Happy Halloween! Dublin is the place to be this Halloween with tons of spootakular events taking place all over the city. My events calendar is action packed with family friendly events and activities to entertain the kids during this midterm break. Pumpkins, mittens and bin liner costumes at the ready, here's a peek at what's on.
🕷Pumpkin Festival @ Scalp Wood Nursery
Fri, Oct 19 - Tue, Oct 30 | 10:00am-5:00pm | €3.00 per ticket (kids under 2 go free) | Info
Pick your own pumpkins for as little as €3.00 per person at Scalp Wood’s Nursery in Kilternan, South County Dublin where it has its very own pumpkin patch. Lots of fun Halloween activities are included.
🕷Scary Tales @ Tayto Park
Sat, Oct 20 - Sun, Nov 4 | 11:00am-4:00pm | 6 Tokens or Wristband (Entry & Wristband Child is €28.00)
Step inside a world you thought you knew and discover what happens when an ancient curse is broken. But don’t expect a happily ever after, for these stories have a twist in their tale; escape the Witch, save the Prince, find the answer you seek the most. This is a place where nothing is as it seems, and everybody has a secret. This is the world of Scary Tales. Dare you enter? Suitable for Children age 6+ .
🕷Shrek The Musical @ Bord Gais Energy
Tue, Oct 23 - Sun, Nov 4 | From €35.00 per ticket | Info
Following a record-breaking UK and Ireland Tour, the smash hit blockbuster is back – and larger than life! Based on the story and characters from the Oscar®-winning DreamWorks Animation film, this hilarious and spectacular production turns the world of fairytales upside down in an all-singing, all-dancing, must-see musical comedy. Join Shrek for an irresistible mix of adventure, laughter, and romance, guaranteed to delight audiences of all ages!
🕷Samhain Magic @ the GAA Museum
Fri, Oct 26 - Tue, Oct 30 | 5.00pm, 6.00pm + 7.00pm | Adults: €16.00, Children (U16): €12.oo | Info
A magic show, tour of Croke Park, photo opportunities with the famous Sam and Liam cups and a harvest menu. The GAA Museum is marking the ancient Irish festival of Samhain with this special family event – Magic at the Museum – this Halloween. The GAA Museum will be celebrating Samhain by inviting families to take part in a unique experience which includes a stadium tour and a child-friendly, Samhain-themed magic show.
🕷Halloween @ Luggwoods
Sat, Oct 27 - Sun, Nov 4 | From €12.00 per ticket | Info
With its rustic old-world charm,
Luggwoods Enchanted Forest is the ideal backdrop for you and your family to experience Halloween this year. Once you board The Luggwoods Express our fairy-tale characters will guide you on an interactive and fun journey through the Enchanted Forest. Walk though the Luggwoods mystical forest Pumpkin patch, where the girls & boys will pick up a pumpkin before boarding the Luggwoods Express again and making your way to the Halloween decorated Luggwoods Big Red Barn where you’ll meet some crazy Halloween characters, dance, sing, meet the Luggwoods Funny Friendly Witch (she has a treat for all the boys & girls), carve your Pumpkin and of course play some old style Halloween games for all the family to enjoy.
🕷Stokerland 2018 @ St Patrick's Park
Sat, Oct 27 - Sun, Oct 28 | Free | Info
Stokerland, a pop-up Victorian fun park for families and the eternally young, will open its gothic gates in one of Dublin’s most beautiful green spaces, St. Patrick’s Park. With one of the city’s stunning cathedrals as a gothic backdrop, this ghoulish gathering will present street theatre, a performance tent, free face-painting, Victorian funfair rides, macabre thrills and ghoulish games for everyone to enjoy. Complete with a food village, olde-worlde games, face-painting and more, this family-friendly fun-day is the perfect way to entertain children 12 and under this Hallowe’en Bank Holiday weekend. Fancy dress encouraged!
🕷Peril’s Pumpkin Trail @ Malahide Castle
Sat, Oct 27 - Wed, Oct 31 | From €5.00 per ticket | Info
Follow the Halloween Trail to unlock your magic and help Peril the Pumpkin Fairy cast the spell of life on Malahide Castle’s pumpkins. Collect Halloween treats along the trail from the Queen of the Forest and her forest friends. Dress up for this family friendly Halloween event, with just a little boo!
