Best Events for Kids in Chicago in October 2025

Best Things To Do in Chicago in October 2025 With Kids

St. Benedict's Oktoberfest
North Center - FREE
Friday, October 3-Sunday, October 5
St. Ben's Parish Oktoberfest includes live entertainment, traditional German food, a carnival, and games. Proceeds will benefit local outreach programs and church operations. Visit the website here.

The Great Highwood Pumpkin Festival
Highwood
Friday, October 3-Sunday, October 5
Visit Highwood for all the pumpkin-based fun you could wish for. This three-day festival includes all-you-can-carve pumpkin stations, a carnival, live entertainment, a 5k, craft and food vendors, and pet and kid costume contests. Visit the website here.

Lincoln Square Ravenswood Apple Fest
Lincoln Square
Friday, October 3-Sunday, October 5
The 37th annual Lincoln Square Ravenswood Apple Fest offers activities for apple lovers of all ages. Food vendors and farm vendors will be on hand for families to buy fall-themed foods! Kids can enjoy apple themed activities like an apple sensory bin and an apple slime kit, as well as activities from Wiggleworms, musicians, jugglers, sing-a-longs, and so much more! Visit the website here.

Tales & Tombstones
Lombard
Friday & Saturday, October 3-4
The Lombard Historical Society leads families through the oldest cemetery in Lombard. Historians tell tales of bizarre, admirable, and ridiculous things that the people buried there did, from more than a century ago through today. Visit the website here.

Caldwell Woods Pumpkin Palooza
Niles - FREE
Saturday, October 4
Families can enjoy nature's contributions to Halloween by painting pumpkins, playing gourd ring toss, making leaf rubbings, and running through a fall-themed obstacle course. Visit the website here.

Lombard Fall Fest
Lombard - FREE
Saturday, October 4
Kids can kick off the Halloween season at Lombard's annual fall event. Kids can enjoy games, dancing, face painting, and a candy hunt. The Lombard Community Building will host Boo Bingo from 12:30pm to 1:30pm. Visit the website here.

Run for the Kids: Superhero Hustle
Villa Park
Saturday, October 4
Families can support kids with developmental delays at this 5K and kids dash that benefits Easter Seals DuPage and Fox Valley. The post-race party includes fresh grilled foods, face painting, live music, a photo booth, and kid-friendly games and entertainment. Visit the website here.

Leo Lionni's Frederick
West Loop
Thru November 16
While other mice are gathering food for the winter, Frederick daydreams the summer away. But when fall weather comes, it is Frederick who has stored up something special for the long cold winter in a celebration of the idea that there is a place for all of us in this world. Originally a world premiere in CCT’s 10th birthday season, this charming musical based on Leo Lionni’s classic, much-loved Caldecott Award-winning book features a book by Suzanne Maynard Miller and a spirited folk and rock blues music score by Sarah Durkee and Paul Jacobs, performed live, on-stage by a talented cast. Visit the website here.

Biketoberfest
Bensenville - FREE
Sunday, October 5
This annual bicycle show and swap will take place at a new location in Algonquin for its 20th anniversary. Kids can enjoy watching motorized mini bikes, go karts, and pedal cars, or look for a new bike in the Bike Corral. Visit the website here.

Brookfield Zoo Chicago Boo at the Zoo
Brookfield
Weekends, October 5-31
Kids can trick or treat with the animals at Brookfield Zoo at this not-so-scary event during the three weeks leading up to Halloween. Other weekend activities include giant pumpkin carving, a Halloween craft, cupcake and cookie decorating, a haunted hayride, a creepy cowboy carousel, a corn maze, a pumpkin smasher, a costume parade, and a costume contest. Visit the website here.

Zombie Candy Hunt
LaGrange
Friday, October 10
Zombies have hidden candy in Sedgwick Park and kids must dress up in costumes to come find it! Bring your own flashlight and bag or bucket to fill with goodies. Visit the website here.

St. Charles Scarecrow Festival
St. Charles
Friday, October 10-Sunday, October 12, 2025
More than 100 handmade and mechanical scarecrows will be on display in downtown St. Charles for this 35th annual fall tradition. Families can make their own scarecrow, enjoy live entertainment, shop at the arts and crafts show, or ride carnival rides while enjoying the fall weather. Visit the website here.

Columbus Day Parade
Downtown - FREE
Monday, October 13
Chicagoans of all ages can enjoy watching 150 groups, including bands, floats, and marchers, march down State Street for the 73rd annual Columbus Day Parade. Visit the website here.

Lemontster Days Drive-In Movies
Lemont
Friday, October 17
The Lemont Park District presents the Disney film Hotel Transylvania to celebrate Halloween and the Day of the Dead. Visit the website here.

Open House Chicago
Citywide - FREE
Saturday & Sunday, October 18-19
The Chicago Architecture Center hosts Open House Chicago, a free public festival that offers behind-the-scenes access to more than 20 buildings throughout Chicago. Guests can enjoy access to Chicago's architectural gems, including skyscrapers, repurposed mansions, opulent theaters, exclusive private clubs, private offices, and breathtaking sacred spaces. Visit the website here.

