Looking for some kid-friendly Halloween events now that Fall is finally here? Well, you’re in luck. We’ve done all the hard work for you and rounded up our list of top family events that will be sure to bring out the spooky this October. Plus, there will be a ton Halloween tricks and treats. So get the family ready to participate in a bevy of thrills and chills beyond the usual neighborhood trick-or-treating.
FREE FAMILY EVENTS
Great Wolf Lodge Howl-o-ween
Every day in October | morning to night
100 Great Wolf Drive, Grapevine, TX 76051
Website
In October, the resort puts on Howl-O-Ween, a month-long, indoor celebration dedicated to providing spooktacular fun for the whole family. During Howl-O-Ween, children and parents are welcome to partake in several activities scheduled daily at no additional charge.
Join in on the pumpkin painting and festive crafts. Send the kiddos on a trick-or-treat trail as they collect ghastly goodies and pass through the resort’s first-ever Howl-O-Ween House or show off their most creative costumes during the indoor parade with mascot characters Wiley and Violet the Wolf. They can attend a monster-themed dance party and end the night with some boo-bit scary bedtime stories. All are welcome as Great Wolf Lodge is a Teal Pumpkin supporter, offering Highlights Magazines and Just Born gluten-free and allergy-sensitive candies.
Hotel packages, water park passes and other activities are an additional charge.
Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch
October 1-31 | 9am – 7pm
Double Oak Ranch, 5100 Cross Timbers Road, Flower Mound, TX 75028
Website
This Pumpkin Patch is free and has it all. Kids will love running through the hay bale maze and bouncing in the inflatable houses and slides. They can also take trips around the farm on hayrides and pumpkin patch trains. There are picnic tables available, so you can bring a picnic or purchase food and baked goods from vendors on the weekends. Don’t forget to check out the pumpkin patch full of all sizes you can purchase (starting as low as $2). Don’t forget your camera for all the photo ops of your kids and numerous cutout characters throughout the ranch.
Parking is $5/M-F and $10/weekends
Little Elm Pumpkin Hollow
October 18-20 | starting at 6pm
701 W Eldorado Pkwy, Little Elm, TX 75068
Website
Little Elm hosts free family-friendly nights of fun along a pumpkin trail with games, treats and more! There will be a children’s carnival lined with vendors, games and plenty of treats. The hayride is a fun, light-hearted jaunt that is also free.
Help decorate Pumpkin Hollow! There will be 400 free pumpkins at the Little Elm Rec Center that can be picked up for carving starting on Friday, Oct. 12. The pumpkins are first come first serve. Please bring your carved pumpkins by Little Elm Park on Wednesday, Oct. 17 from 10am – 6pm or Thursday, Oct. 18 from 10am – 3pm. All the donated pumpkins will be placed along the trail and lit for the three nights.
The haunted trail is $10 per person. This is a scary, haunted attraction. Parental discretion is advised.
Corinth Pumpkin Palooza
October 20 | 10am – 8pm
Corinth Community Park, 3800 Corinth Parkway, Corinth, TX 76208
Website
Come celebrate the arrival of fall with the City of Corinth at the annual Pumpkin Palooza festival. With great rides, contests, food and live music, Pumpkin Palooza is sure to be fun for the whole family. Parking, admissions and most attractions are completely free.
Bass Pro Great Pumpkin Celebration
October 20, 21, 26-31 | starting at 12pm
2501 Bass Pro Drive, Grapevine, TX 76051 | 5001 Bass Pro Drive, Garland, TX 75043
Website
Bass Pro Shops hosts the Great Pumpkin Celebration where children can make free Halloween crafts, get their photo taken with the Peanuts gang and other fun activities. On October 27 and October 31, there will also be trick-or-treating and a costume parade. Check out the dates and times for different events in your area.
Spooky Tours at the Perry
October 24 | 5-7pm
A.W. Perry Homestead Museum, 1509 N. Perry Road, Carrollton, TX
Website
Take a free tour through the A.W. Perry House and listen to what the creaks and thuds tell us as we explore the oddities of Victorian life and culture during our Halloween festivities. Tales of Victorian ghosts, poisonous wallpaper and creepy dolls are just a small taste of what you will find. Tours begin at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. Reservations are recommended.
Lewisville Spooktacular Trails and Glow Run
October 27 | 5-9pm
Toyota of Lewisville Railroad Park, 1301 South Railroad Street, Lewisville, TX 75057
Website
The City of Lewisville Parks & Recreation department hosts the annual Spooktacular Trails and Glow Run. Entrance to the Spooktacular Trails Festival is free. Families can participate in the annual costume contest, walk through the haunted house or take a ride on the spooky hayride. Enjoy the carnival games, face painting, concession stands or sign up to run in our 5K Glow Run or Monster Mile.
