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Halloween season has arrived, and Milwaukee is full of fun ways for families to celebrate! If you’re looking for Halloween events for kids in Milwaukee, we’ve rounded up the best family-friendly options happening around the city and suburbs. These not-too-spooky activities are perfect for little ones.
Our full Milwaukee Halloween guide highlights local favorites like kid-friendly haunted houses, pumpkin festivals, trick-or-treat events, and more seasonal fun.
Halloween Legends & Lore (Old World Wisconsin)
October 10-11, 17-18, 24-25, 2025
5:30 – 9:30 PM
Halloween Legends and Lore is returning to Old World Wisconsin this October with ghostly adventures, terrific treats and frighful fun for the whole family to enjoy.
Visitors of all ages are invited to wear a costume and comfortable walking shoes as the tram will not be running during Halloween Legends & Lore.
Guests can explore a lantern-lit sorghum maze, take a guided tour in search of Wisconsin’s infamous Hodag creature, watch folktales come to life through live performances and much more at this favorite annual event. Check out photo op stations throughout the village and watch out for wandering characters—you never know who (or what) is lurking in the shadows!
Food & Drink: The Clausing Barn features a range of food & drink options. Enjoy a special seasonal beer made for Legends & Lore, along with other local brews. After building up an appetite, head to Caldwell Hall for a hot bite or swing by the creamery for ice cream available in a mouthwatering variety of fall flavors.
Jack O Lantern Jubilee & Halloween Village (Free!)
Let the gourd times roll! Milwaukee Downtown, BID #21’s fourth annual Jack-O-Lantern Jubilee presented by Baird returns! Best described as a pumpkin palooza, the free, family-friendly event will be held Saturday, Oct. 25, from 11am to 2pm at Halloween Village at Baird Community Commons.
Upon arrival, guests will have an opportunity to select a free pumpkin from the pumpkin patch, while supplies last. Artists Working In Education will staff a decorating station where children can create silly or spooky jack-o-lanterns.
Families will also enjoy face-painting, photo opportunities with beloved characters, live entertainment and story times, fire engine exploration with the Milwaukee Fire Department, a children’s book sale with Friends of Milwaukee Public Library, and more. Fall-themed vendors will offer food and beverages for purchase. Children are encouraged to attend in costume as Trick-Or-Treat goodie bags will be distributed, while supplies last.
More info available at www.milwaukeedowntown.com.
Halloween Village at Baird Community Commons
October 10-31, 2025
Take a stroll through Halloween Village, featuring a giant Great Pumpkin, interactive lighting displays with ghosts, Frankenstein, witches, and scarecrows, plus plenty of photo ops.
Boo at the Zoo (Milwaukee County Zoo)
October 17-19, 24-26, 2025 from 5:30 – 9:00 PM
Enjoy “merry not scary” Halloween happenings at the Zoo! Boo at the Zoo features wicked family-friendly activities including a Trick-or-Treat Trail, a haystack maze, live pumpkin-carving demonstrations, dazzling light shows, and animals. All ghosts and goblins (and their parents) are encouraged to come in costume.
Scarecrow Lane (Friends of Retzer Nature Center)
September 20-October 31, 2025
Sunrise – 10:00 PM
Admission: FREE
Say hello to the whimsical scarecrows and Halloween decor along the Blue Trail at Retzer Nature Center! Scarecrow Lane is a half-mile, self-guided hike located on the west end of the Learning Center building. The scarecrows, decorated by local families and businesses, will be on display through October 31.
Pro Tip: Expect woodchipped and mowed grass trails with some sloped terrain. Some heavy-duty strollers may be able to handle the terrain, but it might be better to plan on walking.
After Scarecrow Lane: Check out the newly renovated Discovery Trail, get a good view of Waukesha on the “Vista Trail”, and hike along boardwalks and babbling brooks on the the “Nature Trail.”
Halloween Ghost Hunt in Milwaukee
Step into the role of a ghosthunter this Halloween! Using your smartphone as a “supernatural detector,” your family will explore Milwaukee’s haunted streets, track wandering spirits, and solve escape-room style puzzles. This interactive outdoor adventure includes 10 hand-picked haunted locations, spooky stories, and scavenger hunt challenges along a 1.5-mile walking route. Costumes are encouraged, and kids under 12 should be accompanied by an adult.
📍 Starts at Downer & Hampshire, Milwaukee
📅 October 30–November 2, 2025
Get Tickets to the Milwaukee Ghost Hunt
Halloween Haunts (Wehr Nature Center)
October 16, 2025 6:00 PM- October 18, 8:30 PM
For three nights each year, Wehr’s woodland is transformed into an Enchanted Forest for Halloween Haunts, complete with a cackling witch, a talking owl, and even some rapping arthropods. There are over three hundred Jack-o-Lanterns lighting the path through the forest, as well as selfie spots and a magic show after the hike! The walk is just spooky enough to keep kids on their toes, but is designed to create chuckles and smiles, not nightmares.
