Kid-Friendly Austin: Halloween Fun at Sweet Berry Farm

I will be the first to admit that I used to laugh and laugh and laugh when friends with kids would plan to spend a Sunday afternoon doing family activities. Things like waiting in long lines for a photo with Santa at the mall, staging Easter egg hunts around the house and visiting a farm in the fall to pick out the family pumpkin. How on earth would I be able to see my fantasy football team lose if I wasn’t spending 7 hours straight watching NFL RedZone?

Imagine my surprise when mama informed me that it was her lifelong dream to take the little man to a pumpkin farm and spend Sunday afternoon basking in the afterglow of rotting fall vegetables with hundreds of obnoxious strangers.

I may be paraphrasing a tad, but you get the idea.

Realizing it was important to start family traditions early, I donned my most fall-iest of shirts and off we headed deep into the Texas Hill Country. Marble Falls is a quaint little town an hour or so north west of Austin and the drive is filled with tall rugged hills, vast canyons and lots and lots of limestone. Those of you with youngins know that most long rides equate to nap time for junior, and this trip was no exception.

We arrived to a horde of SUVs and mini-vans. Sweet Berry Farm runs a huge operation and people flock there to partake in the festivities. They feature hayrides, corn and hay mazes, a barrel train, huge jumping pillows, flower picking, scarecrow stuffing, goat petting, horse riding, live music, sand art, face painting, pumpkin painting, pumpkin ice cream and pumpkin picking. Many of the attractions cost money and young kids will want to do everything, so I can see this becoming an expensive little trip when Popeye gets a little older. At just over 7 months though, he was elated just to touch a few pumpkins.

I assure you that this is mind-blowing stuff to a baby

Whereas this is apparently mind-numbing

Goats will eat almost anything, but even they draw the line at stinky baby feet

I call this one ‘Forlorn Amongst the Candy Corn’

See? My shirt is the fall-iest in all the land

Popeye gives Sweet Berry Farm one unenthusiastic thumbs up

If you live in the Austin area and want to partake in the autumn festivities, you’ll find plenty to do at Sweet Berry Farm. It can be a little costly, especially if your kids are older, but people of all ages should be able to find something that interests them. Here’s the details:

Warning: The website will make you think that you traveled back in time to 1998 but fret not, I assure you that the information is current.