We’ve got the lowdown on haunted houses, trick-or-treat events, family-friendly festivals and more things to do for Halloween in Phoenix.
Family-Friendly Festivals
Howl-O-Ween at the Phoenix Zoo: October 28-29
Howl-O-Ween features delightfully spooky experiences for the whole family. Activities are designated as “Merry” for all ages or “Scary” for guests over eight years old who like a good scare. Enjoy themed crafts, a trick-or-treat trail, games and monster mash dance party. And if you’re looking for thrills, be careful where you turn: witches, ghosts, and the Headless Horseman could be lurking around the corner.
Howl-o-Ween at the Phoenix Zoo
Queen Creek Trunk or Treat: October 22
Trunk or Treat provides a safe environment for families to enjoy an inexpensive evening of Halloween fun in a festival atmosphere! Children trick-or-treat by going from car trunk to car trunk on “Trunk or Treat Street” to get their bag filled with goodies. The event will also feature carnival games, costume contests and a Teen Zombie Film Festival.
Dia de los Muertos Festival: October 22-23
Spirits will connect at the Mesa Arts Center’s annual Dìa de los Muertos Festival. The Day of The Dead festival will feature delicious foods, a colorful mercado featuring an assortment of Dìa de los Muertos merchandise, jewelry, arts and crafts.
Dia de los Muertos PHX Festival: October 23
The Dia de los Muertos Phx Festival is an interactive, cultural immersion event blending traditional Mexican experiences with a twist of Southwestern flavor. Bring a blanket or chair and experience a uniquely Arizonan, grass-roots celebration of ancestors and community diversity. Children’s activities, art mercado, food booths and many masked performers brings culture to life.
Dia de los Muertos Phx Festival
Zombie Walk 8: October 24
Have you been practicing your zombie walk? Slump and limp your way through the heart of downtown Phoenix with the fellow zombie community, then join other 21+ members of the undead for a pub crawl.
Adora Trails Halloween Treat Street: October 25
Enjoy trick-or-treating around five decorated model homes, superhero meet and greets, free food, carnival games, a petting zoo and more for a frighteningly good, family-friendly evening event.
Chandler’s Halloween Spooktacular: October 28
Chandler invites all ghosts, goblins, ghouls, creatures, characters and superheroes to join them for an evening of safe family fun. There will be food, games, arts and crafts, costume contests, souvenir photos, and a Haunted House.
Salt River Fields Balloon Spooktacular: October 28-29
The Balloon Spooktacular features more than 20 hot air balloons on display and 4,000 pounds of candy for trick-or-treaters, live music, food and beverage, a Kids Zone, vendor market, tethered balloon rides, a haunted house, fireworks and much more.
Salt River Fields Balloon Spooktacular
Dia de los Muertos Celebration: October 29-30
Celebrate Día de los Muertos at the Desert Botanical Garden at this two-day family-oriented festival that uses music, dance and storytelling to explore the beauty and meaning of this special holiday. Children will love the crafts and face painting and the whole family will enjoy the entertainment and browsing the Mercado filled with art, jewelry and other wares.
Scottsdale Fall Festival: October 29
Scottsdale’s annual Fall Festival invites you to come win candy at the game booths, jump around in one of the many bounce houses, view live entertainment and more. End the evening with a bang by staying for the fireworks show.
Peoria’s Halloween Monster Bash: October 30
The city of Peoria’s annual Halloween Monster Bash features a wide variety of family fun including trick or treating, entertainment and contests. It wouldn’t be Halloween without candy, so safe trick or treating is held throughout the complex. Additional fun includes a haunted house, inflatables, a rock wall, arts and crafts, carnival-style games and more.
Spooktacular Mini Golf at Golfland Sunsplash: Daily throughout October
This year, one of Golfland Sunsplash’s popular mini golf courses will once again undergo a spooky transformation. While playing on the spooky miniature golf course be sure to avoid stepping through one of the many graveyards. You may also encounter a few spooky costumed characters, but don’t worry, they only want to give you a Halloween treat.
Spooktacular Mini Golf at Golfland Sunsplash
Brick or Treat at Legoland Discovery Center: Saturdays and Sundays in October
Throughout the month of October, Legoland Discovery Center will feature halloween-themed activities to celebrate the spooky holiday, including scavenger hunts, costume contests, mask building and a pumpkin patch.