Hinsdale Fall Family Fest
Hinsdale - FREE
Saturday, October 18
West suburban families can visit Burlington Park to paint pumpkins, enjoy giveaways from local businesses, visit food trucks, and trick-or-treat at downtown businesses. Inflatables and roaming entertainment will also be on hand. Visit the website here.

Arts in the Dark
Downtown - FREE
Saturday, October 18
Arts in the Dark is an evening parade that celebrates Halloween as the "artist's holiday," bringing together Chicago institutions and organizations dedicated to art and education. Audience members will be delighted by unique floats, spectacle puppets, and creative performances set against the backdrop of Chicago’s majestic skyline. Visit the website here.

Wicker Park Boo-palooza and Bark-palooza
Wicker Park
Saturday, October 18
Families can help raise money for the Wicker Park "Gardens We Design" at this family-friendly Halloween event featuring kids' musicians, a costume parade, and a pumpkin patch and decorating area. Play games including pin-the-tail on various popular cartoons, find the "needle" in the haystack, or work your way through a straw maze. Visit the website here.

Ackerman Spook Trail
Glen Ellyn
Thursday & Friday, October 23-24
Take a walk along the spook trail to enjoy Halloween-themed games. Refreshments will be available from local vendors. From 4-6pm., the trail will be non-scary and geared toward younger children. From 6-8pm, it will be spookier for kids 11 and up. Visit the website here.

Addison Park District Candy Carnival
Addison
Friday, October 24
Kids can play games to win candy at this annual event. Kids receive an extra treat for coming in costume. Inflatables, crafts, and games round out the fun. Parents must accompany their children at this event. Visit the website here.

Peter Pan at Chicago Kids Company
Belmont Cragin
Opens Friday, October 24
Follow Peter Pan and Tinkerbell to Neverland! The adventures are endless in a world of pirates and mayhem. Let your imagination fly to a place that allows you to NEVER GROW UP! Visit the website here.

Spooky Saturday on the Main-Dempster Mile
Evanston - FREE
Saturday, October 25
North suburban families can enjoy live music and a pumpkin carving contest to celebrate fall along the Main-Dempster Mile. Trick-or-treat at local businesses and participate in a kid or pet costume parade. Music from SCarolers will add to the fun. Visit the website here.

Stars, Stories & S'mores
River Forest - FREE
Saturday, October 25
Enjoy a cozy fire, s'mores, a spooky story trail, and pumpkin painting in Thatcher Woods. Kids can also stargaze in their Halloween costumes at this Forest Preserve District event. Visit the website here.

Pumpkin Palooza
Naperville
Saturday, October 25
Kids can celebrate the season by coming in costume to the DuPage Children's Museum for STEAM-themed, non-scary activities. Build your own Franken buddy from recycled toys, create wearable art, brew your own slime, and mix and mash pumpkin guts! Visit the website here.

Lincoln Scared and Ravenswoooooood
Lincoln Square and Ravenswood - FREE
Sunday, October 26
Lincoln Square and Ravenswood transform into Lincoln Scared and Ravenswooooooood for early trick-or-treating. Businesses hand out candy and other treats, and a pumpkin decorating station sets up on Damen Avenue. Visit the website here.

Lincoln Park Spooktacular 2025
Lincoln Park - FREE
Saturday & Sunday, October 26-27
Trick-or-treat at select businesses along Lincoln Avenue between Wrightwood and Webster on Saturday or Clark Street on Sunday for the week before Halloween. Magicians, stilt walkers, and jugglers will meet and greet trick or treaters along the way. Visit the website here.

Blodgett House Boo Fest
Downers Grove - FREE
Friday, October 31
Families can avoid the rain (or snow) by trick-or-treating indoors at the Downers Grove Museum. The Victorian themed Blodgett House will be decorated for the occasion and will host a scavenger hunt. Visit the website here.

Monthlong Events and Exhibits in Chicago

Jack's Pumpkin Pop-Up
Goose Island
Jack's is one of Chicago's largest fall themed festivals. With 10,000 pumpkins, fortune tellers, a corn maze with a secret bar, gem mining, photo opportunities, carnival games, and food trucks, Jack's provides to unique experience for each guest that comes through the doors. It is also kid friendly! Visit the website here.

Skeletober
LaGrange
Downtown LaGrange celebrates Skeletober, a display of unique life-size decorated skeletons on the sidewalks of local businesses. Families can take pictures with the skeletons and participate in a skeleton scavenger hunt. Families can also enjoy live music at Milk Money Brewing. Visit the website here.

Lincoln Park Zoo Fall Fest
Lincoln Park
Families can enjoy a walk through the pumpkin patch, a pumpkin-carving demonstration, and pumpkin-themed treats like a caramel apple station and a s'more station at Lincoln Park Zoo throughout October. Visit the website here.