Do your little monsters love getting spooked? It’s not too late to have a frightfully good time this Halloween weekend with scary storytelling, pumpkin carving, magic spells, ghoulish mask making, spooky trails and Halloween screenings.
Here’s our round up of the best Halloween activities in London this weekend to suit the whole family.
Little monsters will be tricked and treated at this day of fun in Greenwich Market featuring pumpkin competitions, scary storytelling, doggy fancy dress (3.30pm) and some very frightening stallholders. Free costume workshops for ages four and over will be available and a freaky fashion show (4pm) is the perfect chance to show off your costume and maybe even win a prize. Grown-ups can stick around for the late-night Halloween feast, which will be open until 8pm. Friday October 31, 11:00am, free. From creepy crafts and bug hunts to pumpkin carving and a trail full of secrets, there’s something for everyone at Morden Hall Park’s Halloween Spooktacular. From Friday 31st October to Sunday 2nd November, 11am – 3pm There’s a Halloween theme to the Wild Food Market on Saturday 1st November as the west London weekend market becomes a pumpkin parade filled with seasonal food and fun workshops. On 1st November kids can learn how to make (and eat!) toffee apples, take part in apple bobbing, and win a prize for the best costume. Addison Primary School, Saturday 1st November, 10am-3pm Fortnum & Mason’s annual Hallowe’en Pumpkin Carving Competition is back by popular demand! The competition is for children of all ages up to 10, and will take place between 3pm and 5pm in the Demonstration Kitchen, with judging at 4 o’clock. Ghoulish treats will be offered, and there will be a decorating area available for last-minute alterations. The Prize is a Crate of Splendid Sweets for the winner. 31 October 2014, 3 – 5pm, Fortnum and Mason, Free, all ages welcome Shiver your way through spooky stories of the ghastly goings-on and ghostly apparitions in Hampton Court palace over the last few hundred years. Visitors must be aged at least eight, and every adult must be accompanied by a child. Sat Nov 1 – Sat Feb 21. Adults £18.20, children £9.10 children (5-16), under-fives go free Only the most courageous should enrol for this Halloween academy, during which aspiring witches and wizards will learn magic spells, curious tricks and frightening facts as they journey through the sky in a green London Eye capsule. Wicked visitors aged four to nine will travel alongside dangling bats and a library of spells for this storytelling session, and will go home with the perfect pointy hat, an activity pack and some treats for the journey. Friday 31st & Sat Nov 1. Tickets cost £24.24 for adults, kids cost £17.93. For more information and to make a booking, call 0871 781 3000 Come in your scariest fancy dress and you could win a prize for best costume at the Halloween Spooktacular Family Fun Day at Queen’s House. Spooky activities include Wee Woollie Beasties where you can make your own miniature monster out of wool, there’s a dress-up family photo booth, a spooky version of snakes and ladders, a juggling wizard, an ingenious balloon twister and a ghostly woman in white wandering around the Great Hall. This promises to be a great family day of spooky fun at the enchanted 17th-century house in Greenwich. Friday October 31, Free Don’t want the spooky fun to end? Enjoy a grown-up evening of bone-chilling stories amid candlelit period rooms at the Geffrye Museum on Thursday 6th November. Prepare for a spooky evening full of live readings, riddles and anecdotes, as well as music from the 18th and 19th centuries. Museum opens 6pm, performance 7 – 8:30pm.Adult Tickets £16, £13 concs (includes a glass of wine). Book tickets by email: [email protected] or call 020 7749 6024 Make snacks for some bats, come face-to-nose with some rats, venture into the darkness of the Owl Emporium and keep an eye out for the reptilian resident in the Grim Curiosity Shoppe. Some of the zoo’s inhabitants are pretty scary at the best of times, but Halloween is their chance to be extra creepy as visitors are treated to this week of family-friendly activities during half-term. Friday 31st – Sun Nov 2, 10am-6pm (last admission 5pm). Adults £24, children £17.50, under-threes go free Shiver through the spooky season with Halloween screenings including Ghostbusters, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Hotel Transylvania and Frankenstein. Ghostbusters – Friday 31st October at 7.30pm, Ham Yard Hotel, Tickets £15 The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Friday 31st October at 9.30pm, Charlotte Street Hotel, Tickets are £35 and include a 3 course Halloween dinner and devilish cocktail. Hotel Transylvania, Sunday 2nd November at 3pm, Covent Garden Hotel, Tickets are £18.50 and include a Halloween themed afternoon tea. National Theatre Live: Frankenstein, Friday 31st October and Saturday 1st November at 7.30pm Soho Hotel, Tickets are £45 and include a two course meal with a Halloween cocktail. The Boxtrolls and The Shining are also showing at The Soho Hotel. Leave the kids at home and snuggle up with your loved one in a horse drawn Halloween ride in Richmond park. Enjoy an hour-long dray ride with just eight people on board. Huddle together as you listen to tales of highwaymen, ghosts and a Victorian murder. Adult Ticket from £48.00 Arrival and departure are outside Sheen gate, Richmond Park. 31st October – 1 November 18:00 – 19:00, 19:00 – 20:00, 20:00 – 21:00
Spooktacular Fun in Greenwich Market
Morden Hall Park Halloween Spooktacular
Halloween Wild Food Market
Halloween Children’s Pumpkin Carving at Fortnum & Mason
Family Ghost Tours at Hampton Court Palace
The London Eye Witch Academy
Spooktacular Family Fun Day at Queens House
A Gothic and Ghostly Gathering at Geffrye Museum
Boo at the Zoo
Spooky Screenings at Firmdale Hotels
Horse-Drawn Halloween Rides at Richmond Park
Click here to see our roundup of the best halloween decorations