Halloween Haunts for Children
Pumpkin Festivals, Trick-or-Treats, Zoos & More
Find More: Los Angeles Halloween Haunts Master List – Theme Park Halloween Attractions in Los Angeles – Halloween Haunted Houses & Hayrides in Los Angele – Halloween Yard Haunts in Los Angeles – Halloween Festivals and Community Haunts in Los Angeles – Los Angeles Halloween Parties & Costume Contests - Halloween Horror Shows & Excursions in Los Angeles - Halloween News – Halloween Photographs - Halloween Video
Are you a parent looking for family-friendly ways to spend Halloween in Los Angeles? If you do not want your kids scared but do want to get into the spirit of the October season, there are several Halloween events for children around town: costume parties, harvest festivals, and what we call “Halloween Sideshows” – special afternoon or one-day presentations that take place in year-round facilities like zoos or wildlife stations. These activities involve pumpkin-carving and face-painting for the would-be trick-or-treaters, without any scary monsters with chainsaws to terrify them.
Click here for the latest news on Los Angeles Halloween events for children. (You will find one-shot events that do not show up on this page, which lists recurring, annual attractions.)
Other Options
The events listed on this page are specifically for children. However, there are many other Halloween attractions in Los Angeles that appeal to children, depending on ther age:
- *Most Halloween Yard Haunts in Los Angeles are safe for kids, especially if they are simply decorated yards, without a walk-through maze or actors portraying monsters.
- *There are many Halloween Festivals and Community Haunts, usually local events, that are designed to appeal to neighborhood families with children. A list of these events for 2012 is provided by the L.A. Department of Recreation and Parks.
- *Several Halloween Haunted Houses and Hayrides present family-friendly matinees on weekend afternoons. Unfortunately, these will usually not be available on Halloween Night.
AFTERSCHOOL ADVENTURES: HALLOWEEN TALES
Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road San Marino, CA 91108
2012 Date & Hours: None listed. Apparently, this was a one-time event. However, the Huntington Library will be resurrect its macabre outdoor plays “Drama After Dark” for Halloween 2012.
Webpage: Click here
Description: This afternoon, the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens offers Halloween fun for kids in Los Angeles, with pumpkins, gourds, and ghostly tales! Children from 5 to 6 years old can get into the Halloween spirit with some spooky stories and creative crafts in this after-school program in the Children’s Garden with instructor Laura Moede.
Fees: Members – $10; Non-Members – $15 (includes one accompanying adult)
Registration: 626-405-2128
BOO AT THE ZOO
Los Angeles Zoo & Botanical Gardens
5333 Zoo Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90027
Phone: (323) 644-4200
Website: www.lazoo.org
2012 BOO AT THE ZOO DATES & TIMES: October 27 & 28, 10am to 4pm.
NOTE: A special preview of Boo at the Zoo is available to GLAZA members. Those with a Family Deluxe level membership or higher may enter the zoo from 8:30 to 10:00am on Saturday, October 27, before the zoo opens to the general public. To RSVP for this event, call 323 644 4770
2012 LOS ANGELES COUNTY ZOO TICKETS: $14 for adults, $11 for seniors (over 62), and $9 for children from 2 to 10, free for children under 2. All Halloween activities are included with the regular price of admission.
DISCOUNTS: Admission is free to GLAZA members.
BOO AT THE ZOO INFORMATION: The Los Angeles County Zoo asks you to “Have a safe and spooky Halloween at the Los Angeles Zoo!” Eucalyptus Grove will become a giant pumpkin patch, featuring pumpkin carving and crafts. The Creepy Creature Encounter at the Winnick Family Children’s Zoo offers close encounters with scary critters, trick-or-treating, and other Halloween entertainment.
CASTLE DARK HALLOWEEN HAUNT
Castle Park
3500 Polk Street
Riverside, CA 92505
Website: www.castlepark.com
Theme park with family-friendly events by day.
Listed on our page for Theme Park Halloween Attractions. Also listed on its own page here.
DISNEYLAND HALLOWEEN TIME
Disneyland Park – 1313 S. Disneyland Drive, Anaheim, CA 92802
The Enchanted Kingdom’s annual Theme Park Halloween Attraction is family-friendly rather than frightening; kids and their parents are sure to enjoy.
Listed on our page for Theme Park Halloween Attractions.
Click here for more information.
DREAM HALLOWEEN LOS ANGELES
Location: Barker Hangar, Santa Monica Airport, 3021 Airport Avenue #203, Santa Monica, CA (310) 390-9071
2012 Date: October 27 at 5pm
Tickets: $250 for child admission; $300 for adult admission.
