Halloween 2010 Edition: Things to do in NYC for Kids & Families October 30-31: Festivals, Trick or Treats, Parties and Parades

I love Halloween.  I just want to get on with the candy eating, costume wearing and parade marching fun, so, I am going to waste no time with this intro, except to tell you to read this post for some tried and true Halloween events in NYC that we are sure your family will love and also that our events calendar and The Mommy Poppins Halloween Guide are both literally stuffed with tons of awesome Halloween events like parties, trick or treating, parades, haunted houses, live music, storytelling and everything else you need to get your ghoul on this Halloween.  Make sure whatever you decide to do, that you arrive early and plan for crowds.  Young or old, everyone in New York City loves Halloween!  

Best Wishes for a Happy and Haunted Halloween!

All Weekend:
 

Wonderween—Midtown East
Kids can see their favorite Halloween movies starring Dora, Elmo and Diego in high def along with other special spine tingling activities like face painting (on Saturday), a photo booth (on Sunday) and bat flyer making workshops. Wear your costumes! FREE

Halloween Hoorah – The Bronx
If you haven’t gotten to the NY Botanical Garden for the Halloween festivities you will miss seeing the worlds largest pumpkin weighing in at 1,810 ½ pounds.  Visitors on Saturday will be able to see it carved into the world’s largest grinning jack o' lantern.  Don’t miss the 500 pumpkins already carved into jack o' lanterns and the other festive décor.  Kids will really like leaf rubbing, tasting fresh pressed apple cider, joining in on the costume parade through the children’s garden and playing in the pumpkin playhouse. $15 for adults and $8 for children

Pumpkin Chucking and Catapult Demos – Flushing
As part of the NY Hall of Science’s Catapult Month they will be hurling all sorts of stuff across their backyard to demonstrate how these ancient machines work.  Got a jack o' lantern that is getting a little old or just a plain old basketball sized pumpkin? Bring it with you and between noon and 4:00 pm watch them chuck it with the 19 foot high catapult. FREE with museum admission.

Day of the Dead Celebrations -- Citywide
Celebrate el dia de los muertos New York City style. Read our post for the scoop on this Mexican fiesta and where it will be celebrated this weekend.
 

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Morning of the Gargoyles – Morningside Heights
First kids are read Eve Bunting’s Night of the Gargoyles, then they spend the morning fashioning their own little monsters – clay gargoyles or skeletons along with paper gargoyle masks.  $8 for each adult and child pair.

Monster Mash – Brooklyn
One of the best Halloween parties for kids is at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum.  Tons going on including a cool dance party with a real DJ.  Families can visit the mad scientist’s laboratory, hear a story in the haunted reading room, learn about the stars, lightning bugs and bats, and then show off their costumes in the costume parade.  $10 per person and it is recommended you buy your tickets in advance.

Haunted Halloween Carnival—Park Slope
A creepy petting zoo with insects, spiders and alligators, a costume contest, cool crafts like silk screening, mask and puppet making and cookie decorating along with a haunted lab and the ever popular bounce house and face painting await visitors to Puppetry Arts 5th Annual Carnival.  Plus lots of cool raffles, giveaways and special guests. FREE.

Bryant Park’s Carousel Halloween Bash – Midtown West
Let the little goblins and witches take a spin on the petite carousel and stick around for spooky storytelling, pumpkin painting and a magic show.  FREE (rides on carousel cost $2)

Screaming Green Halloween – Battery Park City
Trick of treat through the World Financial Center for organic and eco-friendly candy at this Green Halloween party. Interactive storytelling, mask making with repurposed and recycled materials and green games like bowling for ghosts made with recycled soda bottles and bobbing for apples (no water waste here – the apples will be hanging from a string.) and more. Hourly parades led by the awesome Hungry March Band and the day ends at the Poets House for spooky poems and snacks.  Don’t forget to bring last years costumes and swap for a gently used new costume.  FREE

Central Park Pumpkin Festival – Upper East Side
Expect crowds, this is always a popular event with a free pumpkin patch, a super scary haunted house, marionette shows, tons of live music by your kids favorite rockers and entertainment from the Big Apple Circus, arts and crafts, hayrides and the creative homemade scarecrow contest. FREE

The Annual Halloween Costume Parade – SoHo
Let the kids battle the crowds on Broadway with the Scholastic Store as they parade down Mercer Street to Broadway and back into the store. Once inside they will hear some haunted tales and make scary Halloween masks. FREE

HalloWHOA – Tribeca
An interactive, very silly and only a little scary Haunted House for all ages led by the amazing theater troupe The Story Pirates.  Visitors move from room to room answering riddles and figuring out puzzles to decide if things will get silly or scary.  Shows are 45 minutes and they offer performances for all ages, adult and even special performances for the under six set.  $35 to $40.
 

HALLOWEEN - Sunday, October 31, 2010

Children’s Festival – Queens
Join in some good old fashioned fun with the kids on Halloween, costumed kids can play sack races, trinket in the hay, hit the petting zoo or take a pony ride.  Watch pig races, jump around in the bouncy house, go on a hayride and more agritainment.  This is the last weekend for the Haunted House and the amazing corn maze.  $5 per person with extra fees for some attractions. Corn maze is an extra $8 for adults and $5 for kids and haunted house is $4 per person.  Discounts offered for those who attend the festival.

BAMBoo!--Fort Greene
The annual outdoor shindig at BAM feautures trick or treating, a most creative costume contest,  arts and crafts, carnival games, storytelling and more treats for your little trickster. FREE

Halloween Party in Carl Schurz Park – Upper East Side
Dress the kiddos in their costume and head to the park for games, crafts and face painting! FREE.

Hunters Point Forest of Fear – Long Island City
The Andrews Grove Playground is transformed into a spooky, haunted forest for the holiday and filled with puppets performing an interactive and family friendly show.  Kids won’t get scared, in fact they will be delighted with live music and other fun goings on. FREE

Japan’s Mystical Folktale Creatures & Ghosts—Midtown East
In this family friendly theater performance kids will be introduced to the spooky oni, kappa and tengu from Japanese folktales followed by a mask making workshop featuring the characters from the stories. $20 per family – advance ticket purchase recommended.

Fright at the Museum– Upper West Side
Always fun to go to the Museum of Natural History, even better when it is Halloween and you can trick or treat (for real candy) in it massive exhibit halls.  Also, live music by Dave Grover and the Big Bear Band, pumpkin carving, arts & crafts and lots more.  Tickets available at the door. $10.

Outside NYC:

If you would rather trick or treat door to door in the suburbs rather than the super efficient floor to floor in the New York City, then you may want to check out the Long Island Village of Stony Brook’s Halloween Festival where kids can trick or treat in the historic downtown area and a lot more.  FREE

Going to New Jersey? Try the haunted happenings at the Liberty Science Center. The exhibits will be closed but there will be so much going on you will never notice!  $13 for Adults and $11 for children.

If you are headed north to Westchester this weekend older kids may want to visit a scary haunted house and younger kids will surely enjoy the Legend Celebration at Washington Irving's Sunnyside.

Check out the Mommy Poppins Calendar of Events.

If you are planning an event, don’t forget to let us know.  Enter it into our calendar.

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