🕷Halloween @ Dublinia
Saturday, October 27 | 12:00pm-1:00pm | From €6.00 per ticket | Info
Delig Inis theatre group present their annual performance, where you'll hear about the supernatural and ghostly happenings around medieval Dublin. But are they true? Find out at Halloween. Suitable for all ages. Performances running every 15 minutes from 12pm to 1pm and 2pm and 4pm
🕷‘Creepytown’ @ The Helix
Sat, Oct 27 - Sun, Oct 28 | Various Times | All Tickets: €12.00 Groups of 5 or more: €10.00 | Info
TheatreworX Productions is delighted to announce its Halloween production ‘Creepytown’ at The Helix. Designed with young families in mind, this is a Halloween experience like no other. “Creepytown” is an hour long, indoor, interactive, Halloween theatre production, featuring spooktacular visual effects, crazy characters, creepy dance performances, howls of laughter and much more for all the family to enjoy from the comfort of their Theatre seats. If you are looking for fun family-friendly frights this Halloween, you’ll find it at “Creepytown”. It’s the perfect way to bring the frightful fun of Halloween to life for children, without the fear factor, all from the comfort of your theatre seat.
🕷Halloween Seasonal Fun @ Killruddery House
Sat, Oct 27 - Sun, Oct 28 | 11:00am-4:00pm | Family Ticket from €35.00 | Info
If ghosts and ghouls aren’t your kind of thing this Halloween, bring the family to Killruddery for a weekend of bright and seasonal fun! Go to the pumpkin patch in the Walled Garden and choose a pumpkin of your own with help from the farmer. You can then bring your hand picked pumpkin to the carving stations to design and create your own Halloween pumpkin face. Afterwards, head over to the scarecrow plots, where you can design and build your own scarecrow to enter in the scarecrow competition! Scarecrow architects and engineers can make their creations’ heads and clothes in advance and bring them along on the day. An ideal day out for all the family and a great chance for the children to get creative outdoors before winter sets in.
🕷The Cool Food School Pumpkin Workshop @ The SuperNatural Food Market
Saturday, October 27 | 11:00am-1:00pm | €15.00 | Info
The Cool Food School has a passion for healthy eating and want to share that with children through fun, interactive workshops in schools, preschools and at events! Join them for a fun, pumpkin workshop at The SuperNatural Food Market on Saturday 27th October at 11am. Suitable for age 4+.
🕷Scarefield @ Airfield
Sat, Oct 27 - Sun, Nov 4 | Various Times | Entry Fee + no additional costs | Info
This Halloween immerse yourself in Scarefield, featuring the fictional spooky love story of ‘The Princess and Uncle T’ at Airfield Estate. Discover the tale of the Overends sisters, their beloved Uncle Tommy and his princess fiancé in a transformed Victorian/colonial Scarefield House where there will be story-telling, crafts and lots of spooky fun along the way! Pre-booking is required. Tickets for this event are free with your membership or normal daily admission ticket.
🕷Haunted Forest Walk @ Marlay Park
Sunday, October 28 | 3:30pm-8:30pm | FREE but b wristband only | Info
Samhain, everybody's favourite phantasmal forest of fright will materialise before your very eyes in Marlay Park on Sunday October 28th 2018. The annual spookfest is back in all its gory glory with the sounds, shadows and creatures of the night that only appear in Marlay Park once a year on the haunted forest walk. The 3.30pm walk at Samhain will be tailored to suit people with special sensory needs. This means that music and sound effects will be quieter, special effects and lighting will be softer and we will limit the number of spectators in comparison to other entry times in order to reduce queuing times in so far as is practicable.
Dress your worst, in your most freakily frightening costume and join this for this unique fright in the forest.
🕷Bram Stoker Festival presents the Macnas Parade
Monday, October 29 | 7:00pm-10:00pm | Free | Info
Bram Stoker Festival once again welcome the internationally renowned spectacle company Macnas to the streets of Dublin for an unforgettable nighttime parade. Now a much-loved Bram Stoker Festival tradition, join Dubliners and visitors of all ages along the city’s streets as dusk falls on Monday October 29th for Out of the Wild Sky, a haunting and hair-raising parade of otherworldly magic. The pioneers of imagination and creators of unforgettable spectacles will once again transform the streets of Dublin as day turns to night and darkness descends.
🕷Magical Plants @ National Botanic Gardens
Monday, October 29 | 11:00am-11:30am | Free | Info
It’s all about Magical Plants this Halloween in the witch’s garden. Join the coven to find out more about using garlic to ward off vampires, plants for potions and spells, poisonous plants to murder your evil enemies and even some rarely seen invisible plants. Come and see just how spooky plants can really get.
🕷Dracula’s Disco @ The Ark
Monday, October 29 | 2:00pm-4:00pm | Free | Info
Get in the spooky spirit with Dracula’s own DJ spinning the decks and scratching vinyl for our free family music and dance party in Meeting House Square.Part of the Bram Stoker Festival 2018.