Website: www.keepachildalive.org
Description: This annual fundraiser – which bills itself as the premiere family-friendly Halloween event in Los Angeles – benefits children and families affected by AIDS in Africa and India. Dream Halloween Los Angeles features ” trick or treat lane, appearances by children’s favorite characters, enchanted forest, 3D labyrinth, haunted house, live performances, arts & crafts activities, VIP sponsor reception, gourmet food from some of LA’s finest restaurants, celebrity guests and more.”
The organization claims to have raised over $15.5-million since 1994.
FALL HARVEST FESTIVAL
Forneris Farms
15200 Rinaldi Street
Mission Hills, CA 91345
Website: www.fornerisfarms.com
More information on page dedicated to Halloween Festivals & Community Haunts.
Forneris Farms Harvest Festival Archive
GHOST TOUR AT STRATHEARN PARK
Location: Strathearn Historical Park & Museum, 137 Strathearn Place, Simi Valley, CA 93065
Phone: 805-526-6453 (for group reservations of ten or more)
Website: www.simihistory.com/ghost
Ghost Tour at Strathearn Park is a family friendly event, appropriate for children of all ages. It is the history of Simi Valley told in a very entertaining way by those who created it. Although the characters have returned from the great beyond, they are less interested in frightening listeners than in regaling the audience with their life stories.This is a walking-standing tour with limited seating at a few of the stops. The tour can accommodate wheelchairs and strollers.
More information on our page for Halloween Horror Shows & Excursions.
Ghost Tour at Strathearn Park Archive
HALLOWEEN PARTY FOR DOWNTOWN L.A. KIDS
2012 Date: Halloween Night, 5-8pm
Location: Grand Hope Park at FIDM, South Hope Street, Los Angeles, CA 90015 (323) 644-6661
Tickets: $5 admission for adults and children over 2. Children under 2 free
Website: Click here
Information: The Downtown Center Business Improvement District of Los Angeles invites families living in the area to bring their children out for a night of fun and games. This Community Halloween Event features: trick-or-treat doors; inflatable bounce house; video game truck; fun face painting and crafts; balloon animals and jugglers; marionettes; and hot dogs, cotton candy & popcorn. Costumes are required for children and suggested for adults. Remember to bring a candy bucket or bag!
Please note: The Halloween Party for Downtown L.A. Kids is intended for children who live in the following Los Angeles ZIP Codes: 90012, 90013, 90014, 90015, 90017, 90021, and 90071.
Sorry, no pets are allowed in the park.
LOS ANGELES LIVE STEAMERS GHOST TRAIN
Los Angeles Live Steamers Railroad Museum
Griffith Park – 5202 Zoo Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website: www.lals.org
This scaled-down kid-size Halloween train ride is decorated with spooky scenes during October, providing one of the family-friendly ways to enjoy Halloween in Los Angeles.
Click here for our page devoted to the Ghost Train.
HALLOWEEN HARVEST FESTIVAL
Pierce College - 208000 Victory Boulevard in Chatsworth.
This family-friendly Halloween event features kid-safe activities during the day (a corn maze, petting zoo, face painting, pumpking carving, etc) and a more adult Factory of Nightmares by night. Get more information on the Harvest Fest here.
LEGOLAND’S BRICK-OR-TREAT
Legoland California – One Legoland Drive, Carlsbad, CA
Phone: 949-660-1988
Like Disneyland’s Halloween Time, Legoland’s annual Halloween Theme Park Attraction is designed to appeal to children who don’t want to have nightmares. Listed under Theme Park Halloween Attractions. Get more information by clicking the name.
MONTANA AVENUE HALLOWEEN HOP
Webpage: www.montanaavenue.com
2012 Date: Wednesday, October 31
Hours: 3-6pm
Location: Montana Avenue, Santa Monica, CA
Description: Montana Avenue hosts its Annual Halloween Hop from 3-6pm on Halloween night. Kids of all ages will enjoy trick-or-treating all along Montana Avenue, plus all kinds of fun, spooky activities!
Read a brief account of the 2011 Halloween Hop.
MR BONES PUMPKIN PATCH
Location: 702 North Doheny Drive, West Hollywood
2012 Dates: October 5 through 31
Hours: Sunday – Thursday 9am-7pm; Friday – Saturday 9am-8pm.
Link out: Click here
Description: Mr. Bones Pumpkin Patch offers a variety of kid-friendly activities: petting zoo, “jumpin’ pumpkin, pony rides, face painting, super slide, straw maze, pumpkin decorating, a giant rocking horse. The pumpkin patch also hosts parties of children and adults.
From the website:
Since 1986, our family has traveled from Oregon bringing the spirit of the farm and exuberant joy of Halloween to the heart of Los Angeles. Kids anxiously anticipate the arrival of the patch, year after year. We’re happy to serve communities throughout the city, including Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, Brentwood and Malibu.
We offer beautiful fresh autumn decorations, long-stemmed pumpkins, cornstalks, indian corn, gourds, squash, straw bales and an outrageous Halloween boo-tique. We offer everything you need for a magical Halloween. Carving, pumpkin painting services, delivery and flame retardant certification are available upon request.
