Where to Spend Halloween With the Kids

There are lots of fun things to do on Halloween along with trick-or-treating. Here are some great ways to get your Halloween on the big day!

Halloween Party
Hamilton Twp. Public Library, Hamilton Twp.
Young kids who are home from school in the morning can dress up, get their face painted, ask for a glitter tattoo, listen to Mr. Jim from Key of Awesome Music and do crafts.

Vulcans’ Trick-or-Treat
Recreation Park, New Brunswick
Dress in your best costume and bring your trick-or-treat bag for Halloween fun.

Hometown Halloween
Downtown Washington Borough
Bring the family to trick-or-treat at the shops and restaurants. Enter the costume contest. Listen to a DJ play fun and spooky tunes. Check out the pumpkins entered by downtown businesses into the decorating contest.

Toms River’s 84^th Halloween Parade
Toms River Shopping Center / Highland Parkway, Toms River
Hosted by Toms River Fire Co. No. 1, this annual parade is one of the biggest in the state.

Halloween House
2 Alcott Way, Succasunna
Back in action for the 35th year, there is an outdoor display that will be open to the public on Halloween night from 5-11 p.m.

Halloween Light Show
Demarest Farms, Hillsdale
Drive through 32 acres of Halloween lights displays, enjoy farm fresh goodies in the retail farm market, warm up by the fire pits, make your own s’mores, and sip hot cocoa.

Fright Fest
Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson
Recommended for teens and adults 13 and older, this is one of the area’s scariest Halloween events. Nighttime festivities include a ghoul parade, live stage shows, terrifying scare zones, plus six haunted houses designed for the ultimate scare.

Ridgewood Halloween Maze
This free spooky maze at 124 Sheridan Terrace welcomes ghouls of all ages. A popular Halloween tradition, you’re sure to get a little turned around (or run into a clown after dark) as you make your way through.

Halloween House Paramus
Paramus Mall, Paramus
Halloween House has a series of fully immersive, uniquely themed rooms including the Trick or Treat Room, the Glow in the Dark Room, the Horror Movie Graveyard, the Vampires’ Lair, and the pumpkin patch. These rooms are designed to be more fun than scary. There are no actors, jump scares or strobe lights. It takes about 45 minutes to walk through. Note: The attraction is closed on Sundays.

Jack O’Lantern Experience
Skylands Stadium, Augusta
There will be thrills and chills for the whole family, including seasonal food and drinks, outdoor games, pumpkin picking and painting, and a stroll through over 6,000 hand-carved Jack-O-Lanterns.

Howl-O-Ween
Turtle Back Zoo, West Orange
Trick-or-treat at the candy stations throughout the zoo. There will be stilt walkers, the Dr. Diabolical Mad Science Show and spooky storytimes. The farm area and top of the zoo will be closed, the African Adventure will close once dusk begins, but the Touch Tank and Reptile House will remain open. The carousel and train will be open depending on weather.

Fintastic Fall Days Festival
Adventure Aquarium, Camden
See countless aquatically-themed displays throughout the aquarium, both floating on the surface and sunken deep below among sharks, rays, and other aquatic animals. Check out seasonal sensory tables featuring pumpkin slime and other hands-on sensory experiences. You can pay $5 to paint and take home your pumpkin masterpiece. If you’re looking to learn more, dive into the “What Goes Bump in the Midnight Zone” show, which demystifies the animals living in the dark depths of the ocean’s Midnight Zone.

Halloween at Bell Works
Bell Works, Holmdel
Trick-or-treat around The Block and visit the different retailers for candy. A live DJ will spin spooky tunes in the Atrium during the afternoon, and toward the night adults can head to Bar Bella for more DJ music.

Halloween Baby Monster Ball
Over Easy Kitchen, Fair Haven/Holmdel/Marlboro
Kids ages 1-6 in costume will eat free all day at all three Over Easy Kitchen locations.

Monster Martin’s House of Terror
Gloucester County 4-H Fairgrounds, Mullica Hill
Check out South Jersey’s best home haunt turned pro.

Monsterville
Downtown Merchantville
The downtown will be transformed into a Halloween scene where you can take the kids trick-or-treating.

Somerville Spooktacular
Downtown Somerville
Activities have been planned along Main Street, Division Street and the Somerset County Courthouse Lawn, and will include trick-or-treating at participating businesses, music and games, pumpkin painting, and hayrides that will take you all around the district.

Brick-or-Treat: Monster Party
LEGOLAND Discovery Center, American Dream, East Rutherford
Watch the new LEGO 4D Halloween Movie: The Great Monster Chase. Have a meet-and-greet with the BOOtastic LEGO Witch. Find all the monsters that have hidden in Miniland and bring the Monster Band back together for a reward. Take a picture with the new LEGO pumpkin. Add your own terrifying touches to make the Monster House a home. Enjoy Halloween treats at the LEGO Café. And of course, play with the LEGOs in the build areas.

Fall Into Millburn-Short Hills Halloween Event
Downtown Millburn
Different stations will be set up, where kids in preschool to elementary school can enter the costume contest, paint pumpkins, color in shapes that will be part of a community mural and trick-or-treat. If teens and parents come, they can get some food and drinks throughout the five business districts.

LuminoCity Dino Safari
Freehold Raceway Mall, Freehold Twp.
From the triceratops to the Pterosauria to the brachiosaurus to the oviraptor, your kids will have a roarin’ good time checking out the lifelike animatronics that have special effects like their jaws opening, heads and tails swaying, the sound of breathing and wings fluttering. A special Halloween makeover with gigantic, illuminated jack o’lanterns, spiders, graveyard stones and skeletons goes through October 31.

Halloween Trunk-or-Treat
Sea Isle City
Bring the kids to a trunk-or-treat from 5-7 pm.

Mall-O-Ween
Newport Centre, Jersey City
Little ghouls and witches can ask for candy from retailers that have a “Treats Here” sign in their store’s window to indicate they are participating in the trick-or-treat.

Trunk-or-Treat
McDonald’s, 485-497 Broadway, Paterson
McDonald’s Owner/Operator Alisa Harrison encourages everyone to come in costume because the first 100 kids dressed up will receive a free McNugget Happy Meal.

Trick-or-Treat Around the Block
Bell Works, Holmdel
The shops on The Block will be open for trick-or-treating, plus there will be a live DJ in the Main Atridum. Bar Bella will be open, with a live DJ playing there as well.

Kids Eat Free
Doherty-owned and operated Applebee’s
Doherty-owned and operated Chevys Fresh Mex in Clifton and Linden
Families who dine in will receive free kids meals with the purchase of an adult entree when children come wearing their best Halloween costumes.

Trick & Treat
Paradox Museum, American Dream
Kids ages 4-11 can show off their most creative costume for a chance to win a $200 cash prize or Paradox Museum gift cards, and the go through the museum’s 70 mind-bending exhibits, which will be decorated with bats, spiderwebs, eerie prints, and other ghoulish delights.

Check out a preview of tonight’s festivities on our Instagram page.