Best Free Halloween Activities
for Kids in NYC 2025

Free Halloween Events in NYC for Kids

Pumpkin Palooza in St. James Park
Highbridge, the Bronx
Saturday, October 11, 2025
NYC Parks and Council Member Pierina Sanchez host an afternoon of family games, sports, fall crafts, and more. Visit the website here.

Fall Fest Atlantic Terminal Mall Plaza
Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Saturday, October 11, 2025
Atlantic Terminal Mall and Brooklyn Bridge Parents host a free family-friendly fall festival on Atlantic Terminal’s outdoor plaza and car-free Fort Greene Place with an "urban pumpkin patch" with 1,000 pumpkins waiting to be decorated by the kiddos, along with arts and crafts, pumpkin painting, block building, haunted trucks to enter (if you dare), soccer, costume dance party, face painting and more! Visit the website here.

Halloween Paper Crafts and Letterpress Printing at Bowne & Co.
South Street Seaport
Sunday, October 12, 2025
Bowne & Co. hosts a free hands-on experience in crafting Halloween paper decorations, paper chains, and folded-paper bats. For an extra thrill, skilled Bowne designers are on hand to guide you through crafting your own letterpress-printed broadside posters using a 19th century printing press from the Seaport Museum’s working collection. Visit the website here.

Ghostscrapers at the Skyscraper Museum
Battery Park City
Saturday, October 18, 2025
Abandoned skyscrapers are all around, from those with cranes attached and those with no one to be found. Take a look and see what hides in the soaring nooks. Visit the website here.

Riverside Park Pup Halloween Parade
Upper West Side
Saturday, October 18, 2025
Pups are encouraged to don their most creative costumes and parade through the park, spreading Halloween cheer and cuteness overload! All breeds, sizes, and spooky styles are welcome. The parade starts on the promenade by 116th Street and ends at Ellington in the Park with a costume contest, music, special giveaways and lots of Halloween merriment. Visit the website here.

Labubu Pumpkin Fest at City Point
Downtown Brooklyn
Sunday, October 19, 2025
City Point and Brooklyn Bridge Parents kick off the spooky season with pumpkin decorating, fall crafts, and a Labubu meet-and-greet. Costumes encouraged! Visit the website here.

Halloween Howl & Healthy Hound Fair in Carl Schurz Park
Upper East Side
Sunday, October 19, 2025
The Howl is Carl Schurz Park's annual dog costume event. More than 200 creatively costumed pups strut their stuff before a blue-chip fashion industry coven of judges. Visit the website here.

Asphalt Screams
Upper East Side
Friday, October 24, 2025
Get into the Halloween spirit at Asphalt Screams, where the community comes together for an afternoon of ghostly delights, family-friendly frights, and unforgettable memories. Visit the website here.

High Line Halloween: Little Park of Horrors
High Line
Saturday, October 25, 2025
This spooky Halloween event celebrates NYC’s fierce and resilient nature, showcasing plants and creatures—both real and imagined—that come alive on the High Line at night. Visit the website here.

Halloween Boo Bash on Randall's Island
Randall's Island
Saturday, October 25, 2025
Visit Randall’s Island for a little pre-Halloween adventure. Do some crafts, play games, and enjoy some candy while supplies last. Visit the website here.

Great PUPkin Dog Costume Contest in Fort Greene Park
Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Saturday, October 25, 2025
It's time to get your costume—and more importantly, your pup's—ready for Fort Greene Park's annual Halloween Festival and dog costume contest. Visit the website here.

40th Annual Bronx Halloween Parade
South Bronx
Saturday, October 25, 2025
Celebrating its 40th year, this beloved community-based event continues to serve as a safe space for children and adults alike to enjoy the spirit of Halloween. Visit the website here.

Pumpkin Carving Contest in Washington Market Park
Tribeca
Saturday, October 25, 2025
Washington Market Park hosts this annual free community event with trophies awarded in five pumpkin-carving categories: cutest, scariest, funniest, most realistic, and most creative. Bring your own pumpkin to enter, or just stop by with your family to enjoy the festive display! Visit the website here.

