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20+ Fun Fall Potluck Theme Ideas + free potluck printables!

If you’re looking for some creative and fun Fall or Thanksgiving potluck theme ideas, check out the inspiration below! These are perfect for fall-themed office potlucks, neighborhood potlucks, or potlucks for Halloween or Thanksgiving!

Fall Potluck Theme Ideas

While anytime of year is perfect for a potluck, this always seems to be a particularly good season for food, doesn’t it?! 

Whether you’re getting together for a casual neighborhood potluck, planning an office potluck, hosting a football-watching potluck, or just organizing a fun gathering with family and friends over good food, I hope these creative themes help you enjoy cooking up some yummy food and have fun sharing delicious recipes with others! 

After you look through these themes, be sure to grab your FREE PERFECT POTLUCK BLUEPRINT! It includes 5 of my most popular potluck themes PLUS menus to go along with them. And, some super helpful menu planning tips to help you get started. 😉

Fun Fall Potluck Theme Ideas

1. Tailgating Table

Have everyone bring a finger food fit for a tailgate!

Tailgating Finger Foods:

Three Ingredient Pumpkin Spice Popcorn

2. College-Inspired Cuisine

Speaking of football, have everyone create a dish that reminds them of their favorite college football team. Whether it’s food from a popular restaurant in the college town, a dish that all the college locals enjoy, or just a dish that reminds you of that team, have fun brainstorming recipe ideas and sharing that variety of foods with everyone. If I were attending that potluck, I’d definitely bring these Aggie cookies. Whoop! 🙂

Red Velvet Texas A&M Aggie Cookies

3. Pie Night

‘Tis the season for all the pies!

Have a pie night where all the foods have to be pies – you can get creative. 🙂

Pie night ideas might include:

4. Pumpkin Platter

Have everyone bring a dish that contains pumpkin in it! Yep, even the main dish. If you’re stuck on ideas for the main dish, try out this delicious (and healthy!) pumpkin chili – you and your friends will love it! And for dessert, break out of the regular ‘ole pumpkin pie mold…try out this pumpkin chai latte cake!

Here are some other pumpkin dish ideas:

  • Savory pumpkin casserole
  • Roasted pumpkin & other fall veggies
  • Pumpkin macaroni & cheese
  • Garlic pumpkin hummus + crackers
  • Pumpkin ravioli
  • Roasted pumpkin & mixed greens salad
  • Pumpkin praline cake – SO GOOD

Easy Pumpkin Praline Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting Glaze

5. Family Favorites

Have everyone bring a dish that *absolutely has to show up* at family gatherings, or perhaps something they just really enjoyed eating for supper when they were growing up.

If I was participating in this theme, I’d definitely make King Ranch Chicken Casserole, and my husband Aaron would definitely be bringing his favorite cheesy potato casserole.

You may find that most of the foods that show up at this potluck will be yellow…cheese-filled dishes happen to be a lot of people’s family favorite. 😆

Cheesy Potato Casserole

6. Football Food

Plan all the dishes around foods that remind folks of their favorite professional football team. You can check out this list of official home state foods for some helpful ideas!

7. Pilgrim Plates

Take your potluck back in history to the 1600s and have everyone bring a dish that may have been served at the first Thanksgiving, or, perhaps decide to have everyone prepare their foods using similar cooking methods. 

You might have to put your creative thinking caps on for this one, but if you’ve got foodie friends, they may be really excited for the challenge!

Pilgrim plate ideas might include:

  • Cornbread
  • Roasted root vegetables
  • Stewed pumpkins
  • Roasted turkey

Shepherd's Pie Soup - a hearty and flavorful soup full of protein, flavor, and vegetables!

8. Soup & Stew Smorgasboard

Similar to Pie Night, all of the foods have to be soup (or stew) – including dessert. Well, kind of. 😉 Some kind of chocolate or caramel fondue can pass as dessert in this category. 🙂

Soups might include:

9. Halloween Favorites

Have a Halloween-style potluck where everyone has to bring foods themed around costumes, pumpkins, etc. 

You could take this a couple different ways – 1) Have people bring a food with a Halloween twist (such as mummy-wrapped hot dogs), or 2) Have everyone bring a dish related to their costume. 

A quick Google search of “Halloween food ideas” will give you all sorts of inspiration! 