OLD TOWN HALLOWEEN CELEBRATION
Central Park & One Colorado Courtyard
Old Town Pasadena, CA
Phone: 626.356.9725
Website: www.oldpasadena.org
Click here for the latest on Old Pasadena Halloween Celebration.
Dates & Hours: October 27, 10:30am to 12:30pm; October 31, dusk to 8:00pm
PRICE: Free
Description: Old Town Pasadena offers a weekend of haunted Halloween happenings for the entire family! Spooky activities include a pumpkin hunt, kids Halloween craft center, costumed characters, Halloween moon bounces, live ghoulish music, scary animal and bug show-and-tell, kid-friendly haunted house, store-to-store trick-or-treating and much more! Read more from the press release below:
The celebration begins, Saturday, October 30 at 1pm for Old Pasadena’s first family Halloween Celebration at Central Park. Kids are invited to join in a special Halloween pumpkin hunt. Mini pumpkins filled with candy, treats and toys will be hidden amongst fall hay, a mini graveyard and much more. Dressed up little ones can make their-own scary art project at the Armory Center for the Arts’ craft center. The festivities also include a scary animal and critter show-and-tell from the Natural Museum of History, three Halloween moon bounces, and roaming costumed characters for photo opportunities. Throughout the celebration live ghoulish music will be performed by the LA Music Academy. Come early as the first 200 in attendance will receive a free caramel apple.
The fun continues, Sunday, October 31 when over 75 stores and restaurants in Old Pasadena open their doors for free store-to-store trick-or-treating. Merchants will supply a variety of festive candy and confections for all the dressed up little ghosts and goblins in attendance. Bring the little ones to the One Colorado Courtyard for free haunted professional photos against a festive background and hundreds of pumpkins. One Colorado will also host multiple screenings of Halloween cartoons throughout the evening. Guests can enjoy a unique opportunity to meet and greet with various popular Halloween costumed characters.
The Old Pasadena Halloween Celebration continues into the late evening as teenagers and adults are invited to visit the Old Town Haunt, Pasadena’s award-winning scary haunted house. Descend into the darkness at the basement of the historical Union Savings Bank Building where rumor has it, mysterious occurrences have taken place in the buildings’ deadly 108 year history including reports of hideous screams, and odors of decay. Now the building is open to the public for chilling tours into the catacombs where ghosts and goblins meet from 7pm-12am. A lights-on, child friendly tour and walk-thru is also available from 12pm-4pm on Halloween day, Sunday, October 31.
The Old Pasadena Halloween Celebration is presented by Old Pasadena Management in partnership with The Armory Center for the Arts, One Colorado and the Old Town Haunt. All activities are free except the Old Town Haunt which is $15 general admission.
OLD TOWN HAUNT
20 North Raymond Street in Pasadena (Old Town)
This professional Halloween haunt for adults – located in Old Town Pasadena – used to offer light-on kiddie matinees on selected Saturdays and Sundays, from noon to 4:00pm. Since 2010, they switched to a children’s matinee recommended for ages 7-12, with no live actors, some special effects, and fewer scares.
Listed on our page for Halloween Haunted Houses.
Click the link in the name for more information.
SAFE HAVEN TRICK OR TREATING
Heritage Square Museum
3800 Homer Street
Los Angeles, CA
Website: www.heritagesquare.org
2012 DATE & HOURS: Halloween Evening (October 31), 4:00pm to 7:30pm
ADMISSION: $5 for Adults and $2 for children 6 to 12. Children under 6 free .
PARKING: Free street parking
DESCRIPTION: Bring your kids for Halloween treats inside the safe confines of the museum grounds. Children 1 to 12 years of age, with parent accompaniment, may come in costume and receive sweets from the Heritage Square’s costumed interpreters, who will be stationed at each of the museum’s well-preserved Victorian building.
OTHER INFORMATION: The Heritage Square Museum also presents an annual Halloween Movie Night and a Halloween & Mourning Tour, depicting the practices and beliefs of the Victorian Era regarding funerals, spiritualism, and Halloween.
Check out our archive for Heritage Museum.
SCARIUM OF THE PACIFIC
Aquarium of the Pacific, 100 Aquarium Way, Long Beach, CA 90802
Phone: (562) 590-3100, ext. 0
Web Page: AquariumofthePacific.Org 
2012 Dates & Hours:
- Scarium of the Pacific: October 20-21, 9am to 5:00pm
- Halloween Family Sleepover: October 26, 5pm to 7am
Tickets:
- Halloween Family Sleepover: $60 per person, $50 per Aquarium member.
- Scarium of the Pacific: free with General admission to the aquarium.
