For our friends in the Northern Hemisphere, in October the days grow short and the shadows longer, while the nights linger longer still. This can only mean one thing: Halloween approaches. For lovers of all things gothic and ghoulish, there’s no better time of the year.
While Halloween has beginnings that blend the ancient Celtic harvest festival Samhain and the Christian observance of All Hallow’s Eve – the night before the feast of All Saints’ Day – it hasn’t been celebrated in Australia for long. But now Halloween is growing in popularity, with schools, community groups, and entertainment venues hosting costume contests, ghostly themed parties, and an increasing array of pumpkin-themed decorations filling the aisles of every supermarket.
All this popularity means it’s time for you to join the trend and create a Halloween event that stands out – so we’ve come up with some haunting Halloween event ideas that are sure to scare up some attention.
Haunting Halloween party event ideas
The Halloween party is a perennial favourite. After all, it’s hard to beat hanging out with friends or making new ones. For event creators looking to set their party apart, the trick is to pick a theme and lean into it, reinforcing it with decorations, music, and even the venue. Get some dry ice (handle with care!) to add a spooky fog effect, and don’t forget sounds like rattling chains, agonising moans, and hooting owls.
1. The classic Halloween event idea: a costume party
Dressing up lets people release their wild sides, and Halloween costume parties are a perfect way to help your crowd let loose. Consider hosting one if you’re looking for school or corporate event ideas for Halloween – they’re great for kids, and adults-only soirées work well too. Include a costume parade or contest to show off the best outfits, and decorate with “cobwebs” and pumpkin lanterns for more spine-chilling fun.
2. Pet-friendly costume party
Halloween can be a stressful time for our furry friends, filled with unfamiliar knocking sounds at the front door, strange kids in costumes screaming “trick or treat”, and mysterious screams and howls coming from neighbourhood decorations and toys. So why not include your home’s favourite furballs in the fun with a pet-friendly costume party? Coordinate kid and pet costumes for twice the ghoulish entertainment, and don’t forget snacks – for both human and pet party monsters.
3. Halloween ball
Halloween is a popular occasion for adults to party, and a Halloween ball offers a more formal appeal than a standard Halloween party. While costumes are a common but not necessarily required part of the festivities, including a dress code can give off a “special occasion” vibe. Halloween-themed parties are a particular highlight for the members and fans of Australia’s drag community – event creator In The Dark‘s The Sickening Ball features some of the country’s top performers.
4. Halloween fireworks
While it’s getting chillier for our friends north of the equator, October heralds the start of later evenings and summer vibes for Aussies. What better way to celebrate the return of the sun than with a fireworks display, like the team from Redcliffe Markets in Qld do? Their Festival of Frights includes fireworks, carnival rides, and an opportunity for little monsters to “trick or treat” in the safety of the festival grounds. Fireworks a bit beyond your budget? You could also try a spooky outdoor movie night to take advantage of the warmer weather.
5. Neon glow party
Want to lighten things up? Then a neon glow party is for you. Ask guests to dress in glowing neon or all white, and fill your venue with blacklight and glow sticks. Add laser lighting and neon body paint, then use a strobe light for a truly surreal effect.
6. Sinister silent disco
At a silent disco, guests wear headphones to listen to a DJ’s beats, a perfect solution when you want to be respectful of your neighbours. Headphones also enable different channels, so you can offer a variety of vibes for your party-goers to groove to. A silent disco puts a fun spin on your classic costume party, and headphones are easy to fit over or under masks and other costume gear.
7. Haunted warehouse
A haunted house is a classic, sure, but a haunted warehouse will really scare up some spooks. A warehouse gives you plenty of space to feature mazes filled with ghostly scenes and screams, and to include a dance floor or chill-out section. A warehouse is also more often in an industrial part of town, so your curfews will likely be later.
Pro tip: Backlighting a sheet hung from above creates an effective silhouette on the opposite side, perfect for suggesting terror.
8. Circus party
A circus is more than a bunch of clowns doing pratfalls. Include stilt-walkers, fire-breathers, acrobats, fortune tellers, or illusionists, like Dark Circus’ Halloween party that features roaming performers and a host of Australia’s hottest emerging DJ talent. Consider funhouse mirrors, a calliope or steam organ, and popular carnival foods like pluto pups and ice cream.
