09 Oct Halloween in NYC 2025 – Best Family Events, Parades & Activities for Kids
Discover the best family-friendly Halloween events and activities in NYC for 2025 — from pumpkin patches to parades, spooky shows, and more fun for kids of all ages.
Get ready for a spooktacular Halloween in New York City! October is packed with family-friendly fun, from pumpkin picking and costume parades to themed performances and creative workshops. Whether your kids love dressing up, collecting treats, or discovering not-too-scary adventures, there’s something happening in every borough to make this Halloween one to remember. Below, we’ve rounded up some of the best Halloween events and activities across NYC to help you plan frightfully fun times for the whole family.
October 25
High Line Halloween: Little Park of Horrors
On the High Line at 14th Street
Free – RSVP
Join us for Little Park of Horrors, a family-friendly High Line Halloween event for all ages. Back by popular demand, this spooky Halloween event will celebrate NYC’s fierce and resilient nature, showcasing plants and creatures—both real and imagined—that come alive on the High Line at night.
October 25
Watson Adventures’ Ghosts of Greenwich Village Scavenger Hunt for Families
Washington Square Park, 5th Avenue and Washington Square North, New York, NY 10012
$17.50-$21.50
Kids and adults 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, Dickensian door knockers, Harry Potter’s nemesis and a gorilla in a window. This hunt is recommended for children aged 7 and up.
October 25
Trick-Or-Treating At Staten Island Children’s Museum
Staten Island Children’s Museum, 1000 Richmond Terrace, Building M, Staten Island, NY 10301
Included with admission
In honor of Halloween, we are welcoming young robots, superheroes, princesses, animals, ghosts, mummies, witches, and more for a fantastic day of trick-or-treating. Costumes are warmly welcomed but entirely optional.
October 26
Celebrate Halloween at Brooklyn Children’s Museum
Brooklyn Children’s Museum, 145 Brooklyn Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11213
$15 per person / free for BCM members!
Spooky meets cute as Halloween and anime collide in a celebration of candy, costumes, and Japanese culture! Trick-or-treat around the Museum, strut your costume on our runway, meet creepy crawly animals, make anime art, and enjoy storytimes with professional cosplayers.
October 30
Halloween Harvest Festival at Manny Cantor Center
Manny Cantor Center, 197 E Broadway, New York, NY 10002
Free
Join us for a fun and festive community fall celebration! There will be refreshments, activities, dancing, and more. Wear a costume to be entered to win prizes. All ages welcome and encouraged!
October 30
Wave Hill-O-Ween
Wave Hill, 900 Independence Ave, Bronx, NY 10471
Free with registration
Calling all ghosts and goblins, pirates and princesses! Back for an amazing second year—it’s Halloween at Wave Hill! Venture through our iron gates (if you dare!) for an evening adventure with treats, tricks, and good old spooky fun. Grab a map to guide you on an eerie treasure trail through the gardens with “gourdgeous” photo ops along the way. Decorate a mini-pumpkin to take home in between fun and imaginative garden delights!
October 30
Halloween on the Harlem Meer
Charles A. Dana Discovery Center, Central Park, Manhattan
Free
Come see the Harlem Meer get spooky! Join us for an evening of free family-friendly activities. Costumes encouraged! Join us for a spooktacular, family-friendly Halloween celebration in Central Park, featuring crafts, music, and entertainment, plus our signature pumpkin flotilla on the Harlem Meer.
October 31
52nd Annual Village Halloween Parade
You can view the Parade from the east or west side of 6th Ave between King St and West 15th
Free
Friday, October 31, 2025 at 7:00pm RAIN or SHINE! Everyone is invited to watch. All in costume are welcome to join in. The parade is a free public event!
Daily through October 31
Pumpkin Patch at Queens County Farm Museum
Queens County Farm Museum, 73-50 Little Neck Parkway, Queens, NY 11004
Free admission – Pumpkins Priced by Size
October is pumpkin month at Queens Farm! Enjoy the crisp fall air as you wander through the patch to scoop up the perfect pumpkin. Stroll through the 47-acre grounds and soak in some New York history – Queens Farm is one of the longest continuously farmed sites in New York State, dating back to 1697.
Thursday to Sunday till October 31
Harvest Glow at Bronx Zoo
Bronx Zoo, 2300 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY 10460
$24.95 child, $34.95 adult
Introducing Harvest Glow, the re-imagined nighttime family-friendly Halloween spectacular, arriving bigger and better than ever on select evenings this fall at the Bronx Zoo! Follow an animal-themed illuminated Jack O’ Lantern Trail, explore Dinosaur Safari at night, and enjoy live pumpkin carving, Wildlife Theater, NEW games, and MORE fun than ever before – all included for one price.
Saturdays & Sundays till October 26 (+ Monday October 13)
Boo at the Zoo
Bronx Zoo, 2300 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, New York 1046
Tickets are required and must be reserved in advance
Bronx Zoo’s annual daytime family-friendly Halloween tradition is back. Come dressed in your Halloween best and celebrate! And of course, enjoy a day filled with more than 10,000 of your favorite animals. Plus, step into the NEW World of Darkness!
Saturday & Sundays till November 4
Lil Sweet Trick or Treat at Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center, 45 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10111
One Top of the Rock Youth ticket per participating child
Every Saturday and Sunday this October, families are invited to join the Lil Sweet Trick or Treat adventure at Rockefeller Center. Present a Top of the Rock youth ticket at the Observation Deck to receive a complimentary candy bag, then explore the campus to collect sweet treats at participating retailers and receive 15% on any additional purchase.
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