Jack-O-Lantern Nights (Racine Zoo)
October 2-5, 9-12, 16-19, 23-26, 30-31, 2025 from 6:00 – 10:00 PM
Website
Stroll through the Zoo along a dedicated paved pathway and b immersed in dazzling lights and intricately designed jack-o-lanterns. Discover custom designs including cats, owls, scarecrows, and more Halloween-themed creations. To compliment the jack-o-lanterns, there will be enchanting light displays throughout the route.
Happily Haunted Gardens (Bookworm Gardens)
October 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26, 2025 from 5:00 – 8:00 PM
Experience the magic of not-so-spooky family fun at Bookworm Gardens during Happily Haunted Gardens! Stroll through the Gardens, glowing with over 100,000 twinkling lights and enchanting structures,storytime, I-Spy, bonfire, Pumpkin Walk, and enjoy seasonal delights around every corner. Dinner fare, munchies, and festive beverages will be available for purchase. All children will leave with a treat bag, so keep your trick-or-treat buckets at home.
Not So Scary Halloween Party
Sundays in October 2025, 2:30 – 4:45 PM
Website
The Not-So-Scary Halloween Party is ideal for kids and families who want to experience The Hill Has Eyes attraction when it is not so scary. Their actors will take you on a guided tour through the attractions and kids will get to trick-or-treat along the way. Kids are encouraged to dress up and be a part of the fun! All ages welcome, recommended for ages 8 and up.
The Hollows at Phantom Lake
Phantom Lake YMCA Camp, S110W30240 YMCA Camp Road, Mukwonago, WI 53149
Weekends in October, 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Journey through magical fairy lands, Viking ships, mermaids, witches, and wizards inhabiting the wooded trails and glistening shores of Phantom Lake YMCA camp. The Hollows is an awe-inspiring, one-of-a-kind experience of 3,000 hand-carved jack-o-lanterns that will pique your imagination and create magic. A portion of proceeds from the event provide financial support for an inclusion program enabling kids and families who might otherwise not be able to experience camp.
Halloween Glen
October 10-11, 2025
Actors will present interactive and educational skits at eight decorated stations at Hawthorn Glen, Milwaukee Recreation’s 23-acre nature center. This humorous and educational outdoor adventure is a great alternative to the usual Halloween events.
Following the hike, families are welcome to participate in a variety of fall-themed activities.
Haunted Halloween on Downer
October 18, 2025 1:00 – 4:00 PM
Website
This family-friendly Halloween event is geared towards participants of all ages!
Stroll Historic Downer Avenue, where businesses from Park to Webster will be hand out trick-or-treats for both children and adults.
Pumpkin Pavilion in Bay View
October 15-18, 2025
Website
This four-day, family-friendly event brings neighbors from all over the city to Humboldt Park Pavilion. Guests come to carve pumpkins, admire the display of 1,000 lit pumpkins, enjoy live music, eat local food, and embrace the fun that is Halloween.
This event is entirely volunteer-powered. Since its inception, the Pumpkin Pavilion has added attractions, displays and new events each year.
Check the website for a list of events leading up to the Grand Pumpkin Lighting on Friday, October 18.
Betty BOO’s Spooktacular at Betty Brinn Children’s Museum
The Betty Brinn Children’s Museum’s not-so-scary Halloween party is taking over the Museum this year on October 11, 2025.
- Sit around the (pretend) campfire for Spooky-Silly Story Times
- Listen to enchanting cello sounds with Malik Johnson
- Meet reptiles and insects with Tatiana’s Tiny Zoo
- Get creative in our Be A Maker Space with creepy cool spider webs, groovy tie dye ghosts and mask making
- Complete a scavenger hunt to claim your bag of treats
- Show off your costume in a parade around the Museum
- Dance out the wiggles at the Mini Monster Mash
Entrance to the Museum will require a Betty BOO’s Spooktacular special event ticket. Standard general admission will not be available. Advance online ticket purchase recommended.
October Fright Nights (Milky Way Drive-In)
October 3-November 2, 2025
The Milky Way Drive-in is showing Halloween movies every weekend in October at 6:30 p.m. Beforehand, you can walk through a Not-So-Scary Halloween Party every Sunday from 2:30-4:45 (more info above). A family bundle for both attractions is $45, and that gets admission for everyone in your vehicle.
Trick-Or-Treat Trains (East Troy Railroad)
October 3, 10, 17, 24, 2025
Website
Join East Troy Railroad for their annual Trick-or-Treat trains! Kids are encouraged to come in costume. Take a 20-minute ride down to Byrnes Park where they will have trick-or-treat stations and fall activities. Upon returning to East Troy, each child can pick out the perfect pumpkin to take home! The total experience is approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes. Advance reservations required.
Halloween Magic at the Haunted Brumder Mansion
Catch Two Brothers One Mind for a spooky and hilarious magic show inside the historic Brumder Mansion. Milwaukee’s own Chad & Jeff Orr, voted “Best Magicians in Milwaukee” two years running, will amaze you with mind-reading tricks, comedy, and plenty of Halloween fun. Bonus: arrive early for a mini-tour of the mansion’s ghostly halls.