9. Costume fest
We’ve all been to costume parties where half the crowd is too cool for a costume, undercutting all the fun, right? Avoid the “dead” beats by turning your costume party into a costume fest, where costumes are required for admittance. Set a theme such as “bloodsuckers” and fill your venue with vampires, or “Regency era” for a party straight from Netflix’s Bridgerton. Charge admission and offer a cash prize for the best look to encourage the crowd to up their costume game.
Community Halloween event ideas
When we think of community, we tend to think of our homes and families, local schools and churches, and the nearby businesses and offices that support them. Halloween community event ideas should focus on activities and themes appropriate to families, which bring a smile to adults, too.
1. Spooky scavenger hunts
Got a neighbourhood full of rambunctious kids eager for spooky merrymaking? A scavenger hunt brings the fun while serving as a release for youthful energy, as hunters race from clue to clue to find the next treasure. Place clues in hidden, half-buried plastic skeleton hands for a unique, appropriately creepy effect, and use sound effects like blood-curdling screams and wolf howls to add to the haunting atmosphere.
2. Spring-themed farm tour
Halloween’s not just about ghosts and goblins. Halloween happens in spring in Australia, so a tour of a local farm could be the perfect way to celebrate new growth for the year. Small or family-owned orchards might offer fruit picking, while some farms have wineries or breweries for adults.
3. Halloween steampunk market
The steampunk aesthetic brings the Victorian Age and the Industrial Revolution to fantasy and science fiction, with Jules Verne and H.G. Wells stories such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Time Machine serving as inspiration. Instead of a farmers market, set up a Halloween steampunk market, complete with local artists’ wares, musicians, and performers, all featuring a steampunk style.
4. Cocktail walk
For an adult-oriented evening that doesn’t involve makeup, costumes, or trick-or-treating but still revels in the season’s spooks and haunts, simply mix culture and cocktails. Explore local legends with tours of nearby venues or sights and invite experts such as local historians or museum docents to recount the gory details.
5. Haunted hayrides
Hayrides, with kids and adults piling into the back of a hay-filled wagon often pulled by horses or a tractor, or even pony rides, make great entertainment for kids of all ages. For Halloween, make it a haunted hayride with a path past scenes of horror like you’d find in a haunted house, and include ghouls that pop out from hiding places for sudden scares. Afterwards, enjoy games like bobbing for apples and pumpkin carving contests, then finish the night off with fire-toasted marshmallows.
6. Jack-o’-lantern wonderland
Simply say the word, “Halloween”, and the image that pops into peoples’ heads is invariably a glowing pumpkin lantern, commonly referred to as a “jack-o’-lantern”. A jack-o’-lantern wonderland puts the big orange icon front and centre, showcasing the best carvings and designs, all lit up in a haunting scene of glowing pumpkin faces. Set it up in a pumpkin patch (naturally) or bring it into a barn or warehouse if the weather doesn’t cooperate.
Halloween event ideas for families
While Halloween can be enjoyed by adults as much as by kids, the holiday is growing in popularity as a night for kids to dress up in costumes. To make your Halloween event more family oriented, keep the spooks on the lighter, playful side, and try to avoid the blood and guts.
1. Kid-friendly movie screening
Halloween has inspired countless movies that instil the spooky spirit without keeping the kiddos awake from fright all night. Whether you want to screen an older film like the original Ghostbusters or its newer reboot, you’re sure to find movies that kids will remember. Animated films such as Frankenweenie and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow put a fun spin on classic Halloween imagery that will delight adults, too. Instead of plain popcorn, serve green-dyed marshmallow–Rice Bubble slice decorated like Frankenstein’s monster (chocolate sprinkles make perfect monster hair).
2. Arts and crafts with spirit
Halloween’s iconic imagery lends itself well to various arts and crafts. Host a make-your-own-costume party prior to Halloween, or consider a candle-making or mask-making lesson. Homemade decorations add warmth and charm that shop-bought offerings can only imitate. Craft lessons also easily translate to online or hybrid events (just be sure to let online participants know whether you will deliver art supplies to them).
