The best: Family-friendly Halloween events around Manchester

Open daily until Sun 27 Oct, Heaton Park’s hugely popular Spook in the Park festival brings another fright-filled carnival of Halloween entertainment, white knuckle rides and fairground favourites to North Manchester, with free entry for all.

From waltzers, twisters and ghost trains to trampolines, pumpkin patches and even a giant dinosaur, this year’s funfair offers a vast array of hair-raising excitement for visitors of all ages.

You also can enjoy unlimited rides every day for just £11.99.

With daily hour-long train rides from Thu 24 to Thu 31 Oct, East Lancs Railway invites fearless families to board the looming locomotive for a Halloween to remember at Lancashire’s scariest station.

Departing at various times each evening, the ELR Ghost Train enlists passengers to help the Monster Squad unravel a spine-chilling mystery; local scarecrows across the Irwell Valley have abandoned their posts and have begun terrifying staff and passengers along the route, while the scheming Pumpkin King and his murder of crows haunt the platform with spooky songs and devilish dance numbers.

Alongside a haunted house walkthrough at Bury and the chance to meet Monster Squad members, ELR’s unforgettable Halloween experience promises a dazzling array of eerie entertainment and mysterious music during the ride, as well as a goody bag upon safe return.

Find out more and book tickets below.

Returning to the Trafford Centre for another year, Spookfest stages South Manchester’s scariest family-friendly spectacular with a ghastly ghost train, haunted house experience and an assortment of tricks and treats, as well as the iconic five-metre tall pumpkin tower and an endless choice of heart-stopping rides.

Elsewhere, the enchanting Halloween Trail offers a nerve-jangling journey through the Trafford Centre’s secluded woodlands, as skeleton dinner parties and horrifying haunted shacks are brought to life with mesmerising installations and over 100,000 lights.

Alongside the return of Manchester’s wildly popular Monster Trail from Fri 25 – Thu 31 Oct, the weekend-long Halloween in the City programme stages another free, fearsome programme of scares around the city centre. From the Monsters Rock! music festival, a fancy dress competition and a beastly procession to a traders market, rave-yards and plenty of ghoulish games, this year’s bash promises to be Manchester’s biggest bone-chilling bonanza yet.

Find out more in the brochure below.

Nestled inside the enormous Reddish Vale Country Park, the serene suburban farm hosts a bumper programme of pumpkin picking, an indoor play barn, witches and wizard shows, a haunted tractor ride and more alongside its usual schedule of delightful farm activities as part of their Halloween Festival.

Featuring themed craft activities, parachute dances, colouring murals and ghoulish guitar anthems and riotous rock hits from the Wild Child DJ, the Yes Halloween Family Bash stages another monster mash for the ages on Fri 25 Oct from 12.30-2.30pm.

Taking place ahead of their Manchester rave-inspired Silence of the Baths party later in the evening, Victoria Baths’ Mini Monster Mash welcomes families with chill-seeking children of all ages into the hair-raising heritage building for a daytime party featuring creepy crafts, ghastly games and a silent disco.

Book your tickets for just £4 per person below.

Following the spooktastic success of previous Playhouse Project parties, The Refuge’s beloved family rave is back on Sat 26 Oct with the debut of Demented Disco, a whirlwind child-friendly extravaganza set to transport ravers of all ages back to the golden era of 1970s New York funk and irresistible grooves.

Billed as a blend of family fun and halcyon nocturnal hedonism, the unmissable Halloween party invites guests into The Refuge’s underground Vault bar for a morning of floor-filling music, play sessions, games, catwalk competitions and more.

Book tickets below.

Promising the perfect, petrifying introduction to the pulsating thrills of house, garage and drum and bass, Raver Tots’ family Halloween party takes over Freight Island for a morning of high-energy fun in an immersive, festival-style environment.

Revellers can expect spellbinding visual effects, cold pyro, bubbles, confetti blasts, multi coloured lasers and a variety of games and activities, with fancy dress strongly encouraged.

On Sun 3 Nov, state-of-the-art nightclub and events space Area transforms into a haunted house of dance for families of party-loving pre-schoolers and retired raver parents.

Hosted by six-time winners of the Arts Council Family Arts Festival Awards’ Best Family Event, Big Fish Little Fish, the one-off Halloween Family Rave features a live DJ, fancy dress, a crafting area, colouring activities, baby chill-out zones and more, before a show-stopping parachute dance finale to round off both sessions.