AQUARIUM OF THE PACIFIC DISCOUNTS: Free admission for Members. Members guests get 20% admission. Adult tickets purchased in advance are $3 off.
FEATURES: The annual Scarium of the Pacific offers a “family friendly adventure, including the chance to meet thousands of creatures of the Pacific, frighteningly fun activities, and plenty of hands-on experiences to haunt your memory.” The aquarium offers you a chance to “Discover the creatures lurking in the depths of Pacific at the Scarium of the Pacific—a spooktacular educational Halloween event for the whole family. Enjoy special Halloween programs, including the annual children’s costume contest, the creepy coloring contest, magic shows, spooky storytelling, kooky crafts, eerie animals in the Great Hall, and much more.”
The Halloween Family Sleepover, introduced in 2011, offers an opportunity for children (with an adult chaperone) to spend a night in the aquarium, haunted by the spooky sight of fish gliding silently through the waters. Events include: Shark Lagoon and tidepool touch time; Creepy crawly animal interactions; Pumpkin decorating; Fish feeding; Freaky flashlight tour; 4-D Movie; and Crafts.
Aquarium of the Pacific Archive
SNOOPY’S COSTUME PARTY
Knotts Berry Farm
8039 Beach Boulevard
Buena Park, CA 90620
Webpage: Click here
2012 Dates: weekends in October
Hours: 10:00am to 5:30pm (regular park hours
Description: Camp Snoopy transforms into Camp Spooky for Halloween. This family-friendly event, including in the regular price of admission, runs at during daylight hours – a sort of safe alternative to the scary Knotts Berry Farm Halloween Haunt at night. Kids aged 3 through 11 are encouraged to dress up and attend the “Monster Dance Party and Costume Parade” and walk-through the “Haunted Harvest.” Other activities include the all-singing “Spooktacular” in the Peanuts Halloween Theatre, the Foam-tastic Pumpkin Patch, and a craft depot.
Click here for more about Knotts Scary Farm.
STAR ECO STATION’s Enchanted Green Hallow’s Eve
Star Eco Station Environmental Science Museum & Exotic Wildlife Rescue Facility
10101 Jefferson Blvd Culver City, CA
Phone: (310) 842-8060
Web Page: www.ecostation.org
2012 DATES & HOURS: Saturday & Sunday, October 27 & 28, noon-6pm.
TICKETS: $8 for adults; $6 for children; $7 for seniors (65 and over).
DISCOUNTS: One child free for every paying adult. Children in strollers free.
FEATURES: The STAR ECO Station transforms into a magical fairytale palace of trickery, treating and eco storytelling! See your farovite fairy tales with an environmental twist. Costume Contests, games, prizes and performances all day. 2012 features the “Haunted Academy” for ages 10 and up, at an additional cost of $1.
NOTE: All proceeds go to support rescued animals.
TOLUCA LAKE PUMPKIN FESTIVAL
10601 Riverside Drive
North Hollywood, CA 91602
818- 505-8039
Website: Click here
Dates: October 1-31
Hours: 10am to 9pm (longer hours as Halloween approaches, extending until midnight the last few days of the month)
TICKETS:
- $4 for petting zoo & $1 for animal feed
- $6 for maze
Description: The Toluca Lake Florist turns into the Toluca Lake Pumpkin Patch during the month of October, offering a petting zoo and a haunted maze. You will find pumpkins of every size for your Jack O’Lantern needs, along with carving kits. While parents are shopping for just the right round pumpkin, children can play with ducks and goats in the petting zoo or take a walk through the maze.
By daylight, the maze is not too terrifying for the little tykes; there are no actors in costume, just decorations of skulls, coffins, and tombstones. The tone is more fun than frightful: Herman Munster’s face is seen reposing in one coffin, and a menu offers vampire cocktails made with “real blood.” However, things do get a little more intense at night.
Overall, a perfect place to bring the kids for a fun but not too fearsome Halloween experience.
Discounts: Click here to find a coupon you can use to purchase an $8 voucher, which gets you admission to the petting zoo and the maze, plus a $5 credit toward the purchase of a $10-or-larger pumpkin.
HALLOWEEN YARD HAUNTS
Various Locations
Dates: Halloween night (possibly a few days before)
Hours: dusk till…?
Price: Free
Description: Yard Haunts are a great way to enjoy Halloween in Los Angeles with your children. These neighbborhood home attractions usually feature houses and lawns decorated to resemble graveyards; some offer walk-through haunted mazes (although few if any actually allow you inside their house). Most are are kid-friendly. All are free and open to the public; some accept donations, either to off-set their costs or to benefit local charities.
Click here to see a list of established Halloween yard haunts. Or click here to look for announcements about recent additions that may not appear on the permanent list yet.
Still haven’t found what you’re looking for? Last-minute announcements do not always make it onto this page, so you should check out our archive of posts for Children’s Halloween Events.