3. Family Halloween festival
Looking for sugar-free fun? Organising a festival lets you decide what activities to offer, like pumpkin carving, costume contests, and bobbing for apples. Invite favourite restaurants to set up stands and ask a local high school drama club to stage ghastly scenes. To be sure to keep it family-friendly, specify “no gore,” and make clear no weapons are allowed (apologies to any “pirates” and “cowboys” who’ll have to leave cutlasses and six-shooters behind!).
4. Trunk-or-treating
Trunk-or-treating is an increasingly popular alternative (or addition!) to trick-or-treating. Instead of wandering from stranger’s house to stranger’s house, organised groups drive to a nearby community centre or school parking lot so kids can move from car boot to car boot. It’s also a fun way to improve your event’s accessibility, thanks to the open space. Be sure to decorate cars with rubber bats, plastic spiders, and fake cobwebs, and play spooky music to set the scene.
5. Night at the museum
Museums love to engage with new audiences and can be receptive to Halloween-themed events such as movie screenings and special after-dark viewings of their exhibitions. Museums make especially excellent venues, as any dinosaur or Ice Age bones on display can offer a fun mix of spookiness and science. Contact a local museum’s events director to learn what might be possible.
6. Haunted bounce house
Turn a bounce house into a haunted house to wear the little monsters out while they enjoy spooky slides (decorate with disembodied arms reaching out over the edges!) and trampolines (place monster masks along the ceiling, so kids bounce up at them). Provide scary treats like ghost-shaped biscuits and cupcakes filled with blood (well, jam), then feature a screening of a kid-friendly movie like The Corpse Bride or Muppets Haunted Mansion as a cool-down option.
7. Halloween scavenger hunt
Set up a scavenger hunt alongside a corn maze, pumpkin patch, or empty barn for an appropriately ominous touch. Hide clues in fake coffins, under half-buried plastic “bones,” or in bowls filled with rubber spiders. Scavenger hunts are great ways for kids and adults to interact, put their heads together, and figure out the treasure clues. Once the hunt is over, have a pumpkin-carving party or a costume contest.
8. Magic show
Magicians and illusionists are crowd-pleasing options that bring a touch of the (seemingly) supernatural. Put a Halloween spin on a magic show by dressing the magician’s assistant as Vampira or Frankenstein’s monster. Instead of pulling a rabbit out of a hat, consider pulling out a pet snake or other harmless reptile.
Halloween event ideas for students
For uni students, Halloween is an excellent excuse for socialising. Events that put the emphasis on mixing it up and going to scary extremes are sure to attract attention. And while most students may be old enough for alcohol, certainly not all of them are, so remember to offer alcohol-free options like some booze-free punch or mocktails.
1. Horror movie double feature
Since many horror movies are made with a young adult audience in mind, your options here are virtually unlimited. Slasher films frequently feature student characters in schools and other academic settings, including classics such as Sorority House Massacre and the more recent Happy Death Day. Pair a black-and-white creature feature such as The Wolfman or Creature From the Black Lagoon with a more modern scare-fest like The Ring or It.
2. Haunted houses
While haunted warehouses and pony rides are exciting, for a haunted house aimed at a student crowd, you’ll want to amp up the scariness, including some jump scares that’ll have friends clinging to each other in fear. Make it uni-themed with a haunted science lab or zombie-filled library. And since they’re not kids anymore, feel free to include some fake blood to get their hearts racing.
3. Ghost tours
Who doesn’t love a ghost story? Many tour operators will feature a tour of local haunts where ghosts have been reported, providing a history of the region and lore about who the spirits might be and why they might still materialise into the earthly realm. Be sure to bring a camera to capture any ghosts that decide to manifest themselves, then hit up a tavern or diner to discuss impressions over delicious food and drink.
4. Horror convention
The horror crowd is famous for its close-knit sense of community, with filmmakers and stars often feeling a special appreciation for the fans of the historically under-appreciated genre. A horror convention could be a chance for guests to meet the creators of their favourite nightmares and gives studios and filmmakers alike the opportunity to promote their films to an enthusiastic audience. Be sure to invite stars of yesteryear as well – you’d be surprised how many are responsive to a chance to relive their gore-y days!
