Celebrate the spooky season with these not-too-scary events taking place across the San Francisco Bay Area this October. Make the most of the dark evenings with a light show, find a fun daytime festival, or even watch a pumpkin plummet from the sky. Grab your kids, a costume and have fun!
Goblin Jamboree: Bay Area Discovery Museum, Sausalito
Take a ferry over to Sausalito’s Bay Area Discovery Museum for Goblin Jamboree, a week of Halloween-themed fun activities for kids under 10. Kids will love running around the hay maze, painting skeletons and playing in the cauldron kitchen.
Goblin Jamboree is Saturday, October 23 – October 31, closed Monday and Tuesday. Tickets are $20 for members and $25 for the general public. Bay Area Discovery Museum, 557 McReynolds Rd, Sausalito
Haunted Hangar: Hiller Aviation Museum, San Carlos
For a unique event, don’t miss the helicopter pumpkin drop on October 30 and 31 at Hiller Aviation Museum. The museum, which celebrates the history of aeronautics in the Bay Area, will be decorated for Halloween and kids can come in costume.
Oct 30, 5 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. (drop at 6:30 p.m.) and Oct 31, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. (drop at 12 p.m.)
Tickets are $18 for adults and $11 for kids 5-17. Under four-year-olds are free with an adult. Hiller Aviation Museum, 601 Skyway Rd, San Carlos
Halloween Hoopla: Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco
This fun street festival just for kids ten and under features a performance by the Alphabet Rockers and a costume parade. There are also crafts to make, a pumpkin patch and the LeRoy Carousel to ride – all for free!
Halloween Hoopla, October 30, 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., Children’s Garden, Yerba Buena Gardens, 799 Howard Street
Boo at the Zoo: Oakland Zoo, Oakland
Running on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays throughout October, Oakland Zoo’s Boo at the Zoo is an animal-themed scavenger hunt with a goodie bag to win. Come in costume (not inflatable, they scare the animals!) to enter the costume contest. Advance tickets are required.
October 8-10, 15-17, 22-24, 29-31, 2021. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., 9777 Golf Links Road, Oakland
Mummy and Me Halloween Family Fun Fest: Santana Row, San Jose
Pre-schoolers will love this free event featuring live music, face painting, trick or treating and spooky crafts at Santana Row. If your little one isn’t quite ready for night-time neighborhood trick or treating, this is the perfect morning alternative to celebrate Halloween.
Tuesday, October 26th, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., 377 Santana Row, San Jose
The Great Pumpkin Fest: California’s Great America, Santa Clara
Join Snoopy and his friends at California’s Great America for this annual fall celebration of all things pumpkin. Kids can dance in a giant foam pit, decorate pumpkins or explore a corn maze. Under 12-year-olds are invited to wear costumes and trick or treat with Snoopy and the gang.
If you have a three-to-five-year-old, register for your pre-K pass for free admission to the park here.
Saturdays from now until the end of October and Sundays from October 10th, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. California’s Great America, 4701 Great America Pkwy, Santa Clara
Pumpkin Days: Curiodyssey, San Mateo
Curiodyssey, the science museum and zoo at Coyote Point, is hosting a pumpkin patch with Halloween-themed science experiments and animal ambassadors throughout October. Kids are encouraged to wear costumes and can purchase a pumpkin to take home.
Wednesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., tickets priced at $12.95 for kids and $15.95 for adults. Curiodyssey, 1651 Coyote Point Drive, San Mateo
Halloween Haunt Light Show: San Jose History Park
San Jose’s History Park is throwing a unique Halloween block party weekend evenings throughout October. A light show will illuminate the Pacific Hotel while skeletons, jack-o-lanterns and bats amuse visitors with jokes. In between shows, check out the spooky graveyard, explore a pumpkin patch and fill up at the food trucks.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for 6-11 year-olds. The light shows start at 6 p.m., 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. San Jose History Park, 635 Phelan Avenue, San Jose
The Jack-O-Lantern Trail: Winchester Mystery House
The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose is a real deal haunted house, which you can tour if you are brave enough. The former home of Sarah Winchester, tragedy-stricken heir to the rifle fortune, is an architectural oddity and worth a visit in its own right. However, it’s likely too scary for little ones, so take them to the beautiful illuminated Victorian gardens instead on the Jack-O-Lantern trail during evenings in October.
Tickets cost $21.99 for adults and $15.99 for 3-17-year-olds. Open throughout October. Winchester Mystery House, 525 S Winchester Blvd, San Jose
For more fall fun, check out our list of amazing kid-friendly wineries to visit in California!
So many great venues to celebrate Halloween! We don’t have that many places that really embrace it here in the UK, I’d love to visit the US and try these places!
It’s so much fun! You do have Bonfire Night though to make up for it.