Halloween Fun On Long Island

    As the air chills and the last signs of summer fade, Halloween becomes a focal point for many. Some houses are decorated with mums, bales of hay and pumpkins, while others have spooky decorations that may send chills down your spine.

    Costume selections can be the most exciting for some as they plan for trick or treating, parties and perhaps, attending some of the great Halloween events and attractions you can find all throughout Nassau and Suffolk Counties. There are activities for adults and children alike. So whether you are faint of heart or choose extra spooky frights, read on for a brief sampling of things to do on LI for Halloween this year.  
    One special note lots of people – young and old – live with difficult food allergies. Why not make trick or treating fun for absolutely everyone. Paint a pumpkin teal to let trick or treaters know your home has safe Halloween treats. Consider a non-food item as your treat or give out candy marked as safe for those with an array of allergies. You will find grateful parents and happy visitors smiling in their costumes as you open your front door.
    Are there little ones in your house? Once you have gone to a pumpkin patch for the perfect pumpkin(s) and picked out adorable costumes for them to wear, head over to one of the great family friendly Halloween events to make memories for a lifetime. Cold Spring Harbor’s Fish Hatchery & Aquarium has a Haunted Hatchery just before the big day where little ones can trick or treat. The Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum will hold its Wail-ing-Boo-Seum & Festival complete with a Spooctacular Zoo, crafts and face painting. Long Island Children’s Museum in Garden City will host its annual Ghostly Gala, where children can come for an evening of fun, spooky events and lots of trick or  treating.
Costumes are encouraged and advance tickets are recommended. Walt Whitman’s Birthplace in Huntington Station, there will be a Halloween Family Day with Michael the Magician. Costume clad kids can win prizes as well as receive guided tours of this historic site. At Belmont Lake State Park on the south shore, you will find the Great Jack-O'-Lantern Spectacular Sail. Among the activities, you can watch as the first 50 carved pumpkins to arrive set sail [atop flotation devices] along the lake. There are pizza parties, Great Pumpkin events, safe trick or treating events, and so much more. Visit one or visit many over the course of the month!

    If you prefer an evening of frights and scares, Long Island has you well covered. This year, Nassau Coliseum has been converted into Blood Manor: Crypts of the Coliseum, a frightening haunted house attraction. NYZ Apocalypse in Deer Park has again created a fully immersive experience called “Total Fear”. Bayville’s Scream Park is back again with new rides, attractions and frightening haunts. Scream Park, which is open until November 5th, offers family fun by day and scary adventures by night.  Hauppauge’s Chamber of Horrors offers spooky fun, with new attractions to scare and scare again. Over in Sands Point, Dante’s Inferno has both a Halloween Ball and a haunted house experience to both excite and terrify even the hardiest souls. And for the ‘not easily scared’ crowd, you might want to head to Farmingdale for Darkness Rising, a haunted house and immersive experience of the extremely scary variety.
    Escape rooms keep growing in popularity all year long, but Halloween is a special time of year for them. There are quite a few on Long Island including Epic Escape Room in West Hempstead, Long Island Escape Room in Lake Ronkonkoma, and Challenge Escape Rooms in Franklin Square and Patchogue (as well as Bayside in Queens). All have special Halloween editions to test your skills and add some thrills and, with a little luck, have you screaming for more. 
    If your budget is tight, you can still experience lots of Halloween fun. Drive around or take a walk through the neighborhood for fantastic front lawn decorations that truly get into the spirit. Some are colorful; yet others are as scary as can be. It’s fun to see what friends, neighbors and family have done to get into the season. You can simply look around or take a holiday selfie in front of your favorite.
    There is so much to see and do at Halloween-time on Long Island that you will likely not be able to take it all in. Check websites for days/times and the level each attraction will hit on your scare-o-meter. Then dress up and head out to see and experience some holiday fun! Boo!