📅 November 1 & 2 at 2:00 PM
📍 Brumder Mansion, Milwaukee
More Halloween Events:
Hogwarts in Hartland
Step into the wizarding world this Halloween! Families are invited to experience Hogwarts in Hartland, a magical free event where kids can explore a Harry Potter–inspired setting and feel like they’ve finally received their Hogwarts letter. Costumes are encouraged, and non-perishable food donations for the Hartland Food Pantry are welcome.
📅 October 24–26, 2025, 6–8 PM
📍 1100 Lisbon Avenue, Hartland, WI
Oak Creek Fall Festival (Free!)
October 25, 2025 from 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
oakcreekwi.gov
A harvest tradition in Drexel Town Square, this family-friendly outdoor event celebrates everything autumn. Festivities include a costume parade at 12:30 p.m., plus a petting zoo, magic show, live music, Oak Creek Farmers Market, craft vendors, face painting, hayrides through Emerald Preserve, a giant inflatable corn maze, and more.
Great Pumpkin Festival in Whitefish Bay (Free!)
October 22-25, 2025 from 6:00 – 9:00 PM
Fall Fest in West Bend, WI (Free!)
October 10, 2025 from 5:00 – 7:00 PM
Dress in your Halloween best to trick-or-treat in downtown West Bend! Look for the pumpkin in the window for participating businesses. There will be lots of spook-tacular activities for the whole family to enjoy!
Cedarburg Pumpkin Walk
October 31, 5:00 – 9:00 PM
Admission: FREE
The Cedarburg Chamber’s Pumpkin Walk is a fun, community-wide event that celebrates all things Halloween. Bring your carved pumpkins to light up the street. Come as yourself or wear your costumes and creep down Washington Avenue to view the glowing pumpkins.
Species Spooktacular (Schlitz Audubon Nature Center)
October 19, 2025 from 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Come in costume and learn about some of nature’s spooky and misunderstood animals. The educators at Schlitz Audubon will dispel myths about them and share their ecological importance. Meet live animal ambassadors in the Great Hall, including snakes, tarantulas, turtles, and raptor ambassadors! Hike the trails, stopping at the pavilion, tower, and maple grove to play games and make crafts. After visiting all of the stations, children will receive a sweet treat.
Little Sprouts Cafe + Play
https://www.littlesproutscafeandplay.com/halloween-events
Little Sprouts Cafe + Play in Shorewood is hosting 9 different Halloween events through October 31 that are perfect for little ones! Their frightfully fun activity lineup consists of themed creative sessions including two Little Pumpkin Painters Parties and a Dye + Dash: Trick or Treat Tote Workshop. Their classic Little Mondays classes feature Fall Harvest Sensory Bins and Witches Brew Bubble Foam. They are also offering culinary fun with their Tiny Tasters series featuring Spooky Swirls and Sprinkles and Creepy Crawly Cookies. Finish the month off with the Little Sprouts Boo-tiful Halloween Bash on Friday, Oct 31, featuring a costume contest, Halloween craft, and polaroids at their fall photo backdrop.A Pumpkin Patch Party Package is also available to book on select dates for birthday or group celebrations.
Location: 4606 N Wilson Drive, Shorewood, WI
*Please check the website for specific dates and times for each event.
Ghost Train in Shorewood
NOTE: The Ghost Train is currently not operating due to a lighting and audio issue.
If you’ve never seen the Ghost Train make its nightly run through Shorewood, you’re going to want to take a pajama ice cream ride and check it out.
The Ghost Train is an artistic sensory experience which enables visitors to travel back in history, imagining the round-trip journey of the ‘Twin Cities 400’ which was operated by the Chicago and North Western Railway from 1935-1963 and crossed Capitol Drive at the Oak Leaf Trail Bridge. The Ghost Train was brought to Shorewood by Public Art Shorewood and designed by Marty Peck, CLD-E.
Past Events TBD:
Bayshore Boogie Bash
Sprecher Halloween Party
Trek n Treat at Grant Park
Urban Ecology Center
Fear District at Fiserv
Halloween Party in Black Cat Alley
For more Halloween events and trick-or-treat times, check out our Events Calendar >>
Related Articles:
Before you plan your Halloween adventure, don’t miss our list of Haunted Houses Around Milwaukee and spooky Halloween Displays around Milwaukee for a spine-tingling experience! And for some DIY inspiration, check out these Backyard Haunted House Ideas your kids will love to create your own spooky setup.
Where to Go Trick Or Treating in Milwaukee
Harvest Festivals
Best Pumpkin Patches
Best Corn Mazes for Kids
What to do With Leftover Halloween Candy
Calie Herbst, Editor-in-Chief of Milwaukee With Kids, has spent over a decade combining her experiences as a parent of three to create a hub for Milwaukee’s family adventures.
Her decade-long teaching career in Milwaukee Public Schools and academic background, including a Master’s in Teaching from Marquette University and dual B.A.s in Sociology and Spanish from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, fuel her passion for inclusive and engaging family content.
Calie is also a recognized voice in local media, contributing to WISN Channel 12 News, WTMJ Wisconsin Morning News, Fox 6’s Real Milwaukee, and B93.3.
Discover more about Calie’s journey and editorial approach on her About Page and Editorial Policy Page.