(If you’re like me and not a fan of the spooky Halloween ideas, you can still have lots of fun with this category! Make this purple sweet potato soup and you’ll fit right in without being a bit scary!) 😜

Easy Purple Sweet Potato Soup

10. Barrel ‘O Apples

Just like with pumpkin, there are several sweet and savory dishes that incorporate apples – another yummy flavor of the season!

Plan a potluck where all of the dishes have to contain apples in it!

Ideas might include:

Apple Butter and Caramel Poke Cake

11. Traditional Thanksgiving Favorites

While this theme seems to be a given, it’s so fun to have a Friendsgiving potluck with these types of food! It’ll give you a chance to taste each other’s favorite Thanksgiving dishes and try each other’s renditions of traditional foods! 

Traditional Thanksgiving Items might include:

  • Turkey and/or ham (of course!)
  • Mashed potatoes
  • Sweet potato casserole
  • Roasted carrots
  • Stuffing
  • Green bean casserole
  • Pumpkin pie
  • Pecan pie

12. Cookbook Night 

No Pinterest recipes here, friends! Encourage everyone to go to their collection of cookbooks, thumb through some recipes, and pick one to make for your potluck. It’ll be a fun way to experiment with recipes!

13. Fall Flavors

Think of foods and flavors that traditionally find themselves in the spotlight this time of year – pumpkins, potatoes, apples; cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and chili powder. And so many others! Have everyone bring a dish that incorporates some of these fall flavors.

Ideas for fall flavors:

  • Macaroni and cheese made with pumpkin
  • Autumn minestrone made with sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes
  • Fall vegetable-topped pizza
  • Pumpkin apple cobbler
  • Butternut squash enchiladas

14. Slow Cooker Night

Have all of your potluck guests toss some ingredients together, throw them in their slow cookers, and have a big ole Crock Pot Fest. Main dishes, sides, and dessert – all in the slow cooker!

Slow cooker appetizers:

  • Buffalo chicken dip
  • Meatballs
  • Chex mix
  • Spinach artichoke dip

Slow cooker main dish ideas:

  • Beef stew
  • Pork chops
  • Pot roast
  • Chili (beef chili, white chicken chili)
  • Sloppy joes

Slow cooker side dish ideas:

  • Macaroni & cheese
  • Crock pot ranch potatoes
  • Creamed corn
  • Baked beans
  • Mashed potatoes
  • Green beans with bacon
  • Creamed spinach

Slow cooker dessert ideas:

  • Cobbler (blueberry, apple, peach)
  • Butterscotch bread pudding
  • Bananas foster

Have some extra fun and have someone prepare a slow cooker cider or cocoa to drink along with dessert!

Slow cooker drink ideas:

  • Slow cooker wassail
  • Slow cooker hot cocoa
  • Slow cooker apple cider

Creamy Chicken Soup

15. Comfort Foods

Traditional comfort foods – who can resist?!

comfort food Main dish ideas:

  • Lasagna
  • Macaroni & cheese
  • Meatloaf
  • Grilled cheese & tomato soup
  • Chicken noodle soup
  • Chicken pot pie
  • Chili – this one is both comforting AND so tasty 😉

Comfort food side dish ideas:

  • BREAD! Biscuits, garlic bread, cornbread, cheesy rolls
  • Mashed potatoes
  • Creamed corn
  • Green bean casserole
  • Roasted cheesy brussels sprouts

COMFORT FOOD DESSERT IDEAS:

16. Oktoberfest Celebration

Enjoy a variety of German foods together!

Oktoberfest menu ideas:

  • Potato pancakes + applesauce
  • Pretzels + beer cheese dip
  • Bratwurst & sauerkraut
  • Fried German potatoes
  • German potato salad
  • Cheese spätzle
  • Beef goulash

17. Thanksgiving Twist

Have a traditional Thanksgiving menu of turkey, ham, stuffing, sweet potatoes, etc…BUT, everyone has to bring that dish with a twist! You’ll have lots of fun stepping a little bit outside the box here! 

“Thanksgiving Twist” ideas might include:

  • Twice-baked sweet potatoes 
  • Stuffed sweet potatoes
  • Black bean & sweet potato enchiladas
  • Dark chocolate pecan pie
  • Butternut squash orzo
  • Sweet potato souffle
  • Tater tot green bean casserole
  • Brussels sprouts with bacon & pistachios
  • Sausage & pear stuffing
  • Roasted cranberry sauce
  • Corn pudding

18. Mystery Ingredient Challenge

This could be a Halloween-ish theme, right?!

