Eek! It’s the final weekend before Halloween! Westchester cranks up the fun, so read on for some of our faves.

A don’t-miss event is the annual Tarrytown Annual Halloween Parade, whether you march in it or spectate. It draws a large crowd and culminates in a street party, with oodles of festivity in the air. Preschoolers will enjoy the abundant offerings at Harvest Moon Festival; FREE fun abounds at HarvestFest and Pumpkin-Carving Demo; a live Halloween-themed performance awaits at Grisly Kids: An All Hallows' Dance Review; a fun fall festival can be found at the Scarecrows and Pumpkins Parade; and for a Mexican twist on All Hallow’s Eve, take in Day of the Dead in Pelham. To turn the creepiness up a notch, check out our guide to Cemetery Tours.

Though it’s hard to pass up all the Halloween fun, there are a couple especially compelling events this weekend that don’t involve pumpkins or costumes: Picturing Stories and The Magic Garden.

Some of the recurring October events continue through next weekend, but Lasdon Park Halloween Haunted House & Train Show and Bear Mountain Oktoberfest wrap up this week. Last call!

With so much happening, we can’t fit it all in this roundup, so be sure to visit our Event Calendar for all the Halloween happenings and more through the end of the month!

This is the weekend of Halloween in all but the name. True, Halloween is next Friday, which really makes it part of next weekend if you want to get all official about it, but its Halloween part is only at the beginning. The pre-weekend day, really, and 10/31 is going to be all about the trick-or-treating anyway. Then come Saturday and Sunday, and at that point you might as well launch your pumpkins into the sky, because it'll be November and Dia de Los Muertos and Halloween will be little more than a sweet, cavity-inducing memory.

See, all the real Halloween action is this weekend. The festivals. The pumpkin patches. The chills and the thrills. Halloween at the aquarium, the zoo, the garden, the museum, another aquarium, another zoo, a scary train ride. Halloween with fairies, books, puppets, another garden, comic book Halloween, surfing Halloween, science Halloween. Dancing Halloween, racing Halloween, eco Halloween, Haute Dog Halloween, another aquarium.  Chances are you're going to be so busy Halloweening in this "not Halloween" weekend that come next weekend you'll be all "Halloween? That was so last weekend."

Well, that is until next week when we tell you all the spookilicious fright-tivities that lay in wait for you. But in the mean time:

Keep reading for our most Halloweeny picks for this weekend...

We spend a lot of time writing about Halloween fun for little kids like costume parades and tame seasonal fetes. But what happens when your tween outgrows those kinds of all-ages celebrations? A lot of eye-rolling, that's what. As the mom of a nine-year-old desperate to grow up, I know that firsthand. But I also know he's not quite ready for full-on adult Halloween events like those super-freaky haunted houses.

Take for instance the monster of the moment: zombies. He's very into the walking dead but I won't let him watch The Walking Dead. (Especially not this season—yikes!) However, we have been able to enjoy a few freaky but not mega-frightening zombie experiences as a family. These interactive events like zombie laser tag and a zombie escape are way too intense for tots but thrilling for tweens and teens, not to mention adults. So if you're tired of hearing the "this is for babies!" complaint, take your angsty adolescent to one of these zombie-themed events.

A few years ago, Superstorm Sandy made it impossible for many Long Island kids to trick or treat outside. Hopefully, we won't see anything like Sandy again, but extreme cold or rain can make going door-to-door quite a task. Or if you have small kids, crossing streets and going up and down front stoops can be a challenge. If you are looking for an alternative to going house to house, we've come up with this list of different trick-or-treating alternatives. And for more seasonal fun, check out our Long Island Halloween Guide, as well as sign up for our weekly newsletter.

The beautiful fall foliage is almost at its peak, Halloween is just around the corner and New Jersey is brimming with fall fun this weekend! There’s an autumn adventure to be had in every corner of our great state: head to Liberty Hall Museum’s Pumpkin Patch Day if you still haven’t gotten your huge orange beauty, take the Great Pumpkin Train to a corn maze and pumpkin patch as you ride the Delaware River Railroad or dress your little ones up in costume for some pre-Halloween trick-or-treating in quaint downtown Westfield. And for some night time fun, check out the always popular Harvest Moon Hayrides at Alstede Farms or brave a Nature of the Night Halloween Hike at Stony Brook-Millstone Reserve. And remember, you can check out the full list of weekend activities in our Event Calendar.

You’ve breathed through birth classes, drooled over adorable baby clothes, picked out the perfect stroller, and decided on a pediatrician. What about having a little fun after baby is born? Connecting with your baby and other new parents may seem like luxury, but we think it’s incredibly important. Here are a few things to check out before baby comes to ensure you have a social network and plenty of fun ways to connect with your little one once she arrives.