October Journal Prompts

When scrapbooking October pages, the first place to get ideas for your journaling is from the photos you took in October. October is a month of dress up. Whether it’s adding extra layers on a crisp October morning, donning your favorite football jersey for Friday Night Lights, or choosing that perfect costumer for Halloween, October is a month for fun! As you look at your photos/events from October what stories are emerging?

In this post I’ll share some journaling prompts with you for October layouts. You may be current or you may be working with photos from the 1960’s … it’s ok, just jump in where you’re at. I’ll be posting journal prompts every month until I have the whole year covered with journaling ideas. (You can find the other monthly prompts HERE.

Besides photos, another place to get journaling ideas is from the current Sticker Packs and Variety Mat Packs you are using. Some of my October Journal Prompts are from my photos and some are from Creative Memories Full Moon Fun Sticker Pack.

October Journal Prompts

Here are some journaling prompts to help you tell your stories from the photos you took in October (any year). Of course we all have different events and life circumstances but if you are stuck and not sure what to write about in your journal or in your scrapbook albums, I hope these prompts help jumpstart your journaling!

Homecoming…in our town the local high school kicks off October with a homecoming parade and alumni night football game. October is such a great month for football tailgaters. When my mom was in high school she was voted Football Queen and was to be crowned at the Homecoming dance. The problem was her parents did not allow dancing of any kind! She was never allowed to attend any dances. She recalled that her best friend loaned her a dress to wear. My mom went to the dance against her parent’s wishes, got her crown and promptly left! But she will forever remember the feeling of her being a farm girl, wearing a store bought dress that her friend so generously loaned her.
Football…ohh yes, those Friday Night Lights…do you have a favorite team? Are you a college ball fan or pro fan? Do you support your local high school sports? One of my daughters was a cheerleader so we went to every football game much to my husband’s delight. He got to watch his daughter cheer but also watch a football game – nice! If you have a favorite team, where did that originate from? Was it a team your family loved and their passion got passed down to you? Do you have memories of your grandparents cheering on a favorite team? Or did you go to college and still have an affinity to your alma mater?
Awareness…October is breast cancer awareness month and it’s usually a month where everything turns pink in honor of survivors but also to bring awareness to the research funds needed to continue to find cures for this invasive disease. What awareness ribbons are near and dear to your heart? Are you an advocate of a cause? What are you passionate about saving, fixing, or helping? With the 24-hour news cycle it is easy to feel overwhelmed and unable to do anything but that is just the enemy keeping us from shining our light. We each can do one small thing which ripples into someone else doing one small thing and so on and so on. If you could do one small thing today, what would it be? How about tomorrow? And the next day?
Pumpkin Patch…do you visit the pumpkin patch as an annual tradition? Or perhaps you go apple picking? Here in the Pacific Northwest pumpkin patches are very popular. Nothing gets you in the spirit of fall like picking out your own pumpkin or going on a hayride! Did you carve pumpkins when you were a kid? Are you a reach inside and feel the guts kind of carver? Or do you prefer a black Sharpie and call it good? Do you decorate your front porch in October? I like a good harvest theme but spooky? Not so much. How about you?
Costumes…my mom sewed and she made a lot of my costumes when I was little. How about you? Are you a DIY costume aficionado or do you like to get your store bought? What was your most favorite costume you’ve ever worn? Why? If you don’t like to dress up, is there a reason for that? Masks…yay or nay? Some people have a phobia of masks. Some people love wearing them and disguising themselves as much as possible. If you had the courage to wear your fantasy costume, what would it be? Maybe you already have the courage and you have worn it. Where did you wear it and what were the reactions? I dress up every year for my preschool class. Almost every year I dress up as a black cat because it is the easiest costume and I happen to like cats. But it feels a little like cheating…I mean it’s so easy! I admire people who go all out and come up with elaborate, creative costumes!
Halloween…aka Candy Day, aka Satan’s Birthday…aka Harvest Festival…however you celebrate can we all agree that having a holiday surrounded around candy is pretty cool? Did you Trick or Treat when you were a kid? What age did you stop? Did you stop? Did you have a plastic pumpkin bucket for your treats or were you old school like me and use your pillow case as a treat bag? (Yes, we did that!) My favorite part of Halloween was coming home and sorting all of my candy. Did you do that? My brother would throw all of his candy into an empty shoebox. I would line up my candy and sort by type, size, color….then of course, the trades! Oh, our trading game was strong. How about you? What is your favorite candy? Do you have any favorites from your childhood that you wish were passed out today? Do you pass out candy at Halloween? Or are you a turn your lights off and pretend you’re not home type of neighbor? (I’ve been both over the years!)

I hope these journal prompts and ideas are helpful to you as you write in your scrapbooks, planners and journals. (For September journal prompts, check out September Journal Prompts). If you would like weekly encouragement with your writing, join my Wednesday Writers Club on Instagram or Facebook!

Thank you for being part of a Dash of Story community. I appreciate you and it’s so nice to be on this memory keeping journey together. DL