Every year brings more spooky events in October: Boos at Zoos, haunted houses and theme parks and kids' museums... And many a Halloween Parade. Below are a few suggestions.
Two cautions: check dates, just in case a Halloween Parade isn't held on October 31; and check that the Halloween Parade isn't too scary (or crazy) for your kids.
New York City's Greenwich Village has the most famous Halloween Parade: with puppets, marchers and marching bands, and a limited number of floats (especially in recessionary 2009.) This Halloween Parade bills itself as the
"Most Wildly Creative Public Participatory Event"; our About.com Guide for NYC includes this night-time happening in
"Fun For All Ages", but there is another option for families for little kids...
For a less-wild option in the Village: this Children's Halloween Parade in the afternoon marches around Washington Square Park, and there's candy, face-painting, and live entertainment.
The MommyPoppins site has a roundup of Halloween Parade suggestions: Park Slope (one of the biggest kids' parades in the US) , Battery Park City, and many more.
This Halloween Parade, sponsored by Toms River Fire Company #1, is in its 72nd year and claims to be the second largest in the world, with some 6,000 participants and 100,000 spectators. "From simple masks to full blown articulated fire-breathing floats."
A 60+ year community tradition, with 100 entries and 35,000 participants and spectators, and lots of re-broadcasting.
A decades-old tradition, with haunted house, games, costume contest, and Halloween Parade with marching bands, equestrian units, vintage cars. (West Hollywood, meanwhile, has a "notorious"
Halloween Parade and Carnaval that draws hundreds of thousands of adult revelers.)
Theme parks go all out for Halloween, and some stage a Halloween Parade as part of the fun. for instance, at Disney World, the special-ticket event, "Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party", includes a parade, on multiple nights in October.