5. Fright farm
For universities in regional areas, go for a country-style twist on the haunted house with a fright farm. Haunted hayrides and corn mazes recall the holiday’s roots as a harvest festival and bring a disquieting dread. Set it in an empty barn for added atmosphere – but note that farm tools can be dangerous, so be sure no one can access leftover pitchforks, hatchets, or other implements.
Halloween event ideas for adults
It’s true, as you get older, your idea of a good time evolves. An adult-oriented Halloween still offers plenty of ghosts and ghouls but lets you savour the season’s pleasures in a more mature fashion.
1. Creepy cocktail night
Ring up your favourite mixologist to create a creepy cocktail evening filled with dastardly concoctions such as an Ichabod Crane (pumpkin vodka and vanilla ice cream) and a Vampire’s Kiss (hibiscus syrup, mezcal, and lemon juice). Include lessons so your attendees can learn the tricks of the trade, then provide appetisers to soak up the spirits.
2. Not-so-scary singles night
The ghosts and goblins of Halloween are so much easier to face when you’ve got a hand to hold. Invite singles to mingle while you offer themed cocktails and snacks – have servers dress as vampires in formal wear to set a ghoulishly fun tone. Perhaps ask your singles to come in costume and allow personalities to shine.
3. Connect with spirits through a séance
For brave souls seeking to break through to the “other side,” the Halloween season is the perfect time for a séance. Contact a medium to facilitate the evening, which you can organise outdoors with a torch at a park or local landmark (be sure to get any necessary city approvals). Or set the mood at an indoor event with candles and comfortable pillows.
4. Local bar crawl
We get it – sometimes people want to enjoy the season without wearing a costume or facing down scares. Instead, let attendees spend the night on a bar crawl and get to know their neighbourhood (and neighbours!). Bar crawls are popular with out-of-towners and newcomers, and you can use them as a chance to introduce guests to a range of local haunts.
5. Carnivorous plant workshop
Carnivorous plants aren’t just horrific organisms seen in 1950’s sci-fi movies. Meat-eaters like Venus flytraps and pitcher plants can make great houseplants, and really do eat flies and other bugs. Many species are native to swamps and similar environments and require special care to thrive in foreign conditions. Invite green thumbs of all ages to learn from a botanist how to keep carnivorous plants healthy (so they eat more bugs!).
6. Halloween cruise
For an extravagant All Hallow’s Eve affair, a coast or harbour cruise, or a simple boat party, can quickly become the place to see and be seen. Sydney’s Cheeky Events have mixed their signature singles night with a Halloween-themed boat cruise where event staff help eligible attendees to mingle.
7. Undead celebrity shows
In a celebrity-drenched culture, an undead celebrity show puts a spin on the entire concept of fame and immortality. Feature celebrity impersonators or local drama students, as well as makeup artists, to bring dead celebrities back to life for one final night of entertainment.
8. Eerie escape room
Escape rooms are natural fits for the Halloween season – they can already be intense experiences. Feature settings such as a dungeon, Dracula’s castle, or an ancient crypt to escalate the scares. Generate a storyline around your settings to allow guests to participate as characters in the narrative, creating an even more immersive event.
Pro tip: Pipe in dramatic music to increase the tension.
Virtual Halloween event ideas
Virtual and hybrid events have recently gained new popularity, with cameras and sound systems allowing you to reach people who may not be able to attend an in-person event. Some events lend themselves to an online event better than others (it’s a challenge to do an online scavenger hunt!). Events with a single focus, such as lectures or workshops, work well online. This is because it’s easy for an online audience to hear a single speaker in a fixed location. By contrast, events requiring movement and multiple speakers can make retaining audience engagement more difficult.
1. Cooking events with a Halloween twist
No social event is complete without treats, appetisers, or food of some kind. A cooking class demonstrating how to make those spooky biscuits and pumpkin-spice anything is definitely on point. Set up a camera to capture the prep board, the stove, and the oven so your audience can see the techniques used, and be sure to do all of your chopping and cutting beforehand. Include a download of the recipe for anyone who logs on late.