Visit, Spooktacular Glow Run to register and check pricing for the 5K Glow Run or Monster Mile.
Denton’s Day of the Dead Festival
October 27 | All day
Hickory and Industrial Street, Denton, TX
Website
Denton’s Day of the Dead Festival is a free, family-friendly event held outside on E. Hickory and Industrial Street. Spirits will be high celebrating the fall season, paying homage to the goodness of the harvest, Dia de los Muertos, and all things Halloween. The kids will love trunk-or-treating, strolling through the pumpkin patch, enjoying games and activities, dancing alongside street performers and picking up a souvenir at the vendor booths, featuring local art, crafts, and food. You won’t want to miss the famous coffin races and the lantern-lit twilight parade. Last but not least, enjoy Denton’s very own Halloween musical, Cirque du Horror.
Shops of Highland Village Trick or Treat
October 27 | 2pm – 5pm
1701 Shoal Creek, Highland Village, TX 75077
Website
Have a spook-tacular time trick-or-treating at The Shops of Highland Village at this free Halloween event! Come enjoy all the treats from retailers across the property for children 12 and under in costume. This event also includes tractor hayrides around the property, carnival games, a bounce house obstacle course and a balloon artist. Look out for Halloween stilt walkers as you collect your treats!
Treat Street – Fort Worth Stockyard Station
October 31 | 5-7pm
130 E. Exchange Avenue, Fort Worth, TX 76106
Website
Bring your kids out to the Historic Fort Worth Stockyards for candy galore at Treat Street! Stockyards Station is your free go-to destination for costume contests, complimentary hayrides, Halloween games and trick or treating.
Cowtown Cattlepen Maze is half-priced admission for kids under 12 in costume.
Scare on the Square McKinney
October 31 | 4-7pm
Historic Downtown McKinney, 111N N. Tennessee St.
Website
The shops in downtown McKinney and McKinney Main Street invite you to come out and enjoy the sights of hundreds of ghosts and goblins, young and old in Historic Downtown McKinney. This annual event provides activities such as trick-or-treating, costume contests, pumpkin races, local vendors and a concert performance with Rockin with Rhett to celebrate a safe, secure, family fun Halloween event.
FAMILY EVENTS WITH ADMISSION FEES
Every fun event listed below has an admission fee. Please visit the website for more information.
Screamin Green Haunt-o-ween Crayola Experience
September 22 – October 31
The Shops at Willow Bend, 6121 W Park Blvd, Suite A100, Plano, TX 75093
Website
Screamin’ Green Haunt-o-ween is ZOMBIFIED with all-new monster-ific crafts and special, spooky happenings all month long, including weekend dance parties, a themed scavenger hunt, a live slime-themed show and SLIME TIME, an ooey-gooey class that’s fun for the whole family and trick-or-treating every weekend, all while exploring 26 exciting hands-on attractions.
ALL included with general admission! Annual Passholders receive FREE access! Purchase your tickets online and SAVE $2 OFF!
Autumn at the Arboretum
September 22 – November 21 | 9am – 5pm
Dallas Arboretum, 8525 Garland Road, Dallas, TX 75218
Website
The Dallas Arboretum fall festival is a spectacular show of color with 4,500 of fall’s favorite flower-Chrysanthemums, along with 150,000 more stunning, fall blooming plants, and our internationally acclaimed Pumpkin Village, featuring more than 90,000 pumpkins, squash and gourds, plus the outstanding Children’s Adventure Garden. Don’t miss this amazing festival and be sure to bring your camera. It is breathtaking color at every turn.
Fright Fest at Six Flags
September 22 – October 31
2201 Road to Six Flags, Arlington, TX 76011
Website
Fright Fest at Six Flags Over Texas transforms and features 20 chilling attractions, including four new ones, that promise to deliver spine-chilling scares that can only be experienced there. Enjoy thrills and activities for the entire family throughout the day, then come back for an evening of thrills and terror after the sun goes down. Ghouls are set free for their daily hunting rituals once the dark of night washes over the park. BEWARE! There is no place to hide!
Note: This is probably not suitable for younger kids.
Storybook’s Pumpkin Patch
September 29 – October 31
Storybook Ranch, 3701 S. Custer, McKinney 75070
Website
If you’re looking for a unique pumpkin experience, Storybook Ranch in McKinney has it. Established in 1887 as a working cattle ranch, it has since been refashioned into a historic western town complete with 15 real buildings from the 1840’s-1860’s. The kids can enjoy a hay maze, pony rides and bounce houses. The family will love the petting zoo and a wagon ride through the 1800’s western town.
Kids under 2 are free.