Cave Creek Wicked: October 29
Join Cave Creek Wicked for its all day and night Halloween event. Bring family, friends, and pets to compete in the costume contest, enjoy live music, visit the petting zoo and have fun with arts and crafts. When the sun sets, a late-night costumed crowd is invited to board a complimentary bus to the town’s top saloons for contests, themed cocktails and prizes.
Enchanted Pumpkin Garden: October 17-31
Halloween spirit invades Carefree in the form of whimsical pumpkin carvings from master sculptor Ray Villafane. The Enchanted Pumpkin Garden is open to the public and woven throughout the 4 acre Carefree Desert Gardens. Visitors are invited to stroll the gardens where Villafane’s 3-D characters will be posed, 400 lb. pumpkins will be carved among immersive and engaging exhibits throughout the 3.3 acre botanical garden.
Ray Villafane in the Town of Carefree’s Enchanted Pumpkin Garden
Apache Junction Halloween Festival: October 29
Celebrate the spooky season at Apache Junction’s Halloween Festival, featuring games, food, live music, bounce houses, a petting zoo, a costume contest, pumpkin carving contest, Howl-o-ween canine costume contest, and more.
Family Halloween Carnival at Kiwanis Park: October 29
Your family will have a bewitching good time with live entertainment, a costume contest for goblins of all ages, carnival-style games and food booths. The carnival also features bounce houses, train rides and the return of the popular Tot Town, which includes activities for children ages five and under and their parents.
Halloween in the Hills: October 31
Head to Fountain Hills for a scary good time for all ages. Halloween in the Hills features two costume contests for best kids costume and people and their pets, as well as trick or treating, games, a spider village, martial arts demonstrations, music and much more.
Adult Events
Costumes and Cocktails Play Date at Children’s Museum of Phoenix: October 22
Costumes and Cocktails Play Date is a night for grownups to get together with friends and play at the Children’s Museum of Phoenix. Come dressed in your best Halloween costume and play like a kid in three floors of interactive exhibits. The night will feature costume contests, cash bars, DJ and dancing, photo booth, retro board games, candy bar bingo, and more.
Costumes and Cocktails Play Date at Children’s Museum of Phoenix
Haunted Hotel Ball: October 28-29
Don your most sultry, gruesome or creative costume, put on your dancing shoes, bring friends and check-in to the Haunted Hotel Ball, an annual Halloween festival of adult fantasy and fun. The bash will feature three epic parties with over a dozen of Arizona’s top nightclub and radio DJs at The Saguaro in the heart of Old Town Scottsdale.
Vampire Ball: October 28
This stylish affair is perfectly themed for creatures of the night to celebrate the Halloween season. Guests are encouraged to dress to the nines in their most captivating vampire or goth attire.The evening will be filled with plenty of spellbinding spectacles, including original dance and aerial vampire-themed works, a no-host bar and more.
Wicked Ball: October 29
Treat yourself a night at Talking Stick Resort’s Halloween party. The biggest three room bash will feature a carnival room, outdoor ultra lounge and EDM superstars Cash Cash and Benny Benassi.
Haunted Houses and Farms
AZ Field of Screams: Fridays and Saturdays in October, and October 31
Do you have what it takes to enter the corn field planted over an old forgotten cemetery, where the dead now seek revenge on anyone trespassing on their grounds? Have a screaming good time with your friends and family in this haunted corn maze at Tolmachoff Farms.
Scarizona Scaregrounds: Thursdays through Sundays in October; and October 31
Tour two haunted houses and fight off zombies on a zombie paintball course. Attempt the chainsaw gauntlet to see how fast you can escape! The Scaregrounds also features different nightly entertainment, live bands, DJs, and the Beer and Wine Cemetery where “spirits” come to life.
13th Floor Haunted House: October 6-9, 12-31 and November 4-5, 11-12
Created by nationally-recognized and award-winning haunted house designers, the 13th Floor will transport you to new levels of horror. Prepare to be terrified by two epic haunted attraction walkthroughs, The Frenzy and Dead House, for one all-inclusive price. The 13th Floor is an intense, graphic, theatrical show that will take you on a gut wrenching ride of visceral thrills and psychological horror.