NYSoM Halloween Havoc 2025 at East Harlem Tutorial
East Harlem
Saturday, October 25, 2025
NYSoM presents its 13th annual Halloween Havoc, a ghoultastic, spooktacular event featuring appearances from Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, and The Wolfman. Enjoy pumpkin painting, slime-making, and spooky storytelling. Visit the website here.

Bay Ridge Halloween Festival
Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
Saturday, October 25, 2025
Brooklyn Bridge Parents and the 5th Avenue BID team up to host a big fall festival on 10 blocks of car-free 5th Avenue from 72nd to 85th Streets. Check out the uniquely decorated houses on the side streets and enjoy a block party with bouncy houses, arts and crafts, pumpkin decorating, a trunk-or-treat, haunted trucks, music, and more. Visit the website here.

Halloween Teen Takeover at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library
Midtown East
Saturday, October 25, 2025
Teens take over the library after hours for a night of "scary" karaoke, a costume contest, oversized games, arts and crafts, and dancing on the rooftop. Enjoy DJ-spun tunes, a haunted photobook, book giveaways, and more. Visit the website here.

Annual Pumpkin Party at Williamsbridge Oval
Norwood, the Bronx
Saturday, October 25, 2025
The Williamsbridge Oval Pumpkin Party gets families in the Halloween spirit with games, arts and crafts, interactive activities, and more! Visit the website here.

Upcycling Halloween Crafts for Kids in Fort Greene Park
Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Saturday, October 25, 2025
The Urban Park Rangers show kids how to make a Boo-Bag for trick or treating. Bring your own reusable tote bag to decorate for Halloween. Visit the website here.

Queer Halloween Costume Party at Sugar Mouse
East Village
Saturday, October 25, 2025
The Queer Family Podcast & Gaytriarchs team up to throw the ultimate Halloween costume party, where LGBTQ+ families, friends, and allies can come together for candy, catwalks, and community. Visit the website here.

Halloween Harvest Festival 2025 in Socrates Sculpture Park
Long Island City, Queens
Saturday, October 25, 2025
The Halloween Harvest Festival returns to Socrates Sculpture Park, bringing with it family-friendly workshops, a community resource fair, and New York’s second-largest dog costume contest, co-presented with Chateau le Woof. Celebrate the autumn season with pumpkin decorating and creative workshops. Visit the website here.

Creepy Crawly Halloween at the Audubon Center
Prospect Park, Brooklyn
Saturday, October 25, 2025
The Prospect Park Alliance hosts a special Halloween celebration where kids can take a look at some creepy creatures. Interactive activities and experiments may just let kids learn these critters aren't so creepy after all. Visit the website here.

Pumpkin Sing-Along in Sakura Park
West Harlem
Sunday, October 26, 2025
Every Voice Choirs hosts a pumpkin sing-along community concert in Sakura Park. Visit the website here.

Children's Halloween Festival at Bleecker Playground
Greenwich Village
Sunday, October 26, 2025
This annual celebration begins with a toddler-friendly costume parade around the nabe to the Bleecker Street Playground, and includes face painting, craft tables, and trick-or-treating. Visit the website here.

Halloween: Wags to Witches in Van Cortlandt Park
Riverdale, the Bronx
Sunday, October 26, 2025
Van Cortlandt Park Alliance, Van Cortlandt House Museum, and the Urban Park Rangers host a free fang-tastic afternoon of family and doggy fun. Get ready for creepy crafts, face painting, spine-chilling stories, and more! Visit the website here.

Washington Market Park's Annual Halloween Costume Parade and Party
Tribeca
Sunday, October 26, 2025
Washington Market Park gathers the neighborhood ghouls and goblins together for a Halloween party and costume parade, led by the Queer Big Apple Corps Marching Band. Follow the band down Greenwich Street in your Halloween finest. Visit the website here.

Legend of Sleepy Hollow in Prospect Park
Prospect Park, Brooklyn
Sunday, October 26, 2025
Join Prospect Park Alliance for a community reading of Washington Irving’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow on the porch of Lefferts Historic House. Visit the website here.

Wave Hill-O-Ween
Riverdale, the Bronx
Thursday, October 30, 2025
Venture through Wave Hill's 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. Personalize a treat bag and decorate a mini-gourd favor, then dance away the eve with family-friendly tunes in spooktacular Armor Hall. Visit the website here.

