Halloween Events and Activities for Families Around NYC
There are countless Halloween events and activities for families around NYC. Celebrating Halloween is a great way to spend time together as a family, and we’ve rounded up some of the best events and activities to check out this spooky season!
Click on your region to jump to events near you!
Manhattan
Family Program: Spooky Architecture
Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place, NoHo
Saturday, Oct. 14, 11 am – 1 pm & 2 – 4 pm.
Ages 5 – 13
$10
Just in time for Halloween, they’re creepy and they’re spooky, but apart from the ghosts, what makes a haunted house haunted? Look at real life examples of haunted architecture for inspiration. Families will then get to make their own haunted buildings.
Dyckman After Dark
Dyckman Farmhouse Museum, 4881 Broadway Street, Inwood
Thursday, Oct. 26, 6 – 8 pm
Ages 12 and younger
Free
Explore the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum after hours at Dyckman After Dark. Drink apple cider, snack on some treats, and listen to some spooky tunes! Costumes encouraged, but not required.
Family Access Mornings: FaBOOlous Zoo Morning
Central Park Zoo, 64th Street & Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side
Saturday, Oct. 28, 9:30 – 10:30 am
All ages
$20; $16 members
During this sensory-inclusive morning program, families will explore the Tisch Children’s Zoo before it opens to other guests and participate in playful, sensory friendly activities with fun animal themes. You’ll also help the animals enjoy their breakfast.
Registration includes child and caregiver admission to the zoo all day long.
Hansel & Gretel + Trick or Treat
Galli Theater NY, 74 Warren Street, Tribeca
Saturday, Oct. 28, 2 – 3 pm
All ages
$25; $20 kids
Hansel and Gretel are brought into the woods and cannot find their way back! A witch lures them into her little house with all kinds of tasty treats.
Can clever Gretel trick the witch and get them safely back home? Children (and grown ups) are encouraged to attend in costume and will get a treat just like on Halloween!
Watson Adventures’ Ghosts of Greenwich Village Scavenger Hunt for Families
Washington Square Park, Fifth Avenue and Washington Square North, Greenwich Village
Saturday, Oct. 28, 3 – 5 pm
Ags 7 and older
$17.50-$21.50
Kids and adults will work together to uncover the stories of creepy places and the ghosts that have haunted them. Starring secret cemeteries, looming skeletons, the haunted homes of Edgar Allen Poe and Mark Twain, bats on a building, and a gorilla in a window.
Historical Hallowe’en Party at New-York Historical Society
New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park W., Upper West Side
Tuesday, Oct. 31, 4 – 6 pm
All ages
$20
Get dressed in your Halloween best and join the New-York Historical Society for this annual evening of hands-on games, spooky and silly stories, historical Hallowe’en crafts, and buckets of candy! Play Hallowe’en bingo, read jack-o’-lantern stories, craft costume accessories, and more!
This is also the time of year Día de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead) is celebrated in Mexico and beyond by many families. Take part in this unique holiday by creating your own special offering to place on a communal ofrenda (altar).
Trick-or-Treat with East Midtown
Check in at 919 3rd Avenue at 56th Street or 139 East 56th Street, Midtown
Tuesday, Oct. 31, 3 – 7 pm
Ages 12 and younger
Free
Children and their families are welcome to this special event where they will trick or treat for candy and other special treats at dozens of local businesses throughout the district.
Families can check in at one of two locations: 919 3rd Avenue (where they can experience and take pictures with a special themed Jack-O-Latern display by Maniac Pumpkin Carvers) or 139 East 56th Street (where they can participate in a special Halloween arts and craft activity with seniors at Sunrise, Assisted Living facility).
After check-in, children in costume will dominate the streets of East Midtown collecting candy and other special treats at dozens of local businesses in the neighborhood.
New York’s 50th Annual Village Halloween Parade
6th Avenue from King Street to 15th Street, East Village
Tuesday, Oct. 31, 7 pm
All ages
Free
Join hundreds of Puppets, 53 Bands of different types of music, Dancers and Artists, and Thousands of Other New Yorkers in Costumes of their own creation in NYC’s special brand of Carnivale!
This years theme is Upside/Down : Inside/OUT – in the last few years we have seen our world turn UPSIDE/DOWN and we all went INSIDE–not just inside to our apartments and houses, but inside ourselves.
For a while it felt like we were living between two worlds! Now is the time to come OUT into that new world –but, now that we have had time to reflect on it–what do we want to come out AS? Are we the same or have we changed? And, then take that to your costume self!
Bronx
Spooktacular Night Walk
Bronx Zoo, 2300 Southern Blvd, Bronx
Saturdays, Oct. 14, 21, 28, 5:30 – 7:30 pm.
All ages
$45; $36 for members
In this kid-friendly evening program, you will meet some creepy crawly animal visitors, listen to a spooky zoo tale and take a walk to search for what lurks in the shadows of the zoo after dark! Costumes encouraged!
Williamsbridge Oval Pumpkin Party
Williamsbridge Oval Recreation Center, 3225 Reservoir Oval East, Bronx
Saturday, Oct. 28, 1 – 3 pm
All ages
Free
It’s a Pumpkin Party! Come out and enjoy this holiday tradition. There will be games, candy, arts and crafts, interactive activities and a photo booth.
38th Annual Bronx Halloween Parade
Southern Blvd. & Westchester Ave. heading South on Southern Blvd turning right onto Intervale Ave & concluding at Dawson St.
Saturday, Oct. 28, 12 – 5 pm
All ages
Free
This community-based event is heading into its 38th year and is a safe space for all children and adults to enjoy Halloween festivities.
The parade, now deemed a city-wide event, has already been considered the second largest Halloween Parade in New York City.
