Fall Family Activity Apple Tasting Night
Looking for a fun Fall family activity? Why not have an apple tasting night! Have you ever had an apple tasting party? Probably not. I'd never even heard of such a thing until my girlfriend did one with her family and had so much fun we had to try it too!
I've broken it down so you have everything you need to host a successful apple tasting activity of your own!
Ate {8} Days of Thanksgiving
Thank you so much for joining me for the first edition of the Ate {8} Days of Thanksgiving! Get it!? Ha ha. I crack myself up. 😂
I’ll be bringing you fun Fall party and Thanksgiving inspiration for the next few weeks and I hope you follow along. Today it's all about fun Fall Family Activities.
Where to Find Unique Apple Varieties?
First things first. You need apples for an Apple Tasting, so where do you go? Turns out Sprouts Farmers Market has the BEST selection I have ever seen. If you know of somewhere else that has more options I'd love to hear about it. I purchased one of each variety {12 or more!} and took them home to try it out. Bad idea. It was TOO MANY apples for our family of 5!
Then I decided to host a Girls Night Harvest Party and do an apple tasting activity to find the best tasting apple varieties! I scaled it back to 6 options and that was just right! I've listed the varieties I chose below but keep reading for lots more apple ideas:
- Honeycrisp
- Opal
- Crispin (Mutsu)
- Jazz
- Jubilee
- Ambrosia
Best Tasting Apple Varieties
You always see the same 4 or 5 varieties of apples at the grocery store. We always buy the same two: Honeycrisp and Fujis. Can you relate? We love our apples juicy and crisp. But it was SO fun to try out lots of new flavors too.
6 Common Apple Varieties
We loved the 6 apples listed above but if you'd like to stay more familiar here's a list for you too:
- Braeburn
- Gala
- Fuji
- Golden Delicious
- Granny Smith
- Red Delicious
7 More Adventurous Apple Varieties
For those of you more adventurous you can add any of these seven to your list and know that you'll have a yummy selection.
- Cameo
- Evercrisp
- Ginger Gold
- Gravenstein
- Hokuto
- McIntosh
- Pink Lady
**ALL Apples listed above are recommended for eating raw**
Display Your Apples
In order to have an apple to display and an apple to cut you need TWO of each variety. If you aren't worried about the presentation one apple will suffice.
Since mine was an apple tasting party I definitely wanted a nice presentation. To recreate this look, place your whole apple on top of a mini tart pan, ramekin, or finger bowl to display. It does help to see a whole apple when judging them later.
Then slice up HALF of the second apple and display the slices in a fan on a small plate around the base. Save the other half for snacking another day, or for a yummy addition to my favorite Butternut Squash Soup recipe!
Make the slices small so everyone can try a couple pieces of each variety without ruining their dinner!
Mark Each Apple
When all your apples are sliced and ready to go make sure you've taken the stickers off each one and recorded your varieties in a top secret location. Then number your apples so each guest knows which apple they are comparing.
I chose to cut (6) numbers from card stock with my Cricut Explore Air 2 and place them on the apples with pearl head straight pins.
Fall Family Activity Apple Tasting Worksheet
Now that your apples are sliced and labeled it's time to vote! Download and print enough apple tasting sheets for each guest {there are 2 per page}. If you're already a VIPP you can find them in the Parties With A Cause Resource Library. Just check your emails for the password.
Hand each guest a scorecard and color coordinated gel pen 😉 and walk through the judging process. There are 20 total bubbles and each bubble is worth 1/2 point for a total of 10 points awarded per apple variety. Encourage them to make notes about each apple to remember what they liked, or didn't like, about each one. Then count up the bubbles and assign a score.
**Side note – I found this cute little apple box at the thrift store and it worked so perfectly to hold the apple tasting charts! I thought about painting it but it was a fun reminder of apple farm crates so I left it alone.
Tally your Fall Family Fun!
Once everyone has a chance to judge each variety and record their impressions, compare everyone's high and low scores and see if you can come up with the best tasting apple varieties for the whole group.
Our group was SO divided. It was really interesting to see how varied our taste buds really are! Each one of the 6 apples ended up in the top seat on someone's list. I guess it's a good thing there are SO many different kinds of apples. Just like there are so many different kind of people. All of us important, each with a different job to do!
Serve Up A Harvest Themed Dinner
Keep the fun going after your apple appetizers with a fun fall family activity harvest themed dinner. You can read all about the menu I chose here from our Harvest Party.
Fall Family Activity Fun
We also had an Apple Cider Bar and apple themed pastry tray for dessert. There were LOTS of apples, but one things for certain, no one complained of having TOO many!
Are you adventurous enough to try your own fall family activity apple tasting night? I hope you are and I hope you have as much fun as we did! If you try it, I'd love to hear about it in the comments below. And if you share photos, I want to see it too! Please tag us @partieswithacause on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. We love celebrating all your hard work!
FollowPin it for Later
ATE Days of Thanksgiving – Day 2
Up NEXT……..FALL SOUP RECIPE
Butternut Squash Soup Recipe: How to Easy Recipe
All About Apples
- Day 1: Apple Cider Bar Ideas for a Harvest Party
- Day 2: Fall Family Activity Apple Tasting Night
- Harvest Party Girls Night Ideas
Thanksgiving Ideas
- Day 3: Butternut Squash Soup Recipe: How to Easy Recipe
- Day 4: Sweater Pumpkins DIY Dollar Tree Pumpkin Decor
- Day 5: Ideas for Rustic Thanksgiving Table Top Decor
- Day 6: Fall Gnomes! DIY Gnome Instructions
- Global Chic Thanksgiving Holiday Tablescape
Thanksgiving Food Table Ideas
- Day 7: Thanksgiving Food Table Ideas for a Rustic Holiday
- Day 8: Fall Baby? Little Pumpkin Baby Shower Ideas
Such a brilliant idea! And apples are a yum across the board in my house!
It’s been so fun to find some new varieties. Thank you!