The Great Pumpkin Patch Talent Show at the Bronx Library
Kingsbridge Heights, the Bronx
Friday, October 31, 2025
An afternoon of amazing performances awaits, as kids showcase their unique talents in the auditorium at the Bronx Library Center. Visit the website here.

Halloween in East Midtown
Midtown East
Friday, October 31, 2025
The East Midtown Partnership welcomes kids ages 12 and under to the free, annual Halloween in East Midtown spooktacular. The fun includes pumpkin painting, fun photo-ops, and trick-or-treating. Visit the website here.

Hippo Playground Halloween Parade
Upper West Side
Friday, October 31, 2025
The annual Hippo Playground Halloween Parade invites costumed kids to gather at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument at 89th Street and Riverside Drive and parade to Hippo Playground. Visit the website here.

Dumboween: Halloween March to the Arch
Dumbo, Brooklyn
Dumbo Archway
Under The Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn
Friday, October 31, 2025
4:00pm to 7:00pm
Age: All ages
Price: FREE
Put on your most creative costume, and head to Dumbo for a Halloween March to the Arch. Beginning at Washington Street, between Front and Water Streets, costumed participants parade to the Dumbo Archway, led by live music and puppets. Visit the website here.

Jackson Heights Halloween Parade
Jackson Heights, Queens
89th to 76th Street on 37th Avenue, Queens, NY,
Friday, October 31, 2025
5:00pm
Age: All
Price: Free
The Jackson Heights Halloween Parade—NYC’s largest children’s Halloween parade—lines up once again at 89th Street and 37th Avenue and marches down 37th Avenue to PS 69. Visit the website here.

BAMboo!
Downtown Brooklyn
Friday, October 31, 2025
BAM’s annual free community Halloween celebration happily haunts the neighborhood with family-friendly music, carnival games, arts and crafts, candy giveaways, trick-or-treat popcorn, and more. Costumes are encouraged. Visit the website here.

Park Slope Halloween Parade
Park Slope, Brooklyn
JJ Byrne Park
718-768-3195
336 3rd St., Brooklyn, NY, 11215
Friday, October 31, 2025
5:30pm to 8:30pm
Age: All
Price: Free
The Park Slope Civic Council hosts the spookiest parade in Park Slope. Marchers line up at 7th Avenue and 14th Street and wind their way to the Old Stone House. Come early to trick-or-treat. Visit the website here.

Halloween with Boo!KCM
Park Slope, Brooklyn
Friday, October 31, 2025
The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music hosts an outdoor Halloween Party. Talented musical spirits give a spine-chilling performance in a haunted musical garden, and the candy is frightfully delicious. Visit the website here.

Bklyn Boo! at Albee Square
Downtown Brooklyn
Friday, October 31, 2025
Don your Halloween best and pop by Albee Square for an afternoon of music, puppets, giveaways, and a special dance-off featuring Labubu! Visit the website here.

52nd Annual Village Halloween Parade
Greenwich Village
Friday, October 31, 2025
The world's most famous Halloween parade weaves through the streets of Greenwich Village once again. Hundreds of puppets, musicians, dancers, and artists, and thousands of other New Yorkers in creative costumes march in the nation’s most wildly creative public participatory event in the greatest city in the world. Visit the website here.

Inwood Pumpkin Pageant in Isham Park
Inwood
Saturday, November 1, 2025
The Inwood Pumpkin Pageant returns to Isham Park for another spooky display of Halloween artistry. Local residents bring their carved jack-o'-lanterns to the park the evening after Halloween for a grand community event. Visit the website here.

Hudson River Park's Pumpkin Smash
Midtown West
Saturday, November 1, 2025
Bring your jack-o'-lantern or uncarved pumpkin to Hudson River Park's Pier 84 to squash, smash, and smush it into compost to help keep the park beautiful, green, and growing. The fun-packed afternoon includes free face painting from Silly Cheeks and circus entertainment by Bindlestiff performers. Visit the website here.

Best Free Halloween Activities for Kids in NYC 2025

Best Free Halloween Activities
for Kids in NYC 2025