Halloween is a great holiday for families: little kids have lots of fun, and grownups get to act like kids. Families can also take the opportunity to have a fall weekend getaway in the country; many inns and B and B's have Halloween-themed weekends during October. Below are suggestions, mainly in the Northeast US.
Halloween Packages at Country Inns & More
Many inns and B&B's welcome families, and lay on special events for Halloween itself and perhaps also for preceding weekend(s): a great opportunity for a country getaway with seasonal fun and great breakfasts.
BedandBreakfast.com
This site lists hundreds of country inns and B&B's, and has a special section for Halloween Happenings. (Click "Search", then "Special Packages", then "Halloween Happenings".) For example, at Farm by the River B&B, North Conway, NH, a Halloween Ghost & Goblins package includes a wagon ride and a Ghost and Goblins tour of nine inns (with a treat at each). Location is in NH's scenic White Mountains. This property has stables, so horseback riding and hayrides are special features.
And at Lathrop House B&B, Springfield MA, on Halloween night, kids can help carve a pumpkin and then trick-or-treat in the historic neighborhood; or hand out candies to the the goblins and princesses who drop by. Also, this B&B is just 10 minutes from Six Flags New England, where Frightfest has trick-or-treating for little kids in daytime, and scary fun at night.
Green Mountain Inn, Stowe, VT
Ghoulish Getaway package has two nights lodging, country breakfast, welcome box of hand-dipped Halloween chocolates, "choose your own" pumpkin from a nearby farm, and a guided evening lantern tour of historic Stowe village.
Poconos, PA
The Poconos Mountains are a popular vacation zone, with spectacular foliage in fall. October also brings Halloween fun, such as The Great Pocono Pumpkin Festival. (October also brings a Harvest Festival, Arts & Crafts Festival at Jack Frost Mountain, and lots more.) Several hotels have packages: look for Halloween Party Weekend at The Resort at Split Rock Resort, and Halloween Weekends at thousand-acre Woodloch Pines.
Mount Washington Resort, NH
With a location on nearly 800,000 acres of White Mountain National Forest, Mount Washington Resort is another great place for fall foliage, plus outdoors activities such as biking and rock-climbing. Annual Hallow-Brew Weekend has ghost tours, jack-o-lanterns, carriage rides where the driver tells ghost stories, Tarot Card readers,tales round a campfire; afternoon costume party for kids, night-time costume party too. (The "brew" comes in at a Saturday Hallow-Brew dinner, featuring local brews.)
Wildflower Inn, VT
This family friendly inn (3 hours from Boston, 5-1/2 from NYC) has 570 acres, lots of outdoor activities, and an Autumn Harvest Weekend package in mid-October.
Great Wolf Lodges: Howl-O-Ween
These family-friendly lodges with indoor water parks -- in the Poconos, Kansas City, Williamsburg, and more-- have a month-long Howl-O-Ween season with special events and packages.