Halloween Events at Sea Life Aquarium Grapevine
October 17, 20, 24, 27 and 31
Grapevine Mills Mall, 3000 Grapevine Mills Pkwy, Grapevine, TX 76051
Website
Get your frightening fill of creepy creatures and underwater Halloween happenings at Sea Life Grapevine Aquarium. Kids can dress up in their costume and enjoy a few tricks and a lot of fun treats alongside sharks, crocodiles and other eerie critters. On select days throughout October, kids can watch a 160,000-gallon ocean tank filled with marine life surround submerged divers competing in underwater pumpkin carve-offs. After, kids can vote for their favorite design. (11:30 a.m. on scheduled days). Go on a spooky seas scavenger hunt and count how many scary skulls the kids can spot hiding in the marine life tanks. Enjoy as a family the new creepy crawly exotic reptiles in Rainforest Adventure that include a legless lizard, hognose snake and crocodile skink. (12 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. daily) Trick-or-treating on October 31 only. Say the magic phrase after every educational talk for a sweet treat. Educational talks occur throughout the day.
Carrollton Mother/Son Monster Mash Dance
Saturday, October 20 | 6-9pm
Creekview High School | 3201 Old Denton Rd., Carrollton, TX 75007
Website
Moms, bring your sons and enjoy a howling good time at the annual Mother/Son Monster Mash at Creekview High School, g’hosted by the Carrollton Police Officers Association (CPOA). Boys, don’t forget your mummies! Come as you aren’t and wear your favorite costumes. Enjoy a kid-friendly haunted house and have fun with games, a bounce house, dancing, snacks, door prizes, raffles, and meet real SWAT team members and firefighters. Moms can take a photo with your little ghoul(s). There is no age limit, mothers and sons of all ages are welcome. No dads or daughters please. This is a special time for moms and their sons.
The Colony Family Fright Night
Saturday, October 20 – Sunday, October 21 | 4pm – 9am
Stewart Creek Park, 3700 Sparks Rd., The Colony, TX 75056
Website
Don’t miss the 11th annual Family Fright Night family Halloween campout at Stewart Creek Park. The family can enjoy a haunted trail, tent trick or treating, costume and scream contests, scary movie, hayride, campfire, s’mores and great food. This event has limited enrollment and fills quickly, so don’t delay. Registration begins October 1.
Legoland Brick-or-Treat
October 20, 21, 27 and 28
Grapevine Mills Mall, 3000 Grapevine Mills Pkwy, Grapevine, TX 76051
Website
Get the kids costumes ready for some spooky family fun through aPumpkin Patch made entirely out of LEGO bricks for the perfect photo opportunity featuring a GIANT pumpkin. The kids can build their own pumpkin and receive a special Halloween-themed LEGO brick. (11 a.m. to 4 p.m. only) Beware of the Monster Invasion as Frankenstein, Godzilla and other monsters have descended on MINILAND transforming it into a haunted adventure and spooky SCARE-venger hunt. Dare to enter and find them all! On October 31 only, the kids can trick-or-treat all day on Halloween inside the attraction (while supplies last).
Boo at the Zoo – Fort Worth Zoo
October 26-28
1989 Colonial Parkway, Fort Worth, TX 76110
Website
This entertaining daytime event is free with Zoo admission or membership and packed with fun for the whole family. Enjoy treat stations, carnival games, animal shows and more. Treat stations and carnival games at Boo at the Zoo require a treat coupon. Zoo guests and Zoo members will receive six Boo at the Zoo treat coupons (per admission ticket/Zoo membership) at the Zoo’s ticket booths at no additional cost.
Spooktacular Sleepover Perot Museum
Friday, October 26 | starting at 6:30pm
2201 N. Field Street, Dallas, TX 75201
Website
This sleepover celebrates the spooky side of science as your family gets up close to creepy crawly critters. Use an explosion to carve a pumpkin and more activities after hours at the museum. Come dressed for a spooky costume contest with special prizes for individual and group costumes with a science theme! Reserve a spot now to get in on the spooktacular fun.
We recommend you eat before you go and bring lots of snacks as the cafe has limited hours.
Halloweekend at Dallas Zoo
October 27-28 | 9am – 4pm
650 South R L Thornton Freeway, Dallas, TX
Website
Enjoy some Wild Halloween fun at the zoo by throwing on the kids favorite costume and join in on the activities for the whole family. Adult guests can enjoy a craft brew in our beer garden. Families can wander through a pumpkin patch, complete with scarecrows – perfect for fall photo ops! Kids can enjoy the giant spider-themed hay maze, bounce house, inflatable obstacle courses, bubble fun, face painting, activities, games, and animal encounters at the Lacerte Family Children’s Zoo.
If you don’t happen to be in the DFW area, I’m sure there are similar local events hosted by your city, local zoo and museums. It’s fun for the whole family and so many events are usually free to attend. Halloween is a one of the best times of year to enjoy with the kids and have some spooktacular memories. Happy Halloween!
Love,
Jeannie
Leave a Reply