The Gauntlet Haunted House: October 7-8, 10-15, 20-22, 27-31
The Gauntlet is a terrifying maze full of heart-pounding terror. This multi-level haunted house contains ground-breaking special effects, animatronics and skilled actors. Participants will be required to crawl and climb over objects and stairs.
The Crypt Haunted Attractions: October 6-9, 12-16, 19-31
The Crypt and Asylum houses return with all new scares to torment those who dare enter. For more spine-tingling thrills, enter the haunted Chaos Maze.
Ahwatukee Haunted House & Hayride: October 28-30
Enter a world of thrills, chills and terror. Visitors will enjoy a haunted hayride through the park and encounters with various creatures of the night. And just as you thought it was safe, more fear awaits you as you are dropped off at the front of an eeriehaunted house. Sweeten up your scary night with free candy.
The Outbreak at Schnepf Farms: Thursdays through Sundays in October
The spread of an infectious disease has turned legions of people into zombies. Your mission: Hop in the back of Schnepf Farms’ Zombie Combat Vehicles (hayrides) and shoot a paintball gun to protect the farms’ fields from the undead.
Fear Farm: October 6-9, 13-16, 19-31, Nov 4-5
Fear Farm is the largest outdoor haunted attraction in Greater Phoenix, with 30 acres of pure terror, 5 indoor/outdoor haunted attractions and, for the faint of heart, a 10 acre corn maze. New for 2016, Fear Farm brings you the all new Phoenix Haunted Hayride. Guests won’t have to travel far to leave the city lights behind and enjoy this ominous oasis of the desert.
Fear Farm
Jack and Jill’s Haunted Hill: October 3-31
Jack and Jill went up the Hill but were never seen again…and you might not be either! While searching for water they stumbled upon an abandoned mine and never came back out. Come explore the mine and see what happened to poor Jack and Jill. Hopefully you’ll be lucky enough to make it out…alive.
Extinction: Live Action Haunted House: Fridays through Sundays in October, and October 31
Ditch the laser tag and become fully immersed in a post-apocalyptic world, shooting BB’s at all the monsters and miscreants that lurk through the wasteland.
Mount Mayhem Haunt: October 22-23 and 28-31
Step onto the haunted grounds of Mount Mayhem, a family-run Halloween display, for a thrilling encounter with creatures of the dusk. As the story goes, these creatures have been swarming among us without any restrictions. It is certain that as the sun sets, they will make themselves known at Mount Mayhem.
Sanctum of Horror: October 7-9, 14-16, 21-23, 26-31
For seven years, Sanctum of Horror has been scaring the East Valley with breathtaking makeup and incredible detail that will surely frighten the soul. Not only will you be terrified, but be immersed in the Sanctum’s world. Will you have what it takes to enter?
Performances
Halloween at Hogwarts at the Phoenix Symphony: October 7-9
Join The Phoenix Symphony as this year’s musical potion offers a full-length concert of seasonal selections, even more memorable music from the Harry Potter films and an all new spooktacular dose of magic. Muggles, witches and wizards of all ages are invited to attend this popular annual tradition.
Ghostfest Improv Marathon: October 21-23
Get in the spirit and with themed acts and performances during Ghostfest, featuring 80 different shows from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Poefest: Fridays and Saturdays throughout October, and October 31
PoeFest—a month-long celebration of the works of Edgar Allen Poe and other horror authors of the era—is not a reading. The actors perform Edgar Allan Poe’s stories in character as inmates from a 19th Century asylum for the criminally insane. New thrills await festival-goers this year with PoeFest Séance, an evening that promises creepy demonstrations, experiments, and manifestations.
PoeFest
Orpheum Theatre Ghost Tours: October 22-23 and 30
Do you believe in ghosts? The historic and amazing Orpheum Theater of Phoenix was saved from the wrecking ball over 25 years ago. Residents of Phoenix are grateful but perhaps not as much as some deceased Phoenicians. Come join us – and them – on a truly unique tour that will take your breath away in more ways than one.
A Vampire Tale: October 27, 29 and November 3-5
Often referred to as the “Nutcracker of Halloween”, this very popular, original dance production pre-dates all of the current vampire pop-culture. A Vampire Tale indulges audiences with all of the trimmings: dark and sexy drama, quirky and comedic episodes, and visually stunning dance and aerial feats.
Looking for more events? Check out our calendar of Halloween events and our blog of fall festivals.