the story of how I used hygge and the little things in life to help boost my happiness. I still go back and reread to remind myself what I need to do to be a happy human. And it’s always the little things.

IMy Christmas books are always available: Have Yourself a Happy Hygge Christmas is a good place to start, on how to make the season cosier, happier. 

Celebrating a Contagious Christmas was written during covid year, but has useful advice on celebrating when times are hard anyway and Enjoying a Self-Care Christmas is a short e-book on keeping Christmas simpler, easier and better for you, your waistline and your budget. It even includes 25+ suggestions for self-care activities over Christmas, as simple as sipping tea, keeping a list journal or lighting a candle. Bigger is not always better for Christmas.

I’m currently working on two book projects: I have a hankering to rewrite 50 Ways to Hygge the British Way, so it’s not available at the moment, but even dearer to my heart and my next stated aim is to finish and publish my next book, Simple Plus Cosy = Hygge. It will be about homemaking and how the home we create shapes the hygge we have. Hopefully it will be finished by the end of summer 2025.

If you’d like to support me, but don’t want to buy a book, I have a Paypal.Me account as Hygge Jem. Every little helps, so even a few pence goes towards the books, goods and courses I use and recommend on the site. I’m grateful for every little bit that brings me closer to my dream of full-time writing, and I know I couldn’t still be writing if it weren’t for the support of many readers and friends out there. Thank you all for every little bit of support, emotional, physical and financial, you give me.

If you’ve enjoyed this article, don’t forget to share it or save it so others can enjoy reading, thinking about and living hygge as well.

The photo between post and promotions is by Alisa Anton on Unsplash. I like the pause it seems to hint at: the person, who has stepped out of the shot for a moment, has their book ready to read and hot chocolate on the point of perfection: they’ve lit their candle, and settled down to enjoy a fresh breeze before the autumn winds turn sharp and sarcastic. They just need… what? Their pen? A blank page to write a loved one a letter? Socks, or a throw? I love photos that drag you into making up a story.