🕷The Haunted Express Train @ Dublin Connolly to Maynooth + Return
Monday, October 29 | 11:00am + 2:15pm | €8.00 per ticket | Info
What a nightmare! The train will be Halloween themed as it travels through the spooky Dublin suburbs and along the canal as we head West to Maynooth. Bring the kids along in their scariest outfits for an enjoyable spooky outing. Prizes for the best costumes. Nothing scary about that! Children aged 2 and under travel for FREE with a paying adult on their lap. Child tickets for 3 to 16 year olds.
🕷KIDS GO FREE! Visit the best of Dublin this half-term with City Sightseeing
Mon, Oct 29 - Sun, Nov 4 | All Day | up to 2 children under 14 travel free with each paying adult | Info
Take a short trip to the capital and City Sightseeing Dublin have got you covered (for a few days at least!), taking you to the best family activities Dublin has to offer during this midterm break – all with the added bonus that KIDS TRAVEL FREE with all week-long! Their family favourite destinations include Phoenix Park, Dublin Zoo, Dublinia, Croke Park, The Ark and The National Wax Museum.
🕷FANGtastic Party! @ EPIC
Tuesday, October 30 | 12:00pm-1:30pm | €7.00 per ticket | Info
Bram Stoker is one of the EPIC’s museum vaults favourite characters, so they’ll be embracing their inner-Dracula and having a fang-tastic Halloween party! Come dressed as your favourite spooky character, do creepy arts and crafts, play games and have loads of fun. There will be treats on the day and face-painting to make you extra scary. Each ticket purchased for this event counts as one child ticket to the museum! Recommended for ages 5 – 11.
🕷Jackula @ dlr Mill Theatre
Tuesday, October 30 | 7:00pm-9:00pm |€8.00 per ticket | Info
Being a vampire sucks, but being Dracula’s younger brother is driving Jackula batty. Join Jackula on a spooktacular quest to step out of his older brother’s shadow and become the world’s first fun vampire. Laugh as Jackula makes his pet ghost dance. Gasp as Jackula balances five glasses of water on his face. Smile as children help him perform spellbinding tricks. An inspirational Halloween magic show about staying true to yourself - for children aged 3-12.
🕷The Swan Halloween Party + Hocus Pocus @ Omniplex Rathmines
Tuesday, October 30 | 12:00pm-1:30pm | Free | Info
Hop on your broomsticks and hold onto your wands! Taking place over the school mid-term break, The Swan will be transformed into a spooky party for all ages on Tuesday 30th and Wednesday 31st of October from 2pm-4pm. All are welcome to attend this free two-day party! As if The Swan wasn’t magical enough, Omniplex Rathmines are getting the party started early with a special screening of the 90’s Halloween classic Hocus Pocus at 12pm. Tickets are not available to general public but family passes can be won on local Dublin radio stations in the weeks leading up to the party, from stores in The Swan and on The Swan’s Facebook Page. Get the scariest look with free face painting for young and old. Be stunned by magic tricks and amazed by interactive science shows for children. Get spooked at Dubray Books’ Halloween story time or see how a professional pumpkin carver works their magic at Fallon & Byrne.
🕷Halloween Family Concert: Little Demons @ National Concert Hall
Wednesday, October 31 | 1:00pm-2:00pm | From €10.00 per ticket | Info
The National Concert Hall is haunted by eerie music and crazy costumes this Halloween. Join us for this spook-tacular interactive Halloween family concert featuring the ghoulish ECO Band. Explore some chilling sounds and creepy tunes; learn about the instruments, and how music can be made to sound scary; play along with the band to some family favourites, and enjoy our Halloween celebration! Feel free to bring your instrument and join in some frightfully fun Halloween games. (Scares will be suitable for all ages.) Don’t forget to dress in your best Halloween costume!
🕷Spooktacular Boo @ Dublin Zoo
Wednesday, October 31 | 12:00pm-4:00pm | From €13.00 per child (entry fee, included for annual members) Info
Creepy arts and crafts, spine-chilling keeper talks, spooky face-painting. Join Dublin Zoo for monster music on the Great Lawn plus more festive fun!
🕷Spooky Bookmaking@ National Print Museum
Wednesday, October 31 | 2:00pm-3:00pm | €12.50 | Info
During this crafty workshop, children will learn how to handcraft their own mini hardback book, which they will decorate and personalise with spooky Halloween craft materials. The completed book can be used as a ghost story book or to keep a list of all their Halloween trick or treats! Ages 8 - 12 years.
Entertaining the Kids over Midterm
For all upcoming Halloween events and ideas on how to entertain the kids over the midterm, check out my Dublin City Mum:
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