After the parade, guests will gather at Bill Rainey Park to enjoy an artist showcase featuring surprise celebrity guests, politicians, marching bands, costume contests with cash prizes and distribution of candy for all!
Brooklyn
Vale Cinema Series: Hocus Pocus
The William Vale, 111 N 12th St., Williamsburg
Monday, Oct. 16, 6-9pm
All ages
$20
Watch spooky season favorite, Hocus Pocus, with sweeping views of the Manhattan skyline.
Halloween at BCM!
Brooklyn Children’s Museum, 145 Brooklyn Ave., Crown Heights
Saturday, Oct. 28, 10 am–12:30 pm, 1–3:30 pm, and 4–6:30 pm.
Ages 12 and younger
$15
Come out for a day of costumed fun and trick-or-treating around the Museum’s exhibits.
Meet some spooky animal and insect friends, enjoy monstrous performances, catch a free screening of Muppets Haunted Mansion, and celebrate the day with a costume dance party on our rooftop. BCM has multiple play sessions during Halloween.
Halloween Harvest
Luna Park, 1000 Surf Ave., Coney Island
Through Oct. 29. See website for complete schedule.
All ages
$43-$65 for ride wristbands
Welcome the new season with fun-filled activities such as balloon twisting, caricature portraits, trick-or-treating, tractor racing, pumpkin decorating station, pumpkin patch, and more.
DUMBOWEEN
DUMBO Archway, 155 Water St., DUMBI
Tuesday, Oct. 31, 4 – 7 pm
All ages
Free
DUMBOWEEN brings hundreds of costumed Dumbonians out for this Annual March to the Arch through Brooklyn Bridge Park with brass bands + puppets, followed by an Archway Party featuring crafts with Creatively WILD Art Studio, a photobooth and of course, candy!
Plus, Trick-or-Treat at 50 + Dumbo small businesses around the neighborhood!
Queens
Bayside Village Halloween Family Fun Day
Bayside Village BID, Bell Blvd and 41st Avenue, Bayside
Sunday, Oct. 22, 11 am – 3 pm
All ages
Free admission
Get ready for Halloween with stories, magic, music, games, and activities.
No Tricks, All Treats Family Fun Day
Tanenbaum Family Pool, 58-25 Little Neck Parkway, Little Neck
Friday, Oct. 27, 3 – 5 pm
All ages
$10
Pre-registration is required
Come in costume and move through a not-so-spooky path for candy, crafts and fun!
Halloween Harvest Festival 2023
Socrates Sculpture Park, 32-01 Vernon Blvd., Astoria
Saturday, Oct. 28, 12 – 5 pm
All ages
Free admission
Celebrate the autumn season with workshops, performance, food vendors, and the launching of the pumpkins! And don’t miss the cutest and spookiest dog costume contest around, hosted by Chateau Le Woof and Friends with Four Paws.
Halloween on the Farm
Queens County Farm Museum, 75-50 Little Neck Parkway, Glen Oaks
Sunday, Oct. 29, 11 am – 4 pm
All ages
$20; free for children 3 and younger.
Wear your costume to the farm for this Halloween spooktacular for kids and their grown-ups. Your ticket includes The Amazing Maize Maze, live DJ dance party, trick-or-treating with the farm animals, Spooky farmhouse experience, Halloween hayrides, and more.
Halloween at Queens Botanical Garden
Queens Botanical Garden, 43-50 Main Street, Flushing
Sunday, Oct. 29, 12 – 5 pm
All ages
$10; $8 child; free for members and children younger than 3.
Come for a festive, spooky afternoon of Halloween fun! Little ones show off their Halloween costumes, walk the Trick-or-Treat Trail, make crafts, and enjoy live performances—including a magic show!
Spooktacular Halloween Party
The Shops at Skyview, 40-24 College Point Blvd., Flushing
Tuesday, Oct. 31, 4 – 7 pm
All ages
Free
Come out for a Spooktacular Halloween Party with live DJ, photobooth & treats. Step onto the stage at 6 PM for the “Costume Contest” and win a $200 gift card & more!
Staten Island
Pumpkin Picking at Decker Farm
Historic Richmond Town’s Decker Farm, 435 Richmond Hill Rd.
Saturdays and Sundays, Sept. 30-Oct. 29, and Monday, Oct. 9, 12-5pm
All ages
$12; $10 ages 6-10 and members; free for children ages 0-5.
Explore a fun pumpkin patch right here on Staten Island.
Spooky Snug Harbor Tour
Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden, 1000 Richmond Terr.
Oct. 6, 7, 8, 13,14, 15, 20, 21, 22, 28, 29, tour times at 7:30, 8:30, 9:30pm
All ages
$25
Enjoy this series of nighttime walking tours aimed at shedding light on Snug Harbor’s darkest history. As night falls, attendees will enjoy flashlight tours of the Snug Harbor campus. (There’s a special tour on Halloween night, too.)
Staten Island Zoo Spooktacular
Staten Island Zoo, 705 Clove Rd.
Friday-Sunday, Oct. 20-22, 5-8:30pm
All ages
$28; free for ages 2 and younger
Head to this wildly popular event to enjoy live music, games, costumed characters, scare zones, a pumpkin patch and more.
Funfest Trunk or Treat
St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, 76 St. Alban’s Pl.
Saturday, Oct. 21, 2-5pm
All ages
Free
Kids of all ages are invited to wear their costumes and enjoy trunk-or-treating in the church parking lot.
Halloween Trick or Treating and Bounce Houses
Staten Island Children’s Museum, 1000 Richmond Terr.
Saturday-Sunday, Oct. 28-29, 10am-5pm
All ages
$8
Get ready for a ghoulishly good time with an abundance of Halloween candy, creative crafts, and an exciting bounce house, all included with admission. Costumes are welcomed but optional.