This theme might require some creativity, but if your group is up for the challenge, it could be really fun!

Some ideas might include:

  • Black bean brownies
  • Avocado fondue
  • Stuffing made with apples
  • Cashew-based creamy pasta sauce

19. Farm to Table 

Have people shop locally and bring dishes that include those fresh fruits and veggies. 

21. Chili Cookoff

Who doesn’t love a friendly competition?!

You could do this a couple of different ways: 1) Encourage your guests to bring their absolute favorite chili recipe, or 2) Encourage everyone to make a unique chili recipe that they’ve never tried before. Either way, you’ll end up with a variety of flavors!

Chili cookoff ideas: 

  • If you’re going to have a large turnout, see about simultaneously doing a pie contest as well. Have some people bring chili & others bring pie, and then have a contest for each!
  • For those who want to attend but can’t bring chili, see if they can bring:
    • Drinks
    • Sides – salad(s), bread such as cornbread or biscuits
    • Toppings: A couple different shredded cheeses (cheddar, Mexican blend), sour cream, diced onions, sliced avocados

Slow Cooker Healthy Pumpkin Chili

21. Fall Flavored Charcuterie Board

Have guests contribute 2-3 items for a large Fall-themed charcuterie board & watch this thing come together!

fall charcuterie board ingredients:

  • Pumpkin-flavored cheeses
  • Sliced apples + caramel dip
  • Sliced pears
  • Variety of nuts: spiced pecans, candied pecans, walnuts
  • Cream cheese with an apple butter drizzle (and then crackers for dipping)
  • Cranberry + nut cheeseball 
  • Sweet treats: caramel candies, candy corn, pumpkin biscotti, dark chocolate-covered nuts
  • Carrots + hummus

Other charcuterie essentials:

  • Variety of cheeses (hard & soft)
  • Crackers
  • Sliced/dried meats
  • Olives
  • Pickles

Tip: If you’re going to have a number of people and don’t have a big-enough board, ask some guests to bring a cutting board with them, and then break up your items by type – one for 

    •  

Easy and Moist Mocha Butterscotch Bundt Cake

Want some additional recipe ideas?!

If you’re wanting more inspiration on delicious fall recipes, check out these posts:

Healthy & Hearty Cozy Soup and Chili Recipes and Delicious Fall Dessert Recipes

Be sure to snag your free Perfect Potluck Blueprint to help you plan your potluck! 

Save these ideas for later – pin this to your favorite Pinterest board!

4 Comments

  1. Hi Mauri,
    This year is our turn to host Christmas Eve & our turn to pick a theme.
    Yes, the families have gone thru the traditional circuit of Italian, Greek, etc., diff. parts of the US, or even like a spice (one yr., the nieces & nephews picked Cinnamon, so whatever you signed up for, that spice needed to be the hi-lite) So we’re thinking of Crockpot and/or Slow-cooker… which means whatever the menu is, it must come in that. I’m just having a hard time thinking of a menu? My husband orig. wanted to make it easy on everyone & do carry-out pizza (didn’t go over real well). Your suggestions are greatly appreciated.
    Thank you,
    Nancie

    1. Hi Nancy!

      I’m actually going to be working on a Christmas potluck post this week! 🙂 You might find some themes in that post you want to consider. But, if you go the slow cooker route, you could easily do a soup night where everyone brings a different soup to try (and then maybe have a side salad and bread if that doesn’t stray from the theme too much). But, if you’re wanting to have a more “complete” meal, you could do roast or chicken as the main dish in the slow cooker, and then for the sides, you can easily find recipes for sides like cheesy potato casserole/mashed potatoes, green beans, and applesauce (and more), and then for dessert, could do a crock pot dump cake or something like that. Maybe have some extra fun and do cider or cocoa in the crock pot, too! 🙂

  2. Our Chapel,located in Southern Oklahoma where is no lack of outstanding cooks, has Pot Luck Suppers each month to have fun and fellowship. For 2019 we wanted to change things up a bit deciding to add a theme to each supper. Finding your web site confirmed that we were on the right track and would like a copy.
    Pease send to: Mary Ann Webb; 7 Tulsa Rd; Burneyville OK 73430

    Thank you,
    Mary Ann Webb

    1. Church potlucks are the best! 🙂 I hope you enjoy these themes! (Have you checked out all of the other non-fall ones on my site?) I’m also about to put together a list of Christmas ones, so be on the lookout! 🙂

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