While last year it was pretty much impossible to have in-person events ☠️, this year I present you with a packed calendar of things to do!

Skip ahead to what’s on in Edinburgh, Glasgow and London (where most of my Uk readers are based). Fancy staying in? Here are my ideas and tips for Halloween at Home this year instead.

Love Autumn but hate Halloween? You might enjoy this article, filled with cosy, gentle Autumnal things instead. 🍂🍁

Things to do in Edinburgh

My lovely friend Cara is giving a series of Halloween felting workshops at Anthropologie to make your own themed garland. I’m signed up and can’t wait!

The lovely neighbourhood of Stockbridge is hosting Shockbridge - a family trail in and around the Stockbridge area with lots of spooky clues to solve. The Halloween Afternoon Tea experience at Cauldron on Frederick Street is a spell-binding, interactive tea-brewing experience where you step into the imagined worlds through a combination of molecular gastronomy and technology (intriguing)!

Art by the Loch are hosting a halloween experience for adults in the woods beside Kinghorn Loch. As the daylight dwindles and the the veil between the human and spirit world is at its thinnest, a local storyteller will gather guests around a fire with hot drinks to hear stories of witches, warlocks and creatures of the other world, followed by a pumpkin carving workshop with a local pumpkin artisan (dream job?).

Join the Wild Swim Scotland Team for an atmospheric Sunset Swim at Portobello on the 31st, with tow floats and torches. Warm up after the swim around a fire, with marshmallows and Autumnal snacks.

Edinburgh Zoo is opening after dark for Halloween Spooktacular - an illuminated trail for kids. I also highly recommend visiting the pumpkin patch and spooky forest trail for little ones at Balgone Estate near North Berwick.

17th century tenement house Gladstone’s Land on the Royal Mile have created The Redclyffe Murder - a Halloween themed Murder Mystery with live actors. Another historic property, the Georgian New Town house will host an evening around the origin story of the Curious Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde with medium and tarot reader Cara Hamilton, who will bring the tale to life with a mix of talk and performance.

I recently visited to the Surgeon’s Hall Museum for the first time and had to flee the scene - historic surgical implements and gruesome body parts a-plenty to scare the pants off you all year.

City of the Dead Tours have a special programme that’s extra scary (having been on their underground tours of the vaults beneath the old town before, I’m not actually sure that’s possible). Mary King’s Close is another fascinating underground guided tour of a historic close that runs all year.

Fright Night is a silent Movie Double Bill of silent movie Halloween classics - "The Phantom of the Opera" (1925) and "Nosferatu" (1922) with live score at St Vincent’s Chapel. A pop-up drive-in cinema at Falkirk Stadium is showing all the classics too.

Frankenstein is a well known gothic bar hosting daily live monster shows in a 19th century church, with flashing green lights, vats of bubbling liquids and creepy animatronics. The Three Sisters Bar in the Cowgate is hosting a free outdoor screening of Hocus Pocus with themed cocktails.

Ghillie Dhu are throwing "Ghillie Boo”, a Halloween Ceilidh with 3 course meal and live band and anyone watching Season 3 of Ru Paul’s Drag Race will love Choriza May’s halloween extravaganza El Sheablo at CC Blooms.

Terminal V is an all-day electronic music festival which runs over multiple indoor warehouse stages and outdoor marquee stages. Samhuinn Fire Festival is an unmissable annual event on Calton Hill hosted by the Beltane Fire Society to mark the transition from Summer to Winter with a mix of fire-play, drumming, and immersive performance.

Things to Do in Glasgow

GlasGLOW is back for another year at the Botanic Gardens after 3 sold out seasons. An immersive, twinkly, family friendly experience with street food. Artie of The Singing Kettle is hosting a dress up Halloween special. If you’re a child of the 90s and grew up singing “the good ship sails on the eely ally oh”, you’ll surely be thrilled at the thought.

The silent horror classic Nosferatu is showing at the Britannia Panopticon (the worlds oldest surviving music hall, where Stan Laurel made his stage debut), featuring a live orchestra.
Glasgow’s Witch Market is also returning to the Panopticon with all the occult, witchy supplies you need for Samhain.

Halloween Yoga in Queen's Park with Ada is a special outdoor class in the darkness, surrounded by trees, fairy lights and other creatures of the night.

The Loch Lomond Faerie Trail has two creepy trails to choose from - one for little ones and one for older kids and adults. 

The Dark Side Walking Tour of Glasgow will bring Glasgow's murky past to light, from unsolved true crime murders to grave robbing and the city’s history built on slavery.

Candlelight Halloween: A Haunted Evening of Classical Compositions on the 26th October is an intimate concert by a talented string quartet. M&Ds is hosting a series of Drive-In Movies and At The Flix Drive-In at Loudon Castle has a packed Halloween programme too.

Haunted Forest: Cult in Kelburn is legendary late-night Halloween scare event and interactive experience (AKA my personal worst nightmare in life).

For something a bit lighter, (months-old spoiler alert) Ru-Paul’s Drag Race Winner Lawrence Chaney hosts a Halloween special at AXM and SWG3 present The Haunted Warehouse - “Dance till your deed in the decaying remains of the abandoned warehouse that lives”!

What’s On in London

Explore the dark arts at the Warner Bros studio tour or enjoy a Halloween Afternoon Tea at the Wizard Exploratorium® in Soho, with working magic wands to brew the tea!

The world's only ‘vampire pizza bar’, Lost Boys Pizza (named after the cult 80s film) is hosting a whole weekend of halloweeny stuff ft. Cinema nights and costume balls. Pergola Paddington’s beer hall will be transformed into a Transylvanian castle (think Oktoberfest but spooky) in collaboration with Camden Hells (bien sur). 

The London Month of the Dead has an illuminating series of talks to inform, entertain and provoke on the subject of death and the city. Peculiar London are putting on a series of guided tours through the haunted pubs of Hampstead with a (probably quite necessary) snifter of gin.

‘The Murdér Express’ by Funicular Productions is an immersive train journey dining experience curated by MasterChef 2017 finalist Louisa Ellis. Gothic Opera is a female-led opera company performing the UK premiere of Gounod's opera La Nonne sanglante (The Bloody Nun) at Hoxton Hall. The Maids is an immersive theatre production at The Vaults in Waterloo from the 24th to 30th October. 

No one enjoyed a fancy dress party more than the Jazz Age crowd. The Candlelight Club are hosting a clandestine 1920s speakeasy party for ghostly flappers and dapper devils in a secret venue completely lit by candles.

The Piano Works Dead Ringer Singer Halloween party is a celebration of the iconic musicians of yesteryear - dress up as your favourite late music artist and request their greatest hits all night.

Swing Street Ball returns to the wonderful Conway Hall with the much-loved Palace Avenue Swing and lots of surprises.

Backyard Cinema in Wandsworth have a brilliantly immersive Halloween programme and the beautiful Rivoli Ballroom – one of the very few remaining OG ballrooms in the city is reopening for it’s long-running Fright Night cinema. 

The Prince Charles Cinema also goes all-out for Halloween and this year HorrOctober features old favourites culminating on October 30 with two all-nighters where you can watch either five iconic horror films or five teen horror films back to back from 8.30pm until dawn! 

I’d love to know what you’re up to this Halloween, let me know in the comments below! 🖤⚡️

Check out my guide to Halloween at Home and this cosy Autumnal article too. If you’ve been around for a while, you might remember my (slightly demented) article from last year covering COVID-safe trick or treating, things to do at home, decor ideas and more.

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