Few times of year invite as much experimentation as Halloween, when museums of all types can really play around with mood and storytelling at their community events. For ideation purposes, let’s take a peek at your neighbor’s paper and see how different museums are approaching 2025 Halloween programming and partnerships.
Cleveland Museum of Natural History
CMNH’s Halloween event doubles as a singles mixer, hosted after-hours inside the museum’s galleries. Singles Night: Fright Night at the Museum is a 21+ evening in partnership with The City Social, a company that fosters connection through its app and organizes in-person social gatherings for single folks. This year’s party will have dancing, live DJ, trivia, stilt walkers, and a planetarium show. Tickets are $44.52 each.
Genesee Country Village & Museum, Mumford, NY
This 19th-century living-history museum offers a variety of special events for the season: family-friendly trick-or-treating in the historic village, a Spirits of the Past night walk, with a different theme each year (this time visitors will step back in time to Whitechapel, London, 1888 as they search for Jack the Ripper). But I wanted to call attention to a new event series, the All Hallows’ Tea. Tickets are $50 and guests are encouraged to wear their spookiest hat or fascinator for a chance to win an exclusive GCV&M prize. Each tea time features a special menu and engaging presentation — for example “Restoring Gravestones in Our Rural Cemeteries” by Dave Bloom, the Gravestone Guy:
With nearly 10 years of experience as a dedicated volunteer conservator of gravestones, Dave brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to this important work. Attendees can look forward to a fascinating overview of different stone types, effective techniques for cleaning gravestones, and captivating stories from some of the restoration projects he has undertaken.
Exploratorium, San Francisco
The museum’s After Dark program pivots to Halloween this time of year and maxes out on creativity. At After Dark: Creepatorium visitors 18+ can experience Terror on Treasure Island: Immersive Roleplaying Game (in partnership with Mycelium Youth Network). There’s demos like cow eye dissection or a multi-sensory look at the science of candy, a DJ dance party, and a low-budget horror short (filmed at the original home of the Exploratorium). The museum will separately host After Dark: Death and Life, which leans into cultural traditions and scientific inquiry, as opposed to horror. So much inspiration to be found in the many offerings. After Dark tickets are $22.95, with $10 student admission at the door.
City Museum, St. Louis
Every October, City Museum goes all-in for all ages during Fright at the Museum. The already-surreal environment of tunnels, slides, and reclaimed materials gets an eerie overlay of lighting, installations, and performance. There are themed zones like the Spider’s Lair and live acts ranging from sideshow performers to magicians and storytellers. A special menu of “Slightly Possessed Spirits” features adult beverages like the Poison Apple, Zombie shots, and a PSL White Russian. It’s a month-long takeover that plays well with the museum’s unusual identity, and the ongoing nature of the event means word of mouth has plenty of time to spread. Access is included with general admission.
Museum of Pop Culture, Seattle
Supper Fan Club, MOPOP’s new supper club program, launched small, with just three intimate experiences scheduled (so far), each inviting guests to feast on a menu inspired by beloved fandoms. Naturally, they capitalized on spooky season by assigning this month’s dinner a Silence of the Lamb theme. In addition to an upscale menu and specialty drinks, they’ll have “rare horror artifacts, curated commentary, and just the right amount of unease.” Only 75 seats per dinner, ticket prices are $130 per person, and it’s already sold out.
Milwaukee Art Museum
MAM has an after-dark Halloween event with all sorts of fun stuff — live music, a costume contest, live magic, tarot readings, drag queen bingo, and crafts (in partnership with Milwaukee Repertory Theater). But I wanted to highlight a particularly interesting component of the evening, one that any museum can add to their events: a member’s lounge with signature cocktail. Everyone loves to feel like a VIP and adding something like this could be an enticing way to gain new members.
Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary, McKinney, TX
The Heard has long hosted Halloween at the Heard, a beloved family-friendly fundraiser that features trick-or-treating on the animatronic dinosaur trail, an amphitheater movie, and a kids’ costume contest. Tickets start at $15, with an additional costume contest entry fee of $5 or donation of an item on the museum’s Animal Care Wishlist. The museum closes at 3 p.m. to prep on event day and reopens at 6 p.m. for the event.
They’ve decided to build on many successful years of Halloween at the Heard (which always sells out), expanding into adults-only fare this year with Fright at the Museum for ages 21+. Mini trick-or-treating along the dino trail, an outdoor screening of Shaun of the Dead, post-film Haunted Forest walk, costume contest, and two complimentary beverages (beer/wine/soda) are included with each ticket. Tickets are $39 per person, plus that same costume contest entry fee of $5 or wishlist item donation. It’s a case study in smart growth and how to expand your audience by innovating within a successful framework.
Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney’s annual Halloween Teen Night event is planned and organized by high school students participating in Youth Insights Leaders, the museum’s teen program. This year’s event takes inspiration from the current exhibition Sixties Surreal. Kids are invited to come in costume and enjoy every corner of the museum with artist-led artmaking workshops, face painting, teen-led tours, music, dancing, snacks, and more. Past activities have included making Halloween masks and costumes then modeling them on a catwalk, tarot card and astrology readings, and an Instagram scavenger hunt in the galleries. Tickets for this one are free for teens.
There’s so much on the table when it comes to future Halloween events, you don’t have to make it about jump scares. Lean into ritual, folklore, spirits, storytelling. These are also excellent opportunities for collaboration; look to partner with local cocktail bars, perfumers, theaters, burlesque or drag collectives, artists, indie filmmakers, and breweries to bring their own creative energy into the mix.