2. Themed paint or craft nights
A major part of this season’s fun is seeing how the community decorates homes, shops, and schools with cobwebs, skeletons, witches, bats, zombies, vampires, and mummies. At its Virtual: Halloween Pumpkins in the Moonlight, Paintnite.com enlists a local art teacher to lead a workshop for kids and adults, showing how they can make their own decorations that are just as spooky – and much more charming – as shop-bought selections. Charge a fee so that you can deliver the required supplies to registered guests before your event.
3. Special-effects makeup tutorials
Professional-style makeup can make a difference for anyone looking to win a costume contest. Show attendees how to do it with a tutorial on special-effects makeup, including how to create realistic wounds, scars, devil horns, and other features. Cutting between two cameras that show a close-up and a medium frame of how the makeup looks as it’s applied will help vary your online presentation. Be sure to include a list of supplies attendees will need, such as powders, foundations, latex, and brushes.
4. Witchcraft webinar
Witchcraft has a long association with Halloween, with witches in pointy hats and on broomsticks being a perennial image of the holiday. A deep dive into witchcraft, its history, and its future can help your audience understand who witches are and what witchcraft represents. Do witches really use bubbling cauldrons? Can witches cast hexes? Do all witches keep a black cat? Invite a local expert such as a practising witch to speak.
5. Virtual ghost walk
Everyone loves a good ghost story, so treat your virtual audience to tales of otherworldly horrors as you take them on a walking tour of the local haunted sites. Maybe it’s an old crumbling house, an abandoned industrial warehouse, or a desolate office complex. Invite eyewitnesses to contribute their stories and interview experts who can provide a reasonable explanation.
6. Creepy cocktail classes
Like cooking classes, cocktail classes that demonstrate how to create delightfully creepy libations will appeal to attendees preparing to host their own holiday soirées. Ask your favourite mixologist to show them how it’s done – dress in costume to set the scene, and be sure to get a menu of ingredients so you can publish it to your registrants and they can follow along.
7. Virtual costume dance party
Sure, lectures and lessons are informative and insightful, but sometimes guests want to let loose, even if it’s online – and especially if it’s Halloween. For event creators, a virtual party can work best if it’s a hybrid event, as a party atmosphere is generated that online guests can enjoy. Find ways to create a focal point that a camera can capture, giving those watching on a screen a good look at what’s happening. A costume contest, for example, provides drama that translates well over distances. Similarly, a DJ mixing tunes and emceeing the event can offer a focal point for your camera.
Halloween charity event ideas
Anytime is a good time to create an event for charity, so we’ve come up with some Halloween fundraising event ideas that can also be full of terror and scares.
1. Murder mystery dinner
A murder mystery dinner puts you at the scene of the “crime” in an interactive game where one or more guests are the designated “victim(s),” one (or more) are the “murderer(s),” and the rest need to figure out who did it before another victim bites the dust. Have everyone come in period costumes to get in character and include a registration fee to cover the cost of food and drink. You can request an additional donation to benefit your charity of choice or include a donation surcharge – just be sure to let your guests know beforehand, so they feel comfortable with their contribution.
2. 5K costume fun run
A 5K run is an ever-popular format for a fundraiser and a cinch to organise with a few simple tips. Plus, it’s a relatively short distance, so runners and walkers of different levels can participate. Invite runners to come dressed in costume for an added challenge (and for a surreal spectacle!). Ask runners to enlist sponsorships to benefit your charity or request donations from registrants.
3. Zombie walk
For families with young kids, the elderly, and others for whom mobility is challenging, a 5K may be impractical as a fundraising event. A zombie walk for charity can accommodate a broad range of participants. As a zombie, slow walking is encouraged! Like a 5K, participants might ask for sponsorships, or you can include the option to donate to your charity. Be sure to provide plenty of “brains” for the zombies to eat at the finish line!
4. Charity masquerade ball
A masquerade ball is an elegant event and instantly conjures up images of guests in formalwear and Renaissance-era masks, swirling to the strains of Mozart and Strauss. Of course, it’s your event, so feel free to replace Mozart with Metallica – it is Halloween, after all.
5. Pet parade
Pet lovers always relish the chance to show off their precious furry friends, so consider hosting a pet parade. Kids especially enjoy watching their pets march along with the neighbourhood entourage, and it will be even more entertaining with animals in costume. Try selecting a route down a shopping strip if you’re interested in partnering with local businesses. Just remember to keep potentially aggressive dogs away from more vulnerable animals and ensure owners keep them on a leash.
6. Halloween bingo
Bingo nights work well to engage both young and old, and you can easily adapt them for a fundraiser, with raffles and prizes for winning participants. Ask attendees to come in costume, and serve black-and-orange decorated cupcakes or other treats, and blood-red punch (plastic eyeballs in the punch bowl are a creepy touch).
7. Halloween trivia
Create a benefit for your chosen local community charity with a Halloween-themed trivia night. Albany Girl Guides hosts a Halloween Quiz Night to raise funds for their trip to the Girl Guides National Jamboree. Guests enjoy a licenced bar and sausage sizzle, and there are prizes for the best-dressed table, a silent auction, games, and lots of fun for everyone – over 18 years.
5 Traditional Halloween activities
While it’s fun to try new activities when a holiday comes around, there’s something about trying long-lasting Halloween traditions that helps us understand the origins of the holiday. In many ways, Halloween wouldn’t be Halloween without at least one of these customs.
1. Pumpkin carving station
Pumpkin carving is always more fun when there are more people to help design the face and clean out the insides. Set up a community event with a carving station for guests to create their own jack-o’-lanterns. Provide sheets of paper with possible designs from which guests may draw inspiration. Then rinse off the seeds and roast them for a timeless treat.
2. Lollies and toffee apples
Lollies and toffee apples have been synonymous with Halloween and autumn for generations. Use a hot plate or portable stove to melt the toffee (stir in some milk for better texture), insert wooden pop sticks, and invite guests to dip their apples and make their own tasty treats. Make it the featured activity or add it to another event to bring seasonal flavour.
3. Halloween games
Halloween hasn’t always been solely about trick-or-treating for kids. In many communities, games and mischief-making are a big part of the festivities. Put a twist on bobbing for apples – instead of blindfolded players grabbing floating apples with their teeth, have them grasp balloon strings in the dark or grab small prizes while wearing oven mitts. Or, play ghost in the graveyard, an old-fashioned game similar to hide-and-seek.
4. Scary movies
A showing of scary movies may seem like an all-too-common Halloween activity, so curate a collection of movies that tell a bigger story to make your screening stand out. Maybe it’s a comparison of Japanese (Ringu) and Korean (Train to Busan) horror, a showing of the complete Scream series, or a study of 1950s and ’60s atomic-inspired horror (Gojira, Them!). With large-screen TVs so widely available, your venue options are greater than ever.
5. Creepy costumes
What distinguishes most Halloween events from events held at other times of the year? The costumes. Encouraging attendees to wear costumes at your Halloween events creates a more festive atmosphere that people will remember when Halloween rolls around next year.
How do I host a good Halloween party?
While holiday parties can create additional buzz, they can also bring extra pressure. Guests want a memorable experience they’ll carry with them through the year. You may be wondering, “How do I host a Halloween event? How long should a Halloween party last? Where should it be held? Will a virtual event draw interest?” Fear not – hosting a great Halloween party simply means appealing to your guests’ senses to make a strong impression.
- Sight: Encourage guests to wear costumes and decorate your venue to create a spooky, memorable setting
- Sound: Mix up Halloween pop standards like “Monster Mash” by Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers and Bauhaus’s “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” with current hits – then combine with unsettling sound effects like screams and rattling chains
- Taste: Provide plenty of food and drink; including themed foods and cocktails reinforces the holiday theme and sense of a special occasion
- Touch: Setting your event in too large a venue makes your event seem empty and unexciting; a smaller venue creates greater intimacy
- Smell: Pretend its autumn with pumpkin-spiced candles or a cauldron of simmering cider
Answer the full moon’s call
Do you have your event’s theme figured out? Have you chosen your venue? Then set up your event online and spread the word! Eventbrite makes it easy to set up a free event listing, so the public can quickly find your event and all its details. Remember: the sooner you get your event posted, the longer people have to discover it.
