Next: 31 Oct 2026
Halloween in North America
Costumes, carved pumpkins, trick-or-treating and haunted houses on 31 October.
When is Halloween in North America in 2026?
Halloween in North America 2026 is on Saturday, 31 October 2026. Other years: 2027, Sunday, 31 October 2027; 2028, Tuesday, 31 October 2028.
About Halloween in North America
Halloween in the United States and Canada is a day of fun, with roots in the Irish and Scottish traditions brought by immigrants in the nineteenth century. Pumpkins replaced turnips for the carving of jack-o'-lanterns, and homes are decorated with cobwebs, skeletons, ghosts and orange lights. Children dress in costumes and go door to door at dusk, calling "Trick or treat!" for sweets. Adults go to costume parties, and many visit haunted houses, corn mazes, and pumpkin patches. Popular foods include candy corn, caramel apples, pumpkin pie and roasted pumpkin seeds. Parades are held in cities such as New York, with giant puppets, and in the Salem, Massachusetts, the whole month is a festival. UNICEF boxes were once collected by children going from door to door.
Halloween in North America dates: 2026, 2027, 2028
| Year | Halloween in North America date |
|---|---|
| 2026 | Saturday, 31 October 2026 |
| 2027 | Sunday, 31 October 2027 |
| 2028 | Tuesday, 31 October 2028 |
What is eaten
- candy corn
- caramel apples
- pumpkin pie
- roasted pumpkin seeds
Traditions of Halloween in North America
Also part of it, and being written: Village Halloween Parade (The New York parade.).
More marked on Halloween in North America
🇺🇸 New York, United StatesVillage Halloween Parade
An annual costumed puppetry march through Greenwich Village on Halloween nightFestival
🇬🇧 Hinton St George, United KingdomPunkie Night
A Somerset Halloween custom where children carry mangelwurzel lanterns and sing for candles.Festival
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreTrunk-or-treating
A safer Halloween alternative where treats are handed out from decorated car trunks in parking lots.Festival
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 3 moreApple bobbing
A Halloween game where players try to catch floating apples with their teeth.Game
🇲🇽 Acolman, Mexico and 1 morePiñata
A festive decorated container broken open with a stick to scatter treats and fruitFestival
🇬🇧 Yorkshire, United Kingdom and 3 moreMischief NightNoson Ddrygioni (Welsh); Oidhche nan Cleas (Scottish Gaelic)
An evening of pranks and tricks, kept before Halloween or Guy Fawkes NightFestival
🇮🇪 Dublin, IrelandBarmbrackbairÃn breac
A sweet Irish fruit loaf with charms baked in, eaten at Halloween and on New Year's EveTable custom · Tea-time and snacking customs
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 3 moreMischief Night
An informal autumn evening of neighbourhood tricks, practical jokes and street pranksFestival
Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Background: "Halloween" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Trick-or-treating: Toyah Anette B, Public domain, source
- Piñata: No machine-readable author provided. JEDIKNIGHT1970 assumed (based on, Public domain, source
- Village Halloween Parade: InSapphoWeTrust, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Trunk-or-treating: Lance Cpl. Scott L. Tomaszycki, Public domain, source
- Apple bobbing: Caleb Zahnd, CC BY 2.0, source
- Mischief Night: Roseohioresident, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Barmbrack: Solo Beckett, CC BY-